TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTERPAGE
I.[—OF THE RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ENGLISH][1]
II.[—OF THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF THE ENGLISH][45]
III.[—SOME PARTICULARS OF THE INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION][76]
IV.[—UPON EDUCATION: A FEW REFLECTIONS][98]
V.[—OF THE LITERATURE OF THE ENGLISH][109]
VI.[—OF THEIR TRADE, AND REVENUE DERIVED FROM IT][131]
VII.[—SOME REMARKS UPON MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND BURIALS [HI-DI][150]
VIII.[—OF ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SOME WORDS ABOUT SCIENCE [KNO-TE][170]
IX.[—OF AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES][195]
X.[—OF EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, AND ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE][214]
XI.[—OF THE HIGH-CASTES: SOME PARTICULARS OF THEIR DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS][223]
XII.[—OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY, THE CLIMATE, AND OTHER THINGS][246]
XIII.[—LONDON][257]
XIV.[—SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS][278]

OBSERVATIONS.

[CHAPTER I.]

OF THE RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ENGLISH.

The worship of the supreme Lord of Heaven [Chang-ti], is not unknown to these Barbarians, though degraded by many Superstitions.

The purity of the divine and original Worship (as with the vulgar in our Celestial Kingdom) is too simple. About 500 or 600 years after our Confutze, in the time of the Romans, there appeared in an obscure province of their Empire a new Sect of devotees, who asserted that they had among them a Son of Heaven. This Son they called Christ; and those who adopted this new deity were called Christians. This was nearly 2000 years [met-li-ze] ago. The Sect increased and spread. One of the Emperors of the West adopted the new god, and enforced the worship of him upon the subjects of the Empire.

All the Western Barbarians derive their knowledge from the Romans; whose power, indeed, they over-turned, but whose civilization they imitated. Particularly, the Bonzes (Priests) of the new Superstition, joined to the Chiefs of new powers (which arose upon the ruins of the Roman Empire), preserved some remains of the ancient Learning, and enforced the new Superstition. What little of letters remained was almost entirely with the Bonzes. This event was much the same as the introduction from the Hindoos into our Central Kingdom of the worship of the Hindoo god, Fo; and, curiously, these events happened at about the same time.

It is to be observed that in our Illustrious Kingdom there is a tendency to superstitious observances. We have several Sects [pho-ti]; but our Literati merely tolerate and do not worship. A simple and pure homage to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven [Hoang-chan-ti] is an act of the Wise: and even the Sects make their Spirits subordinate to Him. The Western Barbarians, however, dishonour the true worship by strange "rites"—even by incredible superstitions, when the intellectual culture is considered. It is not long since, in the monstrous credulity of the people, directed by the Bonzes, it was believed that the Devil (Chief of the Evil Demons) would enter into an individual—generally some old, ugly, and friendless woman—and, by her, turn the milk sour, drive the cattle mad, torture children, shrivel up the limbs, blast with the Evil Eye; and even plague with disease and with horrible death! And these wretched women, and sometimes men, themselves often fancying that the Devil was really in them, were seized upon, dragged through mud and mire, fearfully maltreated, and put to death by the horrible torments of fire, upon this wild accusation: and this terrible scene was not caused by a maddened rabble of the common sort, but under the lead of the Bonzes, and according to the Laws of the Land.