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alfo from a capacity in the language of ftill admitting various unanticipated mufic.

Several rules have been drawn up for varying the poetic meafure, and critics have elaborately talked of accents and fyllables; but good sense and a fine ear, which rules can never teach, are what alone can in fuch a cafe determine. The rapturous flowings of joy, or the interruptions of indignation, require accents

placed entirely different, and a ftructure confonant to the emotions they would exprefs. Changing paffions, and numbers changing with thofe paffions, make the whole fecret of Western as well as Eaftern poetry. In a word, the great faults of the modern profeffed English poets are, that they feem to want numbers which fhould vary with the paffion, and are more employed in defcribing to the imagination than striking at the heart,

LETTER XLI.

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FROM THE SAME.

gan to fpeak, all the people remained fixed in filent attention, nodding affent, looking approbation, appearing highly edified by thofe founds, which to a ftranger might seem inarticulate and unmeaning.

When the idol had done fpeaking, and the priestess had locked up it's lungs with a key, obferving almoft all the com

OME time fince I fent thee, O holy difciple of Confucius, an account of the grand abbey or mausoleum of the kings and heroes of this nation. I have fince been introduced to a temple not fo ancient, but far fuperior in beauty and magnificence. In this, which is the most confiderable of the empire, there are no pompous infcriptions, no flattery paid the dead, but all is elegant and aw-pany leaving the temple, I concluded fully fimple. There are however a few rags hung round the walls, which have at a vast expence been taken from the enemy in the prefent war. The filk of which they are compofed, when new, might be valued at half a ftring of copper money in China; yet this wife people fitted out a fleet and an army in order to feize them; though now grown eid, and fcarce capable of being patched up into a handkerchief. By this conqueft the English are faid to have gained, and the French to have lost, much honour. Is the honour of European nations placed only in tattered filk?

In this temple I was permitted to remain during the whole fervice; and were you not already acquainted with the religion of the English, you might, from my defcription, be inclined to believe them as grofsly idolatrous as the difcipies of Lao. The idol which they seem to addrefs, ftrides like a Coloffus over the door of the inner temple, which here, as with the Jews, is etteemed the molt facred part of the building. It's oracles are delivered in an hundred various tones, which feem to infpire the worhippers with enthufiafin and awe: an old woman, who appeared to be the prieftels, was employed in various attitudes, as he felt the infpiration. When it be

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the fervice was over, and taking my hat, was going to walk away with the crowd, when I was ftopt by the man in black, who affured me that the ceremony had fcarcely yet begun. What!' cried I, do I not fee almoft the whole body of the worshippers leaving the church? Would you perfuade me that fuch numbers who profefs religion and mo'rality, would in this fhameless manner quite the temple before the fervice was concluded? You furely mistake; not even the Kalmouks would be guilty of fuch an indecency, though all the object of their worship was but a joint-tool. My friend feemed to blufh for his countrymen, affuring me that those whom I faw running away were only a parcel of mufical blockheads, whofe paflion was merely for founds, and whofe heads were as empty as a fiddle-cafe. Those who remain behind,' fays he, are the true Religious; they make use of mufic to warm their hearts, and to lift them to a proper pitch of rapture: examine their behaviour, and you will confefs there are fome among us who practife true devotion."

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I now looked round me as he directed, but faw nothing of that fervent de votion which he had promifed: one of the worshippers appeared to be ogling

the

the company through a glafs; another was fervent, not in addreffes to Heaven, but to his mistrefs; a third whispered, a fourth took fnuff, and the priest himself, in a drowsy tone, read over the duties of the day.

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Blefs my eyes!" cried I, as I happened to look towards the door, what do I fee! one of the worshippers fallen faft afleep, and actually funk down on his cushion! Is he now enjoying the benefit of a trance, or does he receive the influence of fome myfterious vifion! Alas! alas!' replied my companion, no fuch thing; he has only had the misfortune of eating too hearty a dinner, and finds it impoffible to keep his eyes open.' Turning to another part of the temple, I perceived a young lady juft in the fame circumftances and attitude. " Strange!' cried I, can the too have over-eaten • herself ?'—' O, fie!' replied my friend, you now grow cenforious. She grow drowfy from eating too much! that would be profanation. She only fleeps now from having fat up all night at a brag party. Turn me where I will, then,' fays I, I can perceive no fin、 B gle fymptom of devotion among the

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• worshippers, except from that old woman in the corner, who fits groaning be'hind the long fticks of a mourning fan; the indeed feems greatly edified with what the hears.' Aye,' replied my friend, I knew we fhould find fome to catch you; I know her; that is the deaf lady who lives in the cloifters.'

