Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

Supplied with fifty kin weight of oil. Their splendour penetrates upwards to the 33d heaven-midway, they shed a lustre over the people, the good and the bad together,downwards, they illuminate the earth as far as the city of Tse Kee Hien, in the province of Che Kiang.

The official title of the head priest of the temple is Chao Sieu. His disciples are called Yue. The total number of priests on the establishment is eight hundred and fifty. The family name of the head mason of the building was Yao, his personal name Sieu, and his native town Tsing Kiang Foo. The family name of the head carpenter was Hoo, his personal name Chung, and his native province Kiang See.

The extent of the whole enclosure of the temple is seven hundred and seventy meu, * and eight tenths.To the southward, towards Chin Van San, are two hundred and twenty-six meu.-Eastward to the boundary of Chin Sien Seng are two hundred and thirty-four meu and eight-tenths.In the centre is the ground of Hoo Kin Te.-Westward, as far as the land of She Hou Hoa, are one hundred and twenty meu.-And northward, to the land of Lieu Sien Song, are one hundred and eighty meu.

Viewing, therefore, this History of the Glazed Tower, may it not be considered as the work of a Divinity? who shall perform the like!

Lately, on the fifteenth day of the fifth moon of the fifth year of KiaKing, at four in the morning, the god of thunder, in his pursuit of a monstrous dragon, + followed it into this temple, struck three of the sides of the fabric, and materially damaged the ninth story; but the strength and majesty of the god of the temple are most potent, and the laws of Foe are not subject to change :-the tower, by his influence, was therefore saved from entire destruction. The viceroy and the fooyen reported the circumstance to his imperial majesty; and on the sixth day of the second moon of the seventh year, the restoration of the

A meu is somewhat less than an Eng

lish acre.

By the personification of the dragon the forked lightning would seem to be represented; and that of the Deity under the sound of the thunder.

damaged parts was commenced; and on the nineteenth day of the fifth moon the repairs were completed.

On the twenty-ninth day of the sixth moon of the twelfth year of his present majesty, at four in the afternoon, on a sudden there fell a heavy shower of rain, and the god of thunder again rushed forth in front of the tower, and penetrating the roof, pursued the great dragon from the top to the bottom. The glazed porcelain tiles of the sixth story were much damaged, and, where the god of thunder issued out at the great gate, several of the boards taken from the wood of the heavenly flower-tree were broken: -Thus the god of the thunder having finally driven away the monstrous dragon, returned to his place in the Heavens.

The priests of the temple reported the event to the local authorities, and the officer Heu submitted the report to his imperial majesty, and awaited the issue of the sums required to defray the charge of the repairs. The gates of the tower have been closed for a year, while the interior has been repairing.

Deny not the presence of a God—a God there is;

He sounds his dread thunder, and all the world trembles.

Letter from the Emperor of China to the Prince Regent.

The Supreme Sovereign of the earth, who has received it from heaven and revolving time, issues this imperial mandate to the King of England, with the purport of which let him be most fully acquainted.

Your country, O King, is situated at an immense distance beyond a vast ocean, yet you send to me, in the sincerity of your heart, an offering of devotedness, and turn with a zealous affection to the transforming influences which emanate from the middle kingdom, (China.)

On a former occasion, in the fiftyeighth year of Kien-lung, at a time when the reign of the exalted, the honourable, and the immaculate emperor was approaching towards its close, you sent an ambassador across the seas to the residence.

At that time, your ambassador, in approaching the throne with veneration and respect, performed the accus

tomed ceremony without exceeding or falling short of what is required; and duly observed all the forms with proper decorum; and was then enabled to look up, and to receive the favour and affection of the Son of Heaven; to see his majesty's celestial face; to be entertained at a grand banquet; and to have numerous and valuable presents bestowed upon him.

In this present year you, O King, have thought fit again to send an ambassador to our court, with a written representation, and with orders to present me with the productions of your country, on his being introduced to my presence.

