everybody's thoughts. The humble domicile
of the father was crowded with people of
the highest rank bringing their congratulations
to the parents, family, and friends of him who
was lifted to the apex of the pyramid of literary
glory, whose brightest light was shed on the
most adjacent kindred, but spread over the city,
the country, and even to the remotest parts of
the province.

In the time of Lord Macartney's embassy
(1793), the name of the Chwang-yuen was
Pwan-she-nghan. Forty-six years afterwards,
the following petition to the emperor appeared
in the Peking Gazette. It is a melancholy
picture of old age, broken down by intense
labour:

"Pwan-she-nghan, a principal secretary of
state, upon his knees presents a memorial, with
the sincerity of a subject he makes to his
sovereign his honest representation, upon which,
while he looks upward, he implores the sacred
glance.

"He would humbly state that, since the
commencement of the fourth intercalary moon, he
has been subject to a diarrhœa which he
accidentally contracted; the distress caused by
this, day and night, brought on lumbago. But
as for a time it did not interfere with his
kneeling and rising in the imperial presence, as
soon as his furlough was over he returned to
his duties in council. Having been repeatedly
honoured by the condescending benevolence of
your majesty, by the kindness which finds
nothing too small for its consideration, his heartburn
grew worse, his loins were more afflicted,
he prayed for a furlough of twenty days, and
his majesty was graciously pleased to reply:
' There is no reason for limiting his leave to a
given day; let him take his time, and place
himself under medical treatment.' He daily
looked forward to his recovery, longing to
requite, were it only a thousandth part of, the
imperial bounty. But during forty days the
heartburn and the lumbago have become more
violent. Walking, sitting, standing, lying down,
he is constrained to restlessness. His breath
and blood fail. Every day he is more broken
and exhausted.

"Prostrate, he reflects on the importance of
the business in the different courts over which
he presides, and that his sickly frame cannot
speedily be restored to health. He has been so
often overwhelmed by the perfect compassion of
his sovereign, and is so dismayed with the sense
of his official uselessness, that, looking upward,
he implores his sacred bounty to relieve his
servant from his various functions, so that he may
be attended to in the city, and the mind and
body find repose, and hope for partial recovery.
Once restored, it will be his duty to bow his
head into the mire at the palace gate, and to
beseech his majesty again to accept his services.

"If his prayer be heard, the favour shown
him from his youth will be boundlessly increased.
Unable to support his terror and his trepidation,
he presents this his written memorial."

The address illustrates the position of the
first subject of the empire, the tallest tree in
the literary forest (the Han-lin), in communication
with the Tien-tsze, " the son of heaven."

The military examinations are such as would
have suited the middle ages. They are mere
displays of personal prowess and agility, without
any reference to scientific tactics or strategy.
There is no instruction in artillery or engineering
services, no reading of books on the
construction of fortifications, or the art of war.
To say the truth, the trade of a soldier is somewhat
despised by a nation among whom the
plough is held in greater reverence than the
sword. Not long ago the Emperor of the French
sent three hundred Minié rifles to the Emperor
of China; the present was not accepted: first,
because the Chinese did not know how to use
them; and secondly, because the English did
know, and they might possibly fall into our hands.
The fortifications we destroyed have been mostly
reconstructed exactly as before, and of the guns
generally found in China, it has been truly said
there is more danger for him who stands near
the touch-hole than before the muzzle. At one
military examination we saw the troops divided
into two armies—the imperial legions and the
legions of the enemy. At the advance of the
first, with banners, and music, and much shouting,
the latter all fell on their faces, shamming
death. The prizes were awarded to the men
who could raise the heaviest stone, fling the
hammer to the greatest distance, shoot an arrow,
or drive a spear most successfully, parry off a
blow with a shield, or most dexterously slip
aside from the onset of a foe. There were
some assaults by lancers on miserable ponies,
much firing from matchlock jingals, of which
one man bore the cannon on his shoulder, and
another directed the aim and lighted the fuse
behind. The marine reviews are more ridiculous
than the military. Many flags, much noise,
grotesque gymnastics, swimming with bladderbags
and diving without them. As yet, not a
war-ship has been built on a European model.
Almost every Chinese junk has great eyes painted
on both sides of the prow, and still the words may
be heard from satisfied admirers, " No got eyes,
how can see?"

KEEPING OUT OF IT.

By all means keep out of it; " it" generally
representing an endless supply of hot water,
sometimes a barrel of boiling pitch for a diversion,
sometimes a mass of dirt and clinging
mud, most frequently a tray full of tempting-
looking pies with bitter pills for plums. What
is the good of going into it? Without the
slightest desire for the state of oysterdom, and
without being in any way one of the peace-at-
any-price men, I maintain that to keep out of it,
and not to go into it, is frequently a proof of
the highest wisdom, of the greatest self-control,
and sometimes of the most stately heroism that
can be shown; also, nine times out of ten, a
proof that you hold wider views on the matter