In fhort, the remiffness of behaviour in almost all the worshippers, and fome even of the guardians, ftruck me with furprize. I had been taught to believe that none were ever promoted to offices in the temple, but men remarkable for their fuperior fanctity, learning, and rectitude; that there was no fuch thing heard of as perfons being introduced into the church merely to oblige a fenator, or provide for the younger branch of a noble family: I expected, as their minds were continually fet upon heavenly things, to fee their eyes directed there also, and hoped from their behaviour to perceive their inclinations correfpond with their duty. But I am fince informed, that fome are appointed to prefide over temples they never vifit; and, while they receive all the money, are contented with letting others do all the good. Adieu.

LETTER XLII.

FROM FUM HOAM, TO LIEN CHI ALTANGI, THE DISCONTENTED WANDERER, BY THE WAY OF MOSCOW.

USTI ever continue to condemn

with that of Europe, how do I exult in

Mthy perfeverance, and blame that being a native of that kingdom, which

curiofity, which destroys thy happiness! What yet untafted banquet, what luxury yet unknown, has rewarded thy painful adventures! Name a pleafure which thy native country could not amply procure; frame a with that might not have been fatisfied in China! Why then fuch toil, and fuch danger, in purfuit of raptures within your reach at home?

The Europeans, you will fay, excel us in fciences and in arts; thofe fciences which bound the afpiring with, and thofe arts which tend to gratify even unrestrained defire. They may perhaps out-do us in the arts of building fhips, cafting cannons, or measuring mountains; but are they fuperior in the greatest of all arts, the art of governing kingdoms and ourselves?

When I compare the biftory of China

derives it's original from the fun! Upon opening the Chinefe history, I there behold an ancient extended empire, ettablished by laws which Nature and reafon feem to have dictated. The duty of children to their parents, a duty which Nature implants in every breast, forms the ftrength of that government which has fubfitted for time immemorial. Filial obedience is the first and greatett requifite of a ftate; by this we become good fubjects to our emperors, capable of behaving with just subordination to our fuperiors, and grateful dependents on Heaven; by this we become fonder of marriage, in order to be capable of exacting obedience from others in our turn; by this we become good magiftrates, for early fubmiflion is the trueft leffon to those who would learn to rule.

By

By this the whole ftate may be faid to resemble one family, of which the emperor is the protector, father, and friend. In this happy region, fequeftered from the rest of mankind, I fee a fucceffion of princes, who in general confidered themselves as the fathers of their people; arace of philofophers, who bravely combated idolatry, prejudice, and tyranny, at the expence of their private happiness and immediate reputation. Whenever an ufurper or a tyrant intruded into the administration, how have all the good and great been united against him? Can European history produce an inftance like that of the twelve mandarines, who all refolved to apprize the vicious emperor Tifiang of the irregularity of his conduct? He who first undertook the dangerous tafk, was cut in two by the emperor's order; the fecond was ordered to be tormented, and then put to a cruel death; the third undertook the talk with intrepidity, and was inftantly ftabbed by the tyrant's hand: in this manner they all fuffered, except one. But not to be turned from his purpofe, the brave furvivor entering the palace with the inftruments of torture in his hand- Here, cried he, addreffing himself to the throne, ‘here, O Tifiang, are the marks your faithful fubjects receive for their loyalty; I am weari ed with ferving a tyrant, and now come for my reward.' The emperor, ftruck with his intrepidity, inftantly for gave the boldness of his conduct, and reformed his own. What European annais can boat of a tyrant thus reclaimed to lenity!

When five brethren had set upon the great emperor Gintong alone, with his fabre he flew four of them; he was truggling with the fifth, when his guards coming up, were going to cut the confpirator into a thousand pieces. No,

no,' cried the emperor, with a calm and placid countenance, of all his bro thers he is the only one remaining; at leaft let one of the family be futtered to live, that his aged parents may have fomebody left to feed and comfort • them.'