I, the Emperor, having reflected that you, O King, had done so in sincerity of heart, and from feelings of respect and obedience, rejoiced exceedingly at this intelligence; I caused forthwith the former records to be examined; and I ordered the proper number of officers of state to await the arrival of your ambassador, that on the very day of his approach to the palace he might, in all due respect, behold the imperial person, and then be entertained with a grand festival, according to all things, and with exactly the same ceremonies which were observed in the preceding reign.

Your ambassador first began to open his communications at Tientsing. I appointed great officers of state to be there, to give to him an imperial feast and entertainment. When, behold! instead of your ambassador returning thanks for this feast, he refused to pay obedience to the prescribed ceremonies.

I, the Emperor, in the affair of an inferior officer of state arriving from a remote country, did not deem forms and ceremonies of any great importance; it was an affair in which some indulgence and a compassionate forbearance might be shown to the individual; and I therefore made a special order for all my great officers of state to use gentleness and accommodating behaviour towards your ambassador; and to inform him, on his arrival at Pekin, that, in the fifty-eighth year of Kien-lung, your ambassador, in performing the usual ceremony, always fell upon his knees, and bowed his head to the ground, according to the established forms; how, indeed, on such an occasion, could any change be allowed!

Your ambassador then told my great officers, face to face, that, when the proper time came, he would comply with the ceremonies, and would perform the kneeling and prostration, and bowing of the head to the ground; and that no exceeding or falling short of the established forms should occur.

Accordingly, my great officers, in conformity to, and in reliance on, this declaration, reported the affair to me; and I sent down my pleasure, that, on the 7th day of the 7th moon, your ambassador should be ordered to appear before the imperial person; that, on the 8th, in the great hall of light and splendour, an entertainment should be conferred, and gifts bestowed; and again, that, in the gardens of perpetual pleasure, a feast should be prepared; that, on the 9th, he should have his audience of leave, and that on the same day it should be permitted him to ramble among the hills of ten thousand ages; that, on the 11th, at the gate of perfect concord, gifts should again be conferred, after which he should repair to the board of ceremonies, and there again be feasted; and that, on the 12th, he should be finally dispatched, and ordered to proceed on his journey. The day fixed for performing the ceremony, and the precise form to be observed, were previously communicated to your ambassador by my great officers of state.

On the 7th, the day appointed for your ambassador to approach and be hold the imperial person, he accordingly arrived at the palace, and I, the Emperor, was just about to enter the great hall of audience.

Your ambassador, all on a sudden, asserted that he was so exceedingly ill, that he could not stir a step: I thought it not impossible, and therefore ordered the two assistant ambassadors to enter the hall, and appear before me; but both the assistant ambassadors also asserted that they too were ill. This certainly was an instance of rudeness which had never been exceeded. I did not, however, inflict severe chastisement; but I ordered them to be sent off the same day, on their return to their own country. As your ambassador was thus prevented from beholding the imperial presence, it was not expedient that he should send in the written representation from you, O King. It is, therefore, sent back in the same

state it came, by your ambassa- mountains and crossing the ocean. If dor you do but pour out the heart in dutiful obedience, it is by no means necessary, at any stated time, to come to the celestial presence, ere it be pronounced, that you turn towards the transforming influences which emanate from this empire.

We have considered, however, that you, O King, from the immense distance of many times ten thousand lee, respectfully caused a written representation to be presented to me, and duly offered presents; that your ambassador's inability to communicate, on your behalf, with profound reverence and sincere devotion, is his own fault; and that the disposition of profound respect and due obedience on your part, O King, are visibly appa

rent

I therefore thought proper to take from among the articles of tribute only a few maps, some prints of views and portraits; but I highly applaud your feelings of sincere devotedness for me, just the same as if I had received the whole. In return, I ordered to be given to you, O King, a Joo-ce, (emblem of prosperity,) a string of imperial beads, two large silk purses, and eight small ones, as a proof of our tender and indulgent conduct in this affair.

Your country is too remotely distant from the central and flourishing empire; so that to send an ambassador such a distance over the waves of the sea is not a light affair. Besides, your ambassador, it would seem, does not understand how to practise the rites and ceremonies of the central empire. The subject, indeed, involves a severe labour of the lips and the tongue, which is by no means pleasant or easy to bear.

