MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



489 



inhabit, however, three distinct 

 towns ; the Perchask fortress with 

 its adjoining streets, standing upon 

 the summit of a hill on the east; 

 Old Kiev, with its Polish fortifi- 

 cations, lying to the west ; and 

 below, the Podolsk quarter ; which 

 last is in a dilapidated state, having 

 suffered a dreadful conflagration 

 about four years ago. Many 

 houses had been renewed, but it 

 contains nothing very striking, 

 except the remains of some old 

 Greek convents, and buildings of 

 that nature. On ascending tlie 

 hill from hence, the road jiasses 

 near the spring where St. Vlado- 

 niir bnptised the first Russian 

 converts : the place is held sacred, 

 and a column bearing a cross is 

 erected over it to commemorate 

 the pious act, as well as to record 

 the former importance of Kiev as 

 the seat of sovereignty. 



A brief I'iew of the Chinese Drama, 

 and of their Theatrical Exhibi- 

 tions. Prefixed to a Translation 

 of a Chinese Drama, entitled "An 

 Heir in his Old Age." 



Among the many interesting and 

 valuable couununicalions, for 

 which Europe is indebteil to the 

 Jesuits and the other less enlight- 

 ened and more prejudiced orders 

 of the Catholic missionaiies, who 

 established themselves in China 

 more than two ccntuiies ago, very 

 little is to be found respecting the 

 laste of that extraordinary nation 

 for lyric ])oetry, or theatrical ex- 

 hibitions ; and from the infre- 

 quency of European ^isitors, we 

 are left almost wholly in the dark 

 with regard to the nature of this 

 kind of composition, qs \sell as of 



the actual state of the drama, and 

 indeed of that department of lite- 

 rature in general which is usually 

 known by the name of belles let- 

 tres. Led astray by Chinese pre- 

 jiulices, and falling in with Chi- 

 nese feelings, respecting their 

 ancient books, these writers have 

 80 stuffed their communications 

 with excessive panegyric on the 

 beauties of the four King, and the 

 wisdom and virtues of Yao and 

 Chun, as t6 leave themselves no 

 time to inquire into the moderate 

 state of general literatvue. We 

 are told, indeed, by Pere Cibot,* 

 and the remark is copied from him 

 by the Abbe Grozier, •' that they 

 would speak, in China, of a man 

 of letters making good verses, 

 just as they would speak, in 

 France, of a captain of infantry 

 playing well on the violin ; " yet 

 both the one and the other imme- 

 diately contradict such a notion, 

 by quoting several pieces of poetry, 

 both ancient and modern, extolling 

 their beauties, and endeavouring 

 to shew their influence over the 

 passions, and the estimation in 

 which they have been held from 

 the earliest periods to the present 

 times. The truth is, the most an- 

 cient records that remain of China, 

 consist of poetry. The very sym- 

 bol by which compositions of this 

 kind are designated, points out 

 their early origin ; — shee, a cha- 

 racter compounded of a word, and 

 a hull or temple, a place from which 

 the magistrates anciently delivered 

 instruction to the people — theM;or(/s 

 of the temple — being short-mea- 

 sured sentences, composed gene- 

 rally of four characters, so chosen 

 as to be each of them very cxpres- 



• Mem. Chin. Tom, viii. p. S.V. 



sive 



