494 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



head, singing her speech, with a 

 chaiming voice, and agreeable 

 motion of the body, playing with 

 her hands, in one of which she 

 held a. fan. The prologue thus 

 performed, the play followed, the 

 story of which turned upon a Chi- 

 nese emperor, long since dead, 

 who had behaved himself well to- 

 wards his country, and in honour 

 of whose memory the play was 

 written. Sometimes he appeared 

 in royal robes, with a flat ivory 

 sceptre in his hand, and sometimes 

 his officers shewed themselves with 

 ensigns, arms, and drums, &c. and 

 by intervals a sort of farce was 

 acted by their lacqueys, whose an- 

 tick dress and painted faces Were as 

 well as any I have seen in Europe ; 

 and, as far as was interpreted to 

 me, their farce was very diverting, 

 especially part of it which repre- 

 sented a person who had in his 

 marriage been cheated by a de- 

 bauched wife, and fancying her 

 constant to him, had the mortifi- 

 cation to see another make love to 

 her before his face." * 



INIr. Bell, who accompanied the 

 Russian ambassador to Pekin in 

 1719, describes the court amuse- 

 ments to consist of wrestling, 

 sham-fights, tumbling, posture- 

 making, and tire-works. At an 

 entertainment given to tlie gentle- 

 men of the embassy, by one of 

 the emperor's sons, the amuse- 

 ments where somewhat better. 

 Speaking of the comedians, he 

 says, "There entered on the stage 

 seven warriois, all in armour, 

 witii ditl'erent weapons in their 

 hands, and terrible vizards on their 

 faces. After they had taken a few 

 turns about the stage, and survey- 



• Harris's Voyages, vol. ii. p. 9.39. 



ed each other's armour, they at 

 last fell a quarrelling ; and, in the 

 encounter, one of the heroes was 

 slain. Then an angel descended 

 from the clouds, in a flash of light- 

 ning, with a monstrous sword in 

 his hand, and soon parted the com- 

 batants, by driving them all off 

 the stage ; which done, he ascend- 

 ed in the same manner he came 

 down, in a cloud of fire and smoke. 

 This scene was succeeded by se- 

 veral comical farces, which, to me, 

 seemed very diverting, though in 

 a language I did not understand."* 

 But the comedy performed at a 

 tavern in Pekin, " by a company 

 of players maintained by the 

 house," at an entertainment given 

 to them by "a. young Chinese 

 gentleman," afforded to all great 

 pleasure ; " and the performers 

 consisted of both men and wo- 

 men, well-dressed, and of decent 

 behaviour." f 



Lord Macartney, in his own 

 journal, describes the wrestling, 

 tumbling, wire-dancing, conjur- 

 ing, and fire-works, that were 

 exhibited at his introduction to the 

 late Emperor Kien-lung, and 

 seems to speak of them with great 

 contempt, except the ingenuity 

 with which the Chinese had dis- 

 played their art in clothing fire 

 with all manner of colours and 

 shapes. Their " wretched dra- 

 mas," as he calls them, are thus 

 described. " The theatrical en- 

 teitainments consisted of great 

 variety, both tragical and comical} 

 several distinct pieces were acted 

 in succession, though without any 

 apparent connexion with one ano- 

 ther. Some of them were his- 



* Bell's Travels from St. Pctersburgh, 

 page 288. 



t Ibid. p. 310. 



torical, 



