ad. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1590. 



onely as by certaine rumours hath come to my know- 

 The king of ledge : for of matters appertaining unto the kings Court 

 China. we nave no eye-witnesses, sithens the fathers of the 



society have not as yet proceeded unto Paquin, who 

 so soone as (by Gods assistance) they shall there be 

 arrived, will by their letters more fully advertise us. 

 The king of China therefore is honoured with woonder- 

 full reverence and submission thorowout his whole 

 Realme : and whensoever any of his chiefe Magistrates 

 Van-Svl speaketh unto him, he calleth him VAN-SVI, signifying 

 thereby that he wisheth tenne thousands of yeeres unto 

 him. The succession of the kingdome dependeth upon 

 The succession the bloud royall : for the eldest sonne borne of the kings 

 of the crowne. first and j aw f u n w if e obtaineth the kingdome after his 

 fathers decease : neither doe they deprive themselves of 

 the kingly authority in their life time (as the maner is 

 in our Hands of Japon) but the custome of Europe is 

 there observed. Now, that the safety and life of the 

 The kings Ymg ma y stand in more security, his yoonger brethren, 

 yonger breth- and ^ rest b orne Q f CO ncubines are not permitted to 

 live in the kings Court : but places of habitation are by 

 the king himselfe assigned unto them in divers provinces 

 farre distant asunder, where they dwell most com- 

 modiously, being comparable unto kings for their build- 

 ings and revenues : howbeit they exercise no authority 

 over the people, but all the government of those Cities 

 wherein they dwell, concerneth the Magistrates, who 

 notwithstanding have the sayde Princes in high regard 

 and honour, and doe visit them twise in a moneth, and 

 salute them kneeling upon their knees, and bowing their 

 faces downe to the earth : and yet they communicate 

 nothing unto them as touching the administration of the 

 Common-wealth. These are they which may properly 

 be called the Peeres or Princes of the Realme of China : 

 for they derive their houses and revenues unto their 

 posterity, and so are these royall families continually pre- 

 served. But to returne unto the king himselfe, hee is 

 most chary in observing the Chinian lawes and customes, 



368 



ren 



