62 ON CHINESE GARDENS. 



slaves of their greatness to appear in public, and their women 

 who are excluded from it by custom, are frequently diverted with 

 the bustle of the capital ; which is there represented several times 

 in the year, by the eunuchs of the palace ; some of them per- 

 sonating merchants, others artificers, officers, soldiers, shopkeep- 

 ers, porters, and even thieves and pickpockets. On the appoint- 

 ed day each puts on the habit of his profession ; the ships arrive 

 at the port, the shops are opened, the goods are offered for sale ; 

 tea-houses, taverns, and inns, are ready for the reception of com- 

 pany ; fruits and all kinds of refreshments are cried about the 

 streets ; the shopkeepers teize the passengers to purchase their 

 merchandize, and every liberty is permitted ; there is no distinc- 

 tion between persons, even the emperor is confounded in the 

 crowd ; quarrels happen — battles ensue — the watch seizes upon 

 the combatants, they are conveyed before the judge, he examines 

 the dispute and condemns the culprit, who is sometimes very 

 severely bastinadoed, to divert his imperial majesty, and the ladies 

 of his train. Neither are sharpers forgot in these festivals, the 

 noble profession is allotted to a good number of the most dex- 

 terous eunuchs, who, like the Spartan youths of old, are punished 

 or applauded, according to the merit of their exploits. 



The plantations of their autumnal scenes consist of many sorts 

 of oak, beech, and other deciduous trees that are retentive of the 

 leaf, and afford in their decline a rich variegated colouring ; with 

 which they blend some picturesque forms that art or nature can 

 surest. Buildings, sculptures, aud paintings are added to give 

 splendor and variety to these compositions ; and the rarest pro- 

 ductions of the animal creation are collected to enliven them ; no- 

 thing is forgot that can either exhilirate the mind, gratify the 

 senses, or give a spur to the imagination. 



Their scenes of terror are composed of gloomy woods, deep 

 vallies inaccessible to the sun, impending barren rocks, dark ca- 

 verns, and impetuous cataracts rushing down the mountains from 

 all parts. The trees are ill formed, forced out of their natural 

 directions, and seemingly torn to pieces by the violence of temp- 

 ests; some are thrown down, and intercept the course of the tor- 

 rents ; others look as if blasted and shattered by the powers of 

 lightening: the buildings are in ruins; or half consumed by fire, 

 or swept away by the fury of the waters ; nothing remaining entire 

 but a few miserable huts dispersed in the mountains; which serve 

 at once to indicate the existence and wretchedness of the inhabi- 