When Haitong, the laft emperor of the house of Ming, faw himfelt belieged in his own city by the ufuiper, he was refolved to ifiue from his palace with fix hundred of his guards, and give the ene my battle, but they forfook him. Be ing thus without hopes, and chuting

death rather than to fall alive into the hands of a rebel, he retired to his garden, conducting his little daughter, an only child, in his hand; there, in a private arbour, unfheathing his fword, he ftabbed the young innocent to the heart, and then difpatching himfelf, left the following words written with his blood on the border of his veft-' Forfaken by my fubje&ts, abandoned by my friends, ufe my body as you will, but fpare, O fpare, my people!'

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An empire which has thus continued invariably the fame for fuch a long fuc ceffion of ages, which, though at lait conquered by the Tartars, till preferves it's ancient laws and learning, and may more properly be faid to annex the domi nions of Tartary to it's empire, than to admit a foreign conqueror, an empire as large as Europe, governed by one law, acknowledging fubjection to one prince, and experiencing but one revolution of any continuance in the space of four thousand years: this is fomething fo peculiarly great, that I am naturally led to defpife all other nations on the comparifon. Here we fee no religious perfecutions, no enmity between mankind, for difference in opinion. The difciples of Lao Kium, the idolatrous fectaries of Fohi, and the philofophical children of Confucius, only ftrive to fhew by their actions the truth of their doctrines.

Now turn from this happy peaceful fcene to Europe, the theatre of intrigue, avarice, and ambition. How many revolutions does it not experience in the compals even of one age? and to what do these revolutions tend but the detruction of thousands? Every great event is replete with fome new calamity. The feafons of ferenity are poffed over in filence, their hitteries feem to fpeak only of the term.

There we fee the Romans extending their power over barbarous nations, and in turn becoming a prey to thofe whom they had conquered. We fee thofe barbarians, when become Chriftians, engaged in continual wars with the fol lowers of Mahomet; or, more dreadful till, deftroying each other. We feel councils in the earlier ages authorifing every iniquity; crufades (preading defolation in the country left, as well as that to be conquered; excommunica tions freeing fubjects from natural alle. giance, and perfuading to fedition; blood

flowing

Rowing in the fields and on fcaffolds; tortures used as arguments to convince the recufant: to heighten the horror of the piece, behold it fhaded with wars, rebellions, treafons, plots, politics, and poison.

And what advantage has any country of Europe obtained from fuch calamities? Scarce any. Their diffentions for more than a thousand years have served to make each other unhappy; but have enriched none. All the great nations ftill nearly preferve their ancient limits; none have been able to fubdue the other, and fo terminate the difpute. France, in fpite of the conquefts of Edward the Third, and Henry the Fifth, notwithstanding the efforts of Charles the Fifth, and Philip the Second, ftill remains within it's ancient limits. Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, the tates of the North, are nearly ftill the fame. What effect then has the blood of fo many thousands, the destruction of

fo many cities, produced? Nothing either great or confiderable. The Chriftian princes have loft indeed much from the enemies of Christendom, but they have gained nothing from each other. Their princes, because they preferred ambition to justice, deferve the character of enemies to mankind; and their priests, by neglecting morality for opinion, have miftaken the interefts of fociety.

On whatever fide we regard the hiftory of Europe, we shall perceive it to be a tiffue of crimes, follies, and misfortunes, of politics without defign, and wars without confequence; in this long lift of human infirmity, a great charac ter, or a fhining virtue, may fometimes happen to arife, as we often meet a cottage or a cultivated spot in the molt hideous wilderness. But for an Alfred, an Alphonfo, a Frederic, or one Alexander III. we meet a thousand princes who have disgraced humanity,

LETTER XLIII.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO FUM HOAM, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE CEREMONIAL ACADEMY AT PEKIN, IN CHINA.

W

E have juft received accounts here, that Voltaire the poet and philofopher of Europe is dead! He is how beyond the reach of the thousand enemies who, while living, degraded his writings, and branded his character. Scarce a page of his latter productions that does not betray the agonies of an heart bleeding under the scourge of unmerited reproach. Happy therefore at laft in efcaping from calumny, happy in leaving a world that was unworthy of him and his writings.

