are insensible, or debauchees who may curse, but will not relieve them.*

Why, why was I born a man, and yet see the sufferings of wretches I cannot relieve! Poor houseless creatures! the world will give you reproaches, but will not give you relief. The slightest misfortunes of the great, the most imaginary uneasinesses of the rich, are aggravated with all the power of eloquence, and held up to engage our attention and sympathetic sorrow. The poor weep unheeded, persecuted by every subordinate species of tyranny; and every law, which gives others security, becomes an enemy to them.

Why was this heart of mine formed with so much sensibility! or why was not my fortune adapted to its impulse! Tenderness, without a capacity of relieving, only makes the man who feels it, more wretched than the object which sues for assistance.† Adieu.

* [This is repeated in the " Deserted Village":

"Ah, turn thine eyes,

Where the poor houseless shivering female lies.
She once, perhaps, in village plenty blest,

Has wept at tales of innocence distrest;
Her modest looks the cottage might adorn,

Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn,

Now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled,

Near her betrayer's door she lays her head."]

[The following paragraph, with which the paper originally concluded, had, probably, some personal allusion:

--

"But let me turn from a scene of such distress to the sanctified hypocrite, who has been talking of virtue till the time of bed, and now steals out, to give a loose to his vices, under the protection of midnight; vices more atrocious because he attempts to conceal them. See how he pants down the dark alley, and, with hastening steps, fears an acquaintance in every face. He has passed the whole day in company he hates, and now goes to prolong the night among company that as heartily hate him. May his vices be detected; may the morning rise upon his shame! Yet, I wish to no purpose; villainy, when detected, never gives up, but boldly adds impudence to imposture."]

LETTER CXVIII.

ON THE MEANNESS OF THE DUTCH AT THE COURT OF JAPAN.

From Fum Hoam to Lien Chi Altangi, &c.

I have been just sent upon an embassy to Japan. My commission is to be dispatched in four days, and you can hardly conceive the pleasure I shall find, upon revisiting my native country. I shall leave with joy this proud, barbarous, inhospitable region, where every object conspires to diminish my satisfaction, and increase my patriotism.

But though I find the inhabitants savage, yet the Dutch merchants, who are permitted to trade hither, seem still more detestable. They have raised my dislike to Europe in general; by them I learn how low avarice can degrade human nature; how many indignities a European will suffer for gain.

I was present at an audience given by the emperor to the Dutch envoy, who had sent several presents to all the courtiers, some days previous to his admission; but he was obliged to attend those designed for the emperor himself. From the accounts I had heard of this ceremony, my curiosity prompted me to be a spectator of the whole.

First went the presents, set out on beautiful enamelled tables, adorned with flowers, borne on men's shoulders, and followed by Japanese music and dancers. From so great respect paid to the gifts themselves, I had fancied the donors must have received almost divine honors. But, about a quarter of an hour after the presents had been carried in triumph, the envoy and his train were brought forward. They were covered from head to foot with long black veils, which prevented their seeing, each led by a conductor, chosen from the meanest of the people. In this dishonorable manner, having traversed the city of Jedo, they at

length arrived at the palace-gate, and, after waiting half-an-hour, were admitted into the guard-room. Here their eyes were uncovered, and, in about an hour, the gentleman-usher introduced them into the Hall of Audience.* The emperor was at length shown, sitting in a kind of alcove at the upper end of the room, and the Dutch envoy was conducted towards the throne.

As soon as he had approached within a certain distance, the gentleman-usher cried out with a loud voice, Holanda Capitan ! Upon these words, the envoy fell flat upon the ground, and crept upon his hands and feet towards the throne. Still approaching, he reared himself upon his knees, and then bowed his forehead to the ground. These ceremonies being over, he was directed to withdraw, still grovelling on his belly, and going backward like a lobster.†

Men must be excessively fond of riches, when they are earned with such circumstances of abject submission. Do the Europeans worship heaven itself with marks of more profound respect? Do they confer those honors on the Supreme of Beings, which they pay to a barbarous king, who gives them a permission to purchase trinkets and porcelain? What a glorious exchange, to forfeit their national honor, and even their title to humanity, for a screen or a snuff-box!

