e been more and more solicitous to pup the breed of their dogs and horses, n that of their children. This very Iman, simple as he seems, is descended m a race of statesmen and heroes; tuckily, his great-grandfather marg a cook-maid, and she having a g passion for his lordship's groom, ev somehow crossed the strain, and ed an heir, who took after his other in his great love to good eating, s father in a violent affection for neish. These passions have for some arations passed on from father to son, nd are now become the characteristics the family, his present lordship being qy remarkable for his kitchen and his

"Bat such a nobleman," cried I, "deerves our pity, thus placed in so high a are of life, which only the more exposes tempt. A king may confer titles, As personal merit alone that ensures ect. I suppose," added I, "that such Tre despised by their equals, neglected her inferiors, and condemned to live og involuntary dependants in irksome

*You are still under a mistake,” replied #companion, “for, though this nobleis a stranger to generosity; though #kes twenty opportunities in a day of g his guests know how much he ses them; though he is possessed er of taste, wit, nor wisdom; though apable of improving others by his constion, and never known to enrich any is bounty; yet, for all this, his comis eagerly sought after he is a lord, that is as much as most people desire a companion. Quality and title have allurements, that hundreds are ready give up all their own importance, to age, to flatter, to look little, and to pall ery pleasure in constraint, merely to be ong the great, though without the least es of improving their understanding, sharing their generosity: they might happy among their equals, but those despised for company where they are espised in turn. You saw what a crowd hamble cousins, card-ruined beaux, and prains on half-pay, were willing to make this great man's retinue down to his

country seat. Not one of all these that could not lead a more comfortable life at home, in their little lodging of three shillings a week, with their lukewarm dinner, served up between two pewter plates from a cook's shop. Yet, poor devils! they are willing to undergo the impertinence and pride of their entertainer, merely to be thought to live among the great; they are willing to pass the summer in bondage, though conscious they are taken down only to approve his lordship's taste upon every occasion, to tag all his stupid observations with a very true,' to praise his stable, and descant upon his claret and cookery."

"The pitiful humiliations of the gentlemen you are now describing," said I, "put me in mind of a custom among the Tartars of Koreki, not entirely dissimilar to this we are now considering. The Russians, who trade with them, carry thither a kind of mushrooms, which they exchange for furs of squirrels, ermines, sables, and foxes. These mushrooms the rich Tartars lay up in large quantities for the winter; and when a nobleman makes a mushroom feast, all the neighbours around are invited. The mushrooms are prepared by boiling, by which the water acquires an intoxicating quality, and is a sort of drink which the Tartars prize beyond all other. When the nobility and ladies are assembled, and the ceremonies usual between people of distinction over, the mushroom broth goes freely round; they laugh, talk double entendre, grow fuddled, and become excellent company. The poorer sort, who love mushroom broth to distraction as well as the rich, but cannot afford it at the first hand, post themselves on these occasions round the huts of the rich, and watch the opportunity of the ladies and gentlemen as they come down to pass their liquor; and holding a wooden bowl, catch the delicious fluid, very little altered by filtration, being still strongly tinctured with the intoxicating quality. Of this they drink with the utmost satisfaction, and thus they get as drunk and as jovial as their betters.'

"Happy nobility!" cries my companion, "who can fear no diminution of respect, unless by being seized with strangury, and

who when most drunk are most useful! Though we have not this custom among us, I foresee, that if it were introduced we might have many a toad-eater in England ready to drink from the wooden bowl on these occasions, and to praise the flavour of his lordship's liquor. As we have different classes of gentry, who knows but we may see a lord holding the bowl to a minister, a knight holding it to his lordship, and a simple squire drinking it double distilled from the loins of the knighthood? For my part, I shall never for the future hear a great man's flatterers haranguing in his praise, that I shall not fancy I behold the wooden bowl; for I can see no reason why a man, who can live easily and happily at home, should bear the drudgery of decorum and the impertinence of his entertainer, unless intoxicated with a passion for all that was quality; unless he thought that whatever came from the great was delicious, and had the tincture of the mushroom in it."-Adieu.

LETTER XXXIII.

To the same.