The celestial empire sets very little value on things that are brought from a distance. Nor does it consider as rare and precious pearls the productions of your country, however curious and ingenious they may be thought.

That you, O King, may preserve your people in peace, and be careful in giving strength to the boundary lines of your territories, that no separation of those parts which are distant from that which is near at home may take place,* is what I, the Emperor, sincerely and strongly recommend.

Finally, there will be no occasion hereafter for you to send an ambassador from so great a distance, and to give him the trouble of passing over

*This seems to be a delicate allusion to our Indian empire.

This imperial mandate is now issued that you may for ever obey it. Kia-King-21st year, 7th moon, 20th day.-(Sept. 11th, 1816.)

MONUMENT FOR BURNS.

A PUBLIC festival in commemoration of Robert Burns, and to promote a subscription, to erect a national monument to his memory at Edinburgh, was celebrated in the Freemasons' Tavern in London, on Saturday, June 5. The chair was filled by his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, who was supported by Sir James Mackintosh, Sir Francis Burdett, the Rev. Mr Crabbe, Mr Thomas Moore, Dr Lindsay, and several other distinguished individuals. The festival was numerously and respectably attended.

Sir James Mackintosh, in proposing the Duke of Sussex, stated the circumstances which led to the subscription, and spoke in language of high eulogium of the gentlemen of Bombay, where it originated. He afterwards entered with great felicity into the character of Burns, whom he described as the poetical representative of his own country in the assembly of nations. It was a mistake to suppose Burns was an uneducated man-he had read more and better books than Homer. No Scots peasant was uneducated; and it was to the diffusion of education, and the diffusion of intelligence through education, that they owned a Burns. It was among the most provident, the most moral and religious people in the world, perhaps, that this great genius arose-he arose among a people distinguished for their domestic morality; and whatever faults the frailty of our nature, and the misfortunes which befel him, might occasionally lead him to commit, he always evinced, that his mind was formed in those scenes of domestic morality described by him in his immortal poems.

The Duke of Sussex, in proposing the memory of Robert Burns, paid a

high compliment to the worth of the Scots peasantry. He observed, that Burns had fallen a sacrifice to his independent principles; for, had his principles been less pure, he would have been more fortunate at the moment, though his memory would now be less revered.

On the gentlemen of Bombay, who commenced the subscription being proposed, Mr Forbes Mitchell returned thanks in their name, in an impressive speech.

In proposing the memory of the Scottish bards, Sir James Mackintosh said, he felt a pride in stating, that Buchanan and Thomson, as well as Burns, were inspired by liberty.

Sir James Mackintosh, before proposing the following toast, observed, that the present festival was without example in the history of the worlda large body of gentlemen were that day assembled to celebrate the memory of an illustrious peasant. He then proposed the health of one of the children of Burns, who honoured them with his presence that day.

Mr Robert Burns, in a speech every way worthy of the son of such a father, returned his thanks for the honour done him. In confirmation of the observation of Sir James Mackintosh, that Burns was not an uneducated man, he described the library of the poet, which he said contained in it Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Goldsmith, Tasso, Voltaire, Moliere, Boileau, Rousseau, and the immortal Shakespeare. It contained also those Scotch poets, who had a more immediate influence on the direction which his poetical talents took. He was perfectly acquainted with the six Books of Euclid-was master of land surveying. He concluded with offering up his warmest thanks to two distinguished living poets, for the honours paid by them to the memory of his father, the poet, who had painted in such glowing colours the deeds of our heroic ancestors, and the bard of Green Erin, who had awaked from its long silence the harp of the bards of his native country, and who stood forth the steadfast advocate of civil and religious liberty.

Mr Walter Scott was then proposed, and afterwards Mr George Crabb and the bards of Scotland.

Mr Crabb returned thanks in a neat speech.

Sir James Mackintosh then proposed the great national poet of Ireland-that nation of Europe among whom eloquence and wit were most spontaneous.

Mr Moore, in returning thanks, observed, that Burns was one whose very errors were like one of his own mountain streams that sparkles whilst it strays, and is graceful even in its meanders.

Mr Forbes Mitchell, as treasurer, announced that the subscriptions of that day amounted to L. 256 and the aggregate subscriptions to L. 1076,and observed, that three times that sum would do the business.