If these ceremonics essayed in the first audience appeared mortifying, those which are practised in the second were infinitely more so. In the second audience, the emperor and the ladies of

*["Otherwise, the Hall of a Hundred Mats."-Kæmpfer, Hist. of Japan, vol. ii. p. 531]

Kæmpfer was born
For this excellent

[See Kæmpfer's History of Japan, vol. ii. p. 532. at Lemgow, in Westphalia, in 1651, and died in 1716. work, which appeared in 1727, in two volumes folio, the world is indebted to Sir Hans Sloane, who purchased all the doctor's curiosities, drawings and MSS. and induced Dr. Scheuchzer to translate it from the High Dutch into English.]

ourt were placed behind lattices, in such a manner as to see without being seen. Here all the Europeans were directed to pass in review, and grovel and act the serpent as before: with this spectacle the whole court seemed highly delighted. The strangers were asked a thousand ridiculous questions, as their names, and their ages; they were ordered to write, to stand upright, to sit, to stoop, to compliment each other, to be drunk, to speak the Japanese language, to talk Dutch, to sing, to eat; in short, they were ordered to do all that could satisfy the curiosity of women.

Imagine, my dear Altangi, a set of grave men thus transformed into buffoons, and acting a part every whit as honorable as that of those instructed animals which are shown in the streets of Pekin to the mob, on a holiday. Yet the ceremony did not end here, for every great lord of the court was to be visited in the same manner; and their ladies, who took the whim from their husbands, were all equally fond of seeing the strangers perform; even the children seemed highly diverted with the dancing Dutchmen.

"Alas!" cried I to myself, upon returning from such a spectacle, "is this the nation which assumes such dignity at the court of Pekin? Is this that people that appear so proud at home, and in every country where they have the least authority? How does a love of gain transform the gravest of mankind into the

* ["We obeyed," says Kæmpfer, "the emperor's commands in the best manner we could. I joined to my dance a love-song in High Dutch. In this manner, and with innumerable such other apish tricks, did we suffer ourselves to contribute to the emperor and the court's diversion. As I was dancing," continues the grave doctor, "I had an opportunity twice of seeing the empress through the slits of the lattices, and took notice that she was of a brown and beautiful complexion, with black European eyes, full of fire, and from the proportion of her head, which was pretty large, I judged her to be a tall woman, and about thirty-six years of age."-Vol. ii. p. 535.]

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most contemptible and ridiculous! I had rather continue poor all my life, than become rich at such a rate. Perish those riches which are acquired at the expense of my honor or my humanity! Let me quit," said I, a country where there are none but such as treat all others like slaves, and more detestable still, in suffering such treatment. I have seen enough of this nation to desire to see more of others. Let me leave a people suspicious to excess, whose morals are corrupted, and equally debased by superstition and vice; where the sciences are left uncultivated; where the great are slaves to the prince, and tyrants to the people; where the women are chaste only when debarred of the power of transgression; where the true disciples of Confucius are not less persecuted than those of Christianity; in a word, a country where men are forbidden to think, and consequently labor under the most miserable slavery-that of mental servitude." Adieu.

LETTER CXIX.

ON THE DISTRESSES OF THE POOR; EXEMPLIFIED IN THE LIFE OF * A COMMON SOLDIER.

From Lien Chi Altangi to Fum Hoam, &c.

The misfortunes of the great, my friend, are held up to engage our attention; are enlarged upon, in tones of declamation, and

* [This paper was first printed in the British Magazine, 1760. French critics have praised it, as exhibiting the spirit of an amusing, though humble optimist. It seems likewise to have been a favorite with the author; who introduced it into these Letters, when collected in 1762; and again into the volume of Essays, 1765. It touches his most favorite theme-one that is found in some form in nearly all his writings-the hardships and distresses of the poorer classes of society.]