they, "that the Europeans, so remote from China, think with so much justice and precision? They have never read our books, they scarcely know even our letters, and yet they talk and reason just as we do."* The truth is, the Chinese and we are pretty much alike. Different degrees of refinement, and not of distance, mark the distinctions among mankind. Savages of the most opposite climates have all but one character of improvidence and rapacity; and tutored nations, however separate, make use of the very same methods to procure refined enjoyment. The distinctions of polite nations are few; but such as are peculiar to the Chinese appear in every page of the following correspondence. The metaphors and allusions are all drawn from the East. Their formality our author carefully preserves. Many of their favorite tenets in morals are illustrated. The Chinese åre always concise; so is he. Simple; so is he. The Chinese are grave and sententious; so is he. But in one particular the resemblance is peculiarly striking: the Chinese are often dull; and so is he. Nor has my assistance been wanting. We are told in an old romance of a certain knighterrant and his horse who contracted an intimate friendship. The horse most usually bore the knight; but, in cases of extraordinary dispatch, the knight returned the favor, and carried his horse. Thus in the intimacy between my author and me, he has usually given me a lift of his eastern sublimity, and I have sometimes given him a return of my colloquial ease. Yet it appears strange in this season of panegyric, when scarce The * [Le Comte's "Nouveaux Mémoires sur la Chine,” vol. i. p. 210. author, a Jesuit of Bordeaux, was one of the six missionaries sent to China in 1685, by command of the king of France; he died in 1729. The work above quoted gave weighty offence to the faculty of divinity at Paris, on account of the author's prejudices in favor of the Chinese, whom he placed on a level with the Jews; and, by a decree of the parliament of Paris, passed in 1762, it was ordered to be burnt.] ly an author passes unpraised either by his friends or himself, that such merit as our Philosopher's should be forgotten. While the epithets of ingenious, copious, elaborate, and refined, are lavished among the mob, like medals at a coronation, the lucky prizes fall on every side, but not one on him. I could on this occasion make myself melancholy, by considering the capriciousness of public taste, or the mutability of fortune; but during this fit of morality, lest my reader should sleep, I'll take a nap myself, and when I awake tell him my dream. I imagined the Thames was frozen over, and I stood by its side. Several booths were erected upon the ice, and I was told by one of the spectators, that Fashion Fair was going to begin. He added, that every author who would carry his works there, might probably find a very good reception. I was resolved, however, to observe the humors of the place in safety from the shore; sensible that ice was at best precarious, and having been always a little cowardly in my sleep. Several of my acquaintance seemed much more hardy than I, and went over the ice with intrepidity. Some carried their works to the fair on sledges, some on carts, and those which were more voluminous, were conveyed in wagons. Their temerity astonished me. I knew their cargoes were heavy, and expected every moment they would have gone to the bottom. They all entered the fair, however, in safety, and each soon after returned to my surprise, highly satisfied with his entertainment, and the bargains he had brought away. The success of such numbers at last began to operate upon me. If these, cried I, meet with favor and safety, some luck may, perhaps, for once attend the unfortunate. I am resolved to make a new adventure. The furniture, frippery, and fireworks of China have long been fashionably bought up. I'll try the fair with a small cargo of Chinese morality. If the Chinese have contributed to vitiate our taste, I'll try how far they can help to improve our understanding. But as others have driven into the market in wagons, I'll cautiously begin by venturing with a wheelbarrow. Thus resolved, I baled up my goods and fairly ventured; when, upon just entering the fair, I fancied the ice that had supported a hundred wagons before, cracked under me, and wheelbarrow and all went to the bottom. Upon awaking from my reverie with the fright, I cannot help wishing that the pains taken in giving this correspondence an English dress, had been employed in contriving new political systems, or new plots for farces. I might then have taken my station in the world, either as a poet or a philosopher, and made one in those little societies where men club to raise each other's reputation. But at present I belong to no particular class: I resemble one of those animals, that has been forced from its forest to gratify human curiosity. My earliest wish was to escape unheeded through life; but I have been set up for half-pence, to fret and scamper at the end of my chain. Though none are injured by my rage, I am naturally too savage to court any friends by fawning, too obstinate to be taught new tricks, and too improvident to mind what may happen. I am appeased, though not contented. Too indolent for intrigue, and too timid to push for favor, I am-But what signifies what I am? Ελπὶς καὶ σὺ τύχη μέγα χαίρετε· τὸν λιμέν ̓ εὗρον. Οὐδὲν ἐμοὶ χ' ὑμῖν· παίζετε τούς μετ' ἐμέ. Fortune and Hope, adieu !-I see my port: Too long your dupe; be others now your sport.* *["We shall soon see ourselves settled in our hamlet; where, when we arrive, I will write over the door of my house these two Latin verses in letters of gold: "Inveni portum! Spes et fortuna valete! Sat me lusistis; ludite nunc alios."-Gil Blas, 1. ix. c. 10.] SIR, Yours of the 13th instant, covering two bills, one on Messrs. R. and D., value 4787. 10s., and the other on Mr. ****, value 2857., duly came to hand; the former of which met with honor, but the other has been trifled with, and I am afraid will be returned protested. The bearer of this is my friend, therefore let him be yours. He is a native of Honan in China, and one who did me signal services, when he was a mandarine, and I a factor at Canton. By frequently conversing with the English there, he has learned the language, though he is entirely a stranger to their manners and customs. I am told he is a philosopher; I am sure he is an honest man: that to you will be his best recommendation, next to the consideration of his being the friend of, Sir, Yours, &c. LETTER II. ARRIVAL OF THE CHINESE IN LONDON.-HIS MOTIVES FOR THE JOURNEY.-DESCRIPTION OF THE STREETS AND HOUSES. From Lien Chi Altangi to ****, Merchant in Amsterdam. LONDON. FRIEND OF MY HEART,-May the wings of peace rest upon thy dwelling, and the shield of conscience preserve thee from vice and misery! For all thy favors accept my gratitude and esteem, the only tributes a poor philosophic wanderer can return. Sure fortune is resolved to make me unhappy, when she gives others a power of testifying their friendship by actions, and leaves me only words to express the sincerity of mine. I am perfectly sensible of the delicacy with which you endeavor to lessen your own merit and my obligations. By calling your late instances of friendship only a return for former favors you would induce me to impute to your justice what I owe to your ⚫ generosity. The services I did you at Canton, justice, humanity, and my office bade me perform; those you have done me since my arrival at Amsterdam, no laws obliged you to, no justice required; even half your favors would have been greater than my most sanguine expectations. The sum of money, therefore, which you privately conveyed into my baggage, when I was leaving Holland, and which I was ignorant of till my arrival in London, I must beg leave to return. You have been bred a merchant, and I a scholar; you consequently love money better than I. You can find pleasure in superfluity; I am perfectly contented with what is sufficient: take therefore what is yours, it may give you some pleasure, even though you have no occasion to use it; my happiness it cannot improve, for I have already all that I want. |