EVOLUTION OF CEREMONIAL GOVERNMENT. 29 



by two contrasted statements in the records of the Hebrews. Of Solo- 

 mon it is said that " he reigned over all the kings from the river even 

 unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt ; " and also 

 that " all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon . . . 

 and they brought every man his present ... a rate year by year." 

 Conversely, it is written that, when Saul was chosen king, " the chil- 

 dren of Belial said, How shall this man save us? And they despised 

 him, and brought him no presents." Throughout the remote East, the 

 bringing of presents to the chief ruler has still the same meaning. In 

 Japan it was " a duty of each lord to visit and pay his respects at the 

 imperial court once a year, when they offered presents ; " and, further, 

 " the secular monarch pays bis respect and duty once a year to the 

 mikado ... by a solemn embassy and rich presents." In China the 

 meaning of the act as expressing subordination is extremely marked. 

 Along with the statement that " at the installation of the great khan 

 four thousand messengers and embassadors who came loaded with pres- 

 ents assisted at the ceremony," we read that the Mongol officers asked 

 the Franciscan friars dispatched by Innocent IV. " whether the pope 

 knew that the grand-khan was Heaven's son, and that the dominion of 

 the earth belonged of right to him . . . what present they had brought 

 from the pope to the great khan." And equally pronounced is the in- 

 terpretation put upon gift-making to the monarch in Burmah, where, 

 according to Yule, strenuous efforts were made " on former occasions 

 to introduce foreign envoys as suppliants on ' beg-pardon days ' among 

 the vassals and dependents of the empire : their presents being repre- 

 sented as deprecatory offerings to avert deserved punishment for of- 

 fenses against their liege lord." 



Nor does early European history fail to exemplify the meanings of 

 present-giving, alike for general propitiation, for special propitiation, 

 and as signifying loyalty. We learn that during the Merovingian 

 period " on a fixed day, once a year, in the field of March, according 

 to ancient custom, gifts were offered to the kings by the people ; " 

 and that this custom continued into the Carolingian period : the pres- 

 ents being of all kinds food and liquor, horses, gold, silver, jewels, 

 garments. We have the fact that they were made alike by individuals 

 and communities : towns thus expressing their loyalty. And we have 

 the fact that from the time of Gontram, who was overwhelmed with 

 gifts by the inhabitants of Orleans on entering it, onward, it long con- 

 tinued the habit with towns thus to seek the good-will of monarchs who 

 visited them, until eventually such presents became imperative. In 

 ancient England too, when the monarch visited a town, present-mak- 

 ing, at first by free-will but at length of necessity, entailed so heavy 

 a loss that in some cases "the passing of the royal family and court 

 was viewed as a great misfortune." 



Grouped as above, the evidence will suggest to every reader the in- 