I AM disgusted, O Fum Hoam! even to sickness disgusted! Is it possible to bear the presumption of these Islanders, when they pretend to instruct me in the ceremonies of China? They lay it down as a maxim, that every person who comes from thence must express himself in metaphor, swear by Alla, rail against wine, and behave, and talk, and write, like a Turk or Persian. They make no distinction between our elegant manners and the voluptuous barbarities of our Eastern neighbours. Wherever I come, I raise either diffidence or astonishment: some fancy me no Chinese, because I am formed more like a man than a monster; and others wonder to find one born five thousand miles from England endued with common sense. 'Strange," say they, "that a man who has received his education at such a distance from London should have common sense; to be born out of England, and yet have common sense! Impossible! He must be some Englishman in disguise; his very visage has nothing of the true exotic barbarity."

I yesterday received an invitation a lady of distinction, who, it seems, collected all her knowledge of Ea manners from fictions every day pr gated here, under the titles of Eastern and Oriental histories. She received very politely, but seemed to wonder I neglected bringing opium and a tob box when chairs were drawn for the of the company, I was assigned my on a cushion on the floor. It was in that I protested the Chinese used ch as in Europe; she understood deco too well to entertain me with the ordi civilities.

I had scarcely been seated accor to her directions, when the footman ordered to pin a napkin under my d this I protested against, as being no Chinese; however, the whole comp who, it seems, were a club of connoisse gave it unanimously against me, and napkin was pinned accordingly.

It was impossible to be angry v people who seemed to err only from excess of politeness, and I sat content expecting their importunities were nov an end; but, as soon as ever dinner y served, the lady demanded whether I for a plate of bear's claws, or a slice birds' nests. As these were dishes w which I was utterly unacquainted, I v desirous of eating only what I knew, a therefore begged to be helped from a pi of beef that lay on the side table: 1 request at once disconcerted the wh company. A Chinese eat beef! that cot never be there was no local propriety Chinese beef, whatever there might be Chinese pheasant. Sir," said my ent tainer, “I think I have some reason fancy myself a judge of these matters; short, the Chinese never eat beef; so th I must be permitted to recommend t pilaw. There was never better dress at Pekin; the saffron and rice are m boiled, and the spices in perfection."

66

I had no sooner begun to eat what w laid before me, than I found the whe company as much astonished as before; seems I made no use of my chop-stick A grave gentleman, whom I take to le author, harangued very learnedly (as u company seemed to think) upon the u

th was made of them in China. He red into a long argument with himself at their first introduction, without once ealing to me, who might be supposed apable of silencing the inquiry. As getleman therefore took my silence a mark of his own superior sagacity, was resolved to pursue the triumph: taked of our cities, mountains, and as as familiarly as if he had been Quamsi, but as erroneously as if ve of the moon. He attempted prove that I had nothing of the true se cut in my visage; showed that h cheekbones should have been her, and my forehead broader. In brt, be almost reasoned me out of my Antry, and effectually persuaded the rest the company to be of his opinion. I was going to expose his mistakes, ten it was insisted, that I had nothing The tree Eastern manner in my delivery. Ts gentleman's conversation," says one fa: ladies, who was a great reader, “is brown,-mere chit-chat and comserse: there is nothing like sense ite true Eastern style, where nothing is required but sublimity. Oh history of Aboulfaouris, the grand er, of genii, magicians, rocks, bags of s giants, and enchanters, where all Fat, obscure, magnificent, and uninof the.”—“I have written many a sheet estern tale myself," interrupts the "and I defy the severest critic to that I have stuck close to the true I have compared a lady's chin He snow upon the mountains of Bomek; ter's sword to the clouds that obscure fce of heaven. If riches are mend. I compare them to the flocks that the verdant Tefflis; if poverty, to mists that veil the brow of Mount ka. I have used thee and thou upon ccasions; I have described fallen stars splitting mountains, not forgetting the le houris, who make a pretty figure in ry description. But you shall hear I generally begin-Eben-benbolo, was the son of Ban, was born on the gy summits of Benderabassi. His was whiter than the feathers which the breast of the penguin; his eyes e like the eyes of doves when washed |

by the dews of the morning; his hair, which hung like the willow weeping over the glossy stream, was so beautiful that it seemed to reflect its own brightness; and his feet were as the feet of a wild deer which fleeth to the tops of the mountains.' There, there is the true Eastern taste for you; every advance made towards sense is only a deviation from sound. Eastern tales should always be sonorous, lofty, musical, and unmeaning."

