of these matters: in short, the Chinese never eat beef; so that I must be permitted to recommend the Pilaw. There was never better dressed at Pekin; the saffron and rice are well-boiled, and the spices in perfection.

I had no sooner begun to eat what was laid before me, than I found the whole company as much aftonished as before; it seems I made no use of my chop-sticks. A grave gentleman, whom I take to be an author, harangued very learnedly (as the company seemed to think) upon the use which was made of them in China. He entered into a long argument with himself about their first introduction, without once appealing to me, who might be supposed best capable of silencing the enquiry. As the gentleman therefore took my silence for a mark of his own superior sagacity, he was resolved to pursue the triumph: he talked of our cities, mountains, and animals, as familiarly as if he had been born in Quamsi, but as erroneously as if a native of the moon. He attempted to prove that I had nothing of the true Chinese cut in my visage; shewed that my cheek-bones should have been higher, and my forehead broader. In short, he almost reasoned me out of my country, and effectually persuaded the rest of the company to be of his opinion.

I was going to expose his mistakes, when it was insisted that I had nothing of the true Eastern manner in my delivery. This gentleman's conversation (says one of the ladies, who was a great reader) is like our own, mere chit chat and common sense : there is nothing like sense in the true Eastern style, where nothing more is required but sublimity. Oh! for an history of Aboulfaouris, the grand voyager, of genii, magicians, rocks, bags of bullets, giants, and enchanters, where all is great, obscure, magnificent, and unintelligible! I have written many a sheet of Eastern tale myself, interrupts the author,

and I defy the severest critic to say but that I have stuck close to the true manner. I have compared a lady's chin to the snow upon the mountains of Bomek; a soldier's sword, so the clouds that obscure the face of Heaven. If riches are mentioned, I compared them to the flocks that graze the verdant Tefflis; if poverty, to the mists that veil the brow of mount Baku. I have used thee and thou upon all occasions; I have described fallen stars, and splitting mountains, not forgetting the little Houries, who make a pretty figure in every description: but you should hear how I generally begin. "Eben

66

"ben-bolo, who was the son of Ban, was born on "the foggy summits of Benderabassi. His beard "was whiter than the feathers which veil the breast "of the Penguin; his eyes were like the eyes of doves, when washed by the dews of the morning; "his hair, which hung like the willow weeping over "the glassy 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 asked 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 isprofessedly a Chinese, and who is actually acquainted with the Arabian writers,

that

of these matters: in sh beef; so that I must b the Pilaw. There was i the saffron and rice ar in perfection.

I had no sooner beg me, than I found the tonished as before; chop-sticks. A gra be an author, har company seemed † made of them in argument with J tion, without or supposed best c the gentleman of his own suJ sue the triun and animal Quamsi, b moon. F of the tri my che

forehe out of

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Tonquin, who was as well skilled in the ning as any scholar of Paris. Now, Sir, ho never stirred from home, are so perd in your laws and learning, surely more pected from one like me, who have tra4any thousand miles; who have conversed for several years with the English factors 1 at Canton, and the missionaries sent us y part of Europe. The unaffected of ntry nearly resemble each other, and a ur Confucius and of your Tillotson have any material difference. Paltry affectation, allusions, and disgusting finery are easily by those who chuse to wear them; and e but too frequently the badges of ignoor of stupidity, whenever it would endeaplease.

as proceeding in my discourse, when, looking ., I perceived the company no way attentive to I attempted, with so much earnestness to en

One lady was whispering her that sat next, ner was studying the merits of a fan, a third an to yawn, and the author himself fell fast ep: I thought it, therefore, high time to make treat; nor did the company seem to shew any ret at my preparations for departure; even the

ly who had invited me, with the most mortifying sensibility saw me seize my hat, and rise from my ashion: nor was I invited to repeat my visit, beause it was found that I aimed at appearing rather reasonable creature, than an outlandish ideot.

Adieu.

LETTER

LETTER XXXIII.

TO THE SAME.

THE polite arts are in this country subject to as many revolutions as its laws or politics: not only the objects of fancy and dress, but even of delicacy and taste, are directed by the capricious influence of fashion. I am told there has been a time when poetry was universally encouraged by the great; when men of the first rank not only patronized the poet, but produced the finest models for his imitation. It was then the English sent forth those glowing rhapsodies, which we have so often read over together with rapture; poems big with all the sublimity of Mentius, and supported by reasoning as strong as that of Zimpo.

The nobility are fond of wisdom, but they are also fond of having it without study, to read poetry required thought, and the English nobility were not fond of thinking: they soon therefore placed their affections upon music because in this they might indulge an happy vacancy, and yet still have pretensions to delicacy and taste as before. They soon brought their numerous dependants into an approbation of their pleasures; who in turn led their thousand imitators to feel or feign similitude of passion. Colonies of singers were now imported from abroad at a vast expence, and it was expected the English would soon be able to set examples to Europe; all these expectations however were soon dissipated. In spite of the zeal which fired the great, the ignorant vulgar refused to be taught to sing: refused to undergo the ceremonies which were to initiate them in the singing fraternity: thus the colony