Let others, my friend, beftrew the hearfes of the great with panegyric; but fuch a lofs as the world has now fuffered affects me with ftronger emotions. When a philofopher dies, I confider myfelf as lofing a patron, an instructor, and a friend. I confider the world as loung one who might ferve to confole her amidit the defolations of war and ambition. Nature every day produces in abundance men capable of filling all the requifite duties of authority; but he is niggard in the birth of an exalted mind, fearcely producing in a century a fingle

genius to bless and enlighten a degenerate age, Prodigal in the production of kings, governors, mandarines, chams, and courtiers, she seems to have forgotten; for more than three thousand years, the manner in which the once formed the brain of a Confucius; and well it is the has forgotten, when a bad world gave him fo very bad a reception:

Whence, my friend, this malevolence which has ever purfued the great even to the tomb? whence this more than fiend-like difpofition of embittering the lives of those who would make us more wife and more happy?

When I caft my eye over the fates of feveral philofophers, who have at different periods enlightened mankind, I must confefs it infpires me with the most degrading reflections on humanity. When I read of the ftripes of Mentius, the tortures of Tchin, the bowl of Socrates, and the bath of Seneca; when I hear of the perfecutions of Dante, the imprisonment of Galileo, the indignities fuffered by Montange, the banishment of Cartelus, the infamy of Bacon

K

and

and that even Locke himself escaped not without reproach; when I think on fuch fubjects, I hesitate whether moft to blame, the ignorance or the villainy of my fellow-creatures.

Should you look for the character of Voltaire among the journalists and illiterate writers of the age, you will there find him characterized as a monster, with a head turned to wifdom, and an heart inclining to vice; the powers of his mind and the bafenefs of his principles form ing a detestable contraft. But feek for his character among writers like himself, and you find him very differently defcribed. You perceive him in their accounts poffeffed of good-nature, humanity, greatnefs of foul, fortitude, and almost every virtue: in this defcription those who might be supposed best acquainted with his character are unanimous. The royal Pruffian*, Dargents f, Diderot, D'Alembert, and Fontenelle, confpire in drawing the pic ture, in defcribing the friend of man and the patron of every rifing genius.

An inflexible perfeverance in what he thought was right, and a generous deteftation of flattery, formed the ground. work of this great man's character. From thefe principles many ftrong vir tues and few faults arofe; as he was warm in his friendship, and fevere in refentment, all that mention him feem poffeffed of the fame qualities, and Speak of him with rapture or deteftation. A perfon of his eminence can have few indifferent as to his character; every reader must be an enemy or an admirer.

This poet began the courfe of glory fo early as the age of eighteen, and even then was author of a tragedy which deferves applaufe. Poffeffed of a small patrimony, he preferved his independence in an age of venality, and fupported the dignity of learning, by teaching his cotemporary writers to live, like him, above all the favours of the great. He was banished his native country for a fatire

❤ Philosophe Sana Sousi.

upon the royal concubine. He had ac cepted the place of hiftorian to the French king, but refused to keep it, when he found it was prefented only in order that he should be the first flatterer of the state.

The great Pruffian received him as an ornament to his kingdom, and had fente enough to value his friendship, and profit by his inftructions. In this court he continued, till an intrigue, with which the world feems hitherto unacquainted, obliged him to quit that country. own happiness, the happiness of the monarch, of his After, of a part of the court, rendered his departure neceffary.

His

Tired at length of courts, and all the follies of the great, he retired to Switzerland, a country of liberty, where he enjoyed tranquillity and the mufe. Here, though without any tafte for magnificence himself, he ufually entertained at his table the learned and polite of Europe, who were attracted by a defire of feeing a perfon from whom they had received fo much fatisfaction. The entertainment was conducted with the utmost elegance, and the conversation was that of philofophers. Every country that at once united liberty and science, were his peculiar favourites. The being an Englishman was to him a cha racter that claimed admiration and respect.

Between Voltaire and the difciples of Confucius, there are many differences; however, being of a different opinion does not in the least diminish my esteem; I am not difpleafed with my brother, because he happens to ask our father for favours in a different manner from me. Let his errors reft in peace, his excellencies deferve admiration; let me with the wife admire his wifdom; let the envious and the ignorant ridicule his foibles; the folly of others is ever most ridicu lous to those who are themfelves moth foolish. Adieu.

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