I could not avoid smiling, to hear a native of England attempt to instruct me in the true Eastern idiom; and after he looked round some time for applause, I presumed to ask him, whether he had ever travelled into the East; to which he replied in the negative. I demanded whether he understood Chinese or Arabic; to which also he answered as before. "Then how, sir," said I, “can you pretend to determine upon the Eastern style, who are entirely unacquainted with the Eastern writings? Take, sir, the word of one who is professedly a Chinese, and who is actually acquainted with the Arabian writers, that what is palmed upon you daily for an imitation of Eastern writing no way resembles their manner, either in sentiment or diction. In the East similes are seldom used, and metaphors almost wholly unknown; but in China particularly, the very reverse of what you allude to takes place: a cool phlegmatic method of writing prevails there. The writers of that country, ever more assiduous to instruct than to please, address rather the judgment than the fancy. Unlike many authors of Europe, who have no consideration of the reader's time, they generally leave more to be understood than they express.

"Besides, sir, you must not expect from an inhabitant of China the same ignorance, the same unlettered simplicity, that you find in a Turk, Persian, or native of Peru. The Chinese are versed in the sciences as well as you, and are masters of several arts unknown to the people of Europe. Many of them are instructed not only in their own national learning, but are perfectly well acquainted with the languages and learning of the West. If my word in such a case is not to be taken, consult your own travellers on this head, who affirm, that

the scholars of Pekin and Siam sustain theological theses in Latin. "The college of Masprend, which is but a league from Siam,' says one of your travellers, 'came in a body to salute our ambassador. Nothing gave me more sincere pleasure, than to behold a number of priests, venerable both from age and modesty, followed by a number of youths of all nations, Chinese, Japanese, Tonquinese, of Cochin China, Pegu, and Siam, all willing to pay their respects in the most polite manner imaginable. A Cochin Chinese made an excellent Latin oration upon this occasion; he was succeeded, and even outdone, by a student of Tonquin, who was as well skilled in the Western learning as any scholar of Paris.' Now, sir, if youths who never stirred from home are so perfectly skilled in your laws and learning, surely more must be expected from one like me, who have travelled so many thousand miles; who have conversed familiarly for several years with the English factors established at Canton and the missionaries sent us from every part of Europe. The unaffected of every country nearly resemble each other, and a page of our Confucius and of your Tillotson have scarce any material diference. Paltry affectation, strained allusions, and disgusting finery are easily attained by those who choose to wear them: and they are but too frequently the badges of ignorance or of stupidity, whenever it would endeavour to please."

I was proceeding in my discourse, when, looking round, I perceived the company no way attentive to what I attempted, with so much earnestness, to enforce. One lady was whispering her that sat next, another was studying the merits of a fan, a third began to yawn, and the author himself fell fast asleep. I thought it, therefore, high time to make a retreat; nor did the company seem to show any regret at my preparations for departure: even the lady who had invited me, with the most mortifying insensibility, saw me seize my hat, and rise from my cushion; nor was I invited to repeat my visit, because it was found that I aimed at appearing rather a reasonable creature, than an outlandish idiot.-Adieu.

LETTER XXXIV.
To the same.

THE polite arts are in this country s to as many revolutions as its la politics: not only the objects of fant dress, but even of delicacy and tast directed by the capricious influen fashion. I am told there has been t when poetry was universally encou by the great; when men of the first not only patronised the poet, but pro the finest models for his imitation. 1 then the English sent forth those gl rhapsodies, which we have so often over together with rapture; poem with all the sublimity of Mencius, supported by reasoning as strong as of Zimpo.

