MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



491 



we ai'e told that the greater part 

 of Chinese comedies and tragedies 

 appear to be written to shew the 

 deformity of vice and the ciiarms 

 of virtue. The writer might have 

 added, that they are universally 

 performed and encouraged from 

 the court to the cottage ; that the 

 Chinese are so passionately fond of 

 scenic representations, that in most 

 houses of the great, a hall is set 

 apart for the performance of plays ; 

 that no entertainment is ever given 

 without a company of c:imedians 

 to amuse the guests ; that they 

 constitute a part of all public fes- 

 tivals ; and that foieign ambassa- 

 dors are invariably entertained with 

 theatrical representations : — he 

 might further have added, that it 

 is not true, as he asserts, that 

 public theatres are pui on a level 

 with houses of prostitution and 

 confined to the suburbs of cities.* 

 There is no such thing, in fact, as 

 a public theatre in all China. A 

 Chinese company of players will 

 at any time construct a theatre in 

 the course of a couple of hours ; 

 a few bamboos as posts to suj)poi t 

 a roof of mats, and a floor of 

 boards, raised some six or seven 

 feet from the ground ; and a few 

 pieces of painted cotton to cover 

 the three sides, the front being left 

 entirely open, are all that is re- 

 quired for the construction of a 

 Chinese theatre; which very much 

 I'esembles, when finished, one of 

 those booths erected for similar 

 purposes in Bartholomew Fair, but 

 is Par less substantial. Indeed a 

 common apartment is all that is 

 necessary for the performance of 

 a Chinese play. They have no 



• Ul supra. Grozier, vol. ii p. 417. 



scenical deception to assist the 

 story, as in the modern theatres of 

 Europe ; and the odd expedients 

 to which theyare sometimes driven 

 by the want of scenery are not 

 many degrees above Nick Bot- 

 tom's " bush of thorns and a Ian- 

 thorn, to disfigure or to present 

 the person of moonshine;" or the 

 man with " some plaister, or some 

 lome, or some rough cast about 

 him to signify wall ; " thus a ge- 

 neral is ordered upon an expe- 

 dition to a distant province, he 

 mounts a stick, or brandishes a 

 whip, or takes in his hand the 

 reins of a bridle, and striding three 

 or four times round the stage in 

 the midst of a tremendous crash 

 of gongs, drums, and trumpets, 

 he stops short, and tells the au- 

 dience where he is got to ; if the 

 wall of a city is to be stormed, 

 three or four soldiers lie down on 

 each other to " present wall." A 

 tolerable judgment may be formed 

 of what little assistance the ima- 

 ginations of an English audience 

 derived from scenical deception, by 

 the state of the drama and the stage 

 as described by Sir Philip Sidney, 

 about the year 15b3. " Now you 

 shall have three ladies walk to 

 gather flowers, and then we must 

 believe the stage to be a garden. 

 By and by we have news of ship- 

 wreck in the same place ; then 

 we are to blame, if we accept it 

 not for a rock. Upon the back of 

 that, comes out a hideous monster 

 with fire and smoke ; and tlien 

 the miserable beholders are bmnid 

 to take it for a cave ; while in the 

 mean time two armies fly in, re- 

 piesented with four s^vords and 

 l>ucklers, and then what hard heart 

 will npt receive it fi)r a pitched 



field t" 