Some admirable songs of the poet were sung with great effect by Mr Broadhurst and others in the course of the evening.

[blocks in formation]

No!-swift to the conflict her heroes forth flew

Undaunted by numbers their Leader they knew!

Impatient, from ocean they darted on shore,

Where the boast of vain Gaul was re-echoed no more,

As she shrunk from bright honour, the badge of the brave!

Alas! for bright Honour!-it falls while it shines!

It drops, while proud Viet'ry her chaplet entwines,

Unfelt on the brow where the laurels should bloom!

Ungilded with trophies-neglected by power,

Obscured by mean rulers in party's mean hour, Unrewarded it sleeps on Corunna's bleak shore,

Where Valour stern points where her much injured MOORE

From the vanquished alone* gains a wreath to his tomb!

STANZAS ADDRESSED TO A COMET.

A Night Piece.-(By James Hogg.)† How lovely is this wilder'd scene,

As twilight from her vaults so blue Steals soft o'er Teviot's mountains green, To sleep embalmed in midnight dew. All hail ye hills, whose lowering height Like shadows scoops the yielding sky! And thou, mysterious guest of night,

Dread traveller of immensity! Stranger of Heaven! I bid thee hail!

Shred from the pall of glory riven, That flashest in celestial gale,

Broad pennon of the King of Heaven! Art thou the flag of woe and death,

From angel's ensign-staff unfurl'd? Art thou the standard of his wrath,

Wav'd o'er a sordid, sinful world? No, from thy pure pellucid beam, That erst o'er plains of Bethle'm shone, No latent evil we can deem,

Fair herald from th' eternal throne! Whate'er portends thy front of fire,

Thy streaming locks, so lovely pale,

* A small monument erected by Soult, the French general, to the memory of Moore, at Corunna.

+ Our friend Mr Hogg must be a prophet or magician, no less than a poet. He sent us this elegant little poem too late for our last Number. The delay has given time for a comet to start up at his incantation. There is a sacred sublimity in the conception of the fifth stanza, that we may, perhaps, be now gazing at the same star which appeared at the birth of our Saviour.

Or peace to man, or judgments dire, Stranger of Heaven! I bid thee hail! Where hast thou roam'd these thousand years?

Why sought those polar paths again ? From wildnerness of glowing spheres

To fling thy vesture o'er the Wain? And when thou climbs't the milky wayAnd vanishest from human view, A thousand worlds shall hail thy ray

Through wilds of yon empyreal blue! Oh! on thy rapid prow to glide!

To sail the boundless skies with thee! And plow the twinkling stars aside,

Like foam-bells on a tranquil sea ; To brush the embers from the sun, The icicles from off the pole; Then far to other systems run,

Where other moons and planets roll. Stranger of Heaven! O let thine eye Smile on a wild enthusiast's dream; Eccentric as thy course on high,

And airy as thine ambient beam. And long, long may thy silver ray

Our northern vault at eve adorn; Then wheeling to the east away,

Light the grey portals of the morn.

REMARKS ON THE DESSERT: BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BANQUET.

THIS author we suppose to be newly broke loose from the shackles of his alma mater, and, like the bird which our universal Shakespeare somewhere mentions as typical of premature talent, has run away with the shell upon his head. This shell, to continue the metaphor, consists of fragments of the learned languages, "neither rich or rare," but of sufficient power to stagger and bewilder the unlearned reader by their frequency and obscurity. This fault, however, may be forgiven for its rarity. Pedantry seems to bear the same relation to learning, that superstition does to religion. It is a kind of shadow, or what our author would rather call adumbration, which, if it does not always prove the substance true, reminds us of it very forcibly. The analogy is still closer, in so far as a studied avoidance of pedantry is often followed by a relaxation in the pursuits of learning, as a great fear of being supposed superstitious, or accused of Ligotry, leads insensibly (in common minds at least) to lukewarmness in the most important of all concerns. There is no deficiency of talent in this little production, but with considerable vigour of thought, there is so much labour bestowed on it, that it reminds one of Mercutio's

« ПредишнаНапред »