The nobility are fond of wisdom they are also fond of having it wi study; to read poetry required thou and the English nobility were not fo thinking: they soon therefore placed affections upon music, because in this might indulge a happy vacancy, and still have pretensions to delicacy and as before. They soon brought their nɩ rous dependants into an approbatio their pleasures; who, in turn, led t thousand imitators to feel or feign sit tude of passion. Colonies of singers v now imported from abroad at a vast pense; and it was expected the Eng would soon be able to set examples Europe. All these expectations, howe were soon dissipated. In spite of the which fired the great, the ignorant val refused to be taught to sing; refused undergo the ceremonies which were initiate them in the singing fraterni thus the colony from abroad dwindled degrees; for they were of themsel unfortunately incapable of propagati the breed.

Music having thus lost its splendo painting is now become the sole object fashionable care. The title of connoisse in that art is at present the safest passp in every fashionable society; a well-tim shrug, an admiring attitude, and one two exotic tones of exclamation, are st ficient qualifications for men of low a cumstances to curry favour. Even st

young nobility are themselves early cted in handling the pencil, while happy parents, big with expectation, ze the walls of every apartment red with the manufactures of their ray.

it many of the English are not content giving all their time to this art at e; some young men of distinction are d to travel through Europe, with no ratent than that of understanding lecting pictures, studying seals, and tag statues. On they travel from cabinet of curiosities to that gallery pares; waste the prime of life in ; skilful in pictures, ignorant in 4; yet impossible to be reclaimed, use their follies take shelter under names of delicacy and taste. It is rue, painting should have due enragment; as the painter can undoubtÉpour apartments in a much more canner than the upholsterer: but i think a man of fashion makes but erent exchange, who lays out all me in furnishing his house, which he ave employed in the furniture of A person who shows no other rams of taste than his cabinet or y, might as well boast to me of the are of his kitchen. know no other motive but vanity, that s the great to testify such an inordipassion for pictures. After the piece ght, and gazed at eight or ten days essively, the purchaser's pleasure must be over; all the satisfaction he can hove is to show it to others; he may sidered as the guardian of a treasure ach he makes no manner of use; his y is furnished, not for himself, but nnoisseur, who is generally some le flatterer, ready to feign a rapture does not feel, and as necessary to the ness of a picture buyer, as gazers to the magnificence of an Asiatic

Lession.

have enclosed a letter from a youth stinction, on his travels, to his father Ingland; in which he appears addicted ovice, seems obedient to his governor, good natural disposition, and fond of rovement; but, at the same time, early ht to regard cabinets and galleries

as the only proper schools of improvement, and to consider a skill in pictures as the properest knowledge for a man of quality.

"MY LORD,-We have been but two days at Antwerp; wherefore I have sat down, as soon as possible, to give you some account of what we have seen since our arrival, desirous of letting no opportunity pass without writing to so good a father. Immediately upon alighting from our Rotterdam machine, my governor, who is immoderately fond of paintings, and at the same time an excellent judge, would let no time pass till we paid our respects to the church of the Virgin Mother, which contains treasure beyond estimation. We took an infinity of pains in knowing its exact dimensions, and differed half a foot in our calculation; so I leave that to some succeeding information. I really believe my governor and I could have lived and died there. There is scarce a pillar in the whole church that is not adorned by a Rubens, a Vander Meuylen, a Vandyke, or a Wouverman. What attitudes, carnations, and draperies! I am almost induced to pity the English, who have none of thosexquisite pieces among them. As we were willing to let slip no opportunity of doing business, we immediately after went to wait on Mr. Hogendorp, whom you have so frequently commended for his judicious collection. His cameos are indeed beyond price; his intaglios not so good. He showed us one of an officiating Flamen, which he thought to be an antique; but my governor, who is not to be deceived in these particulars, soon found it out to be an arrant cinque cento. I could not, however, sufficiently admire the genius of Mr. Hogendorp, who has been able to collect, from all parts of the world, a thousand things which nobody knows the use of. Except your Lordship and my governor, I do not know anybody I admire so much. He is, indeed, a surprising genius. The next morning early, as we were resolved to take the whole day before us, we sent our compliments to Mr. Van Sprockken, desiring to see his gallery, which request he very politely complied with. His gallery measures