476. ANNUAL REGISTER, 399. 
mandarins and officers of inferior 
' dignity, ftood at the great opening 
of the tent, from whence moft of 
the ceremonies thai paffed within 
could be obferved. 
His Excellency was habited in a 
richly embroidered fuit of velvet, 
adorned with a diamond badge and 
ftar, of the Order of the Bath. Over 
the fuit he wore a long mantle of 
the fame order, fufficiently ample 
to cover the limbs of the wearer. 
An attention to Chinefeé ideas and > 
manners, rendered the choice in 
drefs of fome importance ; and ac- 
counts for this mention of it. The 
particular regard, in every inftance, 
paid by that nation to exterior ap- 
pearances, affects even the fyftem 
of their apparel, which is calculated 
to infpire gravity and referve, For 
this purpofe, they ufe forms the 
‘moft diftant from thofe which dif- 
cover the naked figure. Indeed, 
among the moit favage people, few 
or none are to be found to whom 
an interior fentiment, unconnected 
with any caution againit inclemen- 
cy of weather, does not fuggeit the 
propriety of covering fome portion 
of the human frame. This fenti- 
ment, to which is given the name 
of decency, as pointing out what is 
becoming to do, increafes generally 
with the progrefs of civilization and 
refinement; and is carried nowhere 
perhaps fo far as among the Chi- 
nefe, who hide, for the moft part in 
their loofe and flowing robes, the 
bulk and form of their limbs. In 
this refpect there is fcarcely any 
difference between the dretles of 
the two fexes. Even the imitation 
by art of the human figure, either 
naked or covered only with fuch 
veitments as follow and difplay the 
contour of the body, is offenfive to 
Chinefe delicacy: a y which 
‘ 
has retarded the progrefs of paint- 
ing and fculpture, as far at leaft as 
relates to fuch fubjects in that coun- 
try. It has alfo led to the obliga- 
tion impofed upon the miffionaries 
to adopt the drefs of the natives, as 
being more chafte and decent than 
the clofe and fhort clothes of mo- 
dern Europe. 
The broad mantle which, as a 
Knight of the Bath, the Ambaflador 
was entitled to wear, was fomewhat 
upon the plan of drefs moft pleaf- 
ing to the Chinefe. Upon the 
fame principle, the Minifter Pleni- 
potentiary, who being an Honorary 
Doctor of Laws of’ the Univerfity 
of Oxford, wore the fcarlet gown 
of that degree, which happened al- 
fo to be fuitable in a government 
where degrees in learning lead to 
every kind of political fituation, 
The Ambafiador, inftructed by the 
prefident of the tribunal of rites, 
held the largeand magnificent fquare 
box of gold, adorned with jewels, 
in which was inclofed his Majefty’s 
letter to the Emperor, between both 
hands lifted above his head; andin 
that manner afcended the few fteps 
that led to the throne, and bending 
on one knee, prefented the box, 
with a fhort addrefs, to his Impe- 
rial Majefty ; who, gracioufly re- 
ceiving the fame with his own 
hands, placed it by his fide, and ex- 
prefled the fatisfaction he felt at 
the teftimony which his Britannic 
Majefty gave to him of his efteem 
and good-will, in fending him an 
embafly, with a letter, and rare pre- 
fents; that he, on his part, enter- 
tained fentiments of the fame kind 
towards the fovereign of Great Bri- 
tain, and hoped that harmony fhould 
always be maintained among their 
refpective fubjects. 
“This mode of reception af the 
reptes 
