228 



(Ml I N A. 



Hlrtory. narch, enraged at uch presumption, gave instant orders 

 v "~"~ ~~~ '' t he should be put to dratli. " Your command it of 

 341 n> avail," said the courtier, without emotion ; " if this 

 liqur hath rendered mr immortal, you have no power to 

 deprive me of life ; and, if it h* Irft me still subject to 

 death, you rather owe me a recompense for having expo- 

 led the imposture." ThU answer laved the life of the 



tr, but did not cure the monarch of his credulity. 

 Ming tee, famed for his clemency and wisd -m, made 

 v. choice of a ldy as his empress, who was a pattern of mo- 

 deity and discretion, and who never made use of embroi- 

 dered drestri ; established an academy in his palace for 

 the instruction of the young princes and nobles, and took 

 great pleasure in being present at their exercises ; raised 

 one of those immense banks, which inclose the river 

 Hoang-ho, and which he extended to a length of ten 

 leagues. It was this prince, who, remembe'ring in a 

 dream a saying of Confucius, that the " Holy One was 

 to be found in the west," sent ambassadors in search of 

 that person and his doctrine, who, instead of Christiani- 

 ty, which is conceived to have better answered the inter- 

 pretation of the words and dream, brought back the wor- 

 ihip of the god Fo. 



In the course of this dynasty, especially under the 

 reign of Voo-tee, the Chinese, after long wars and vary- 

 ing success, extended their empire both to the west and 

 south ; and drove the Huns and Tartars to a due dis- 

 tance from their frontiers on the north. But, towards 

 the conclusion of the dynasty, particularly during the 

 in'reaiing three last reigns, eunuchs began to multiply at court, and 

 ni'luenceof to acquire political influence with the emperors, which was 

 the cause of exciting perpetual contentions in the govern- 

 ment, and of encouraging the ambitious attempts of the 

 petty princes. The empire was at length thrown into 

 the ujmost confusion during the reign of Hien-tee,a young 

 and indolent prince ; and in the year after Christ 2~0, was 

 divided into three separate kingdoms, ur.der as many in- 

 dependent sovereigns. Of those three reigning families, 

 the Sho haii, Oey, and Ou, the first, which signifies the 

 remnant of the Han, is considered as 



i he eu- 

 nuch*. 



siithdy. 



The Sixth Dynasty. 



SHO HAN. 

 Tchao lie-tee 221 

 Hcoo-tcheoo 223 



Ou. 



Ta-tee .... 222 

 Hoey-kee-vang 2.52 

 King-tee . . . 

 Oo tchin-heoo 



2.'58 

 '2M 



Chinese 





Oi 



Ven-tee 220 



Ming tee 227 



Ty fang 210 



Ty mao 25* 



Yuen tee 260 



The whole period of this show dynasty was a season 

 of warlike commotion. The dominions of Heoo tchoo 

 enjoyed the greatest share of repose, through the exer- 

 tions of two famous generals in his service, one of whom 

 named Ouang-yoo, U worshipped as the Chinese Mars. 

 Heoo-tchoo, however, who is reproached with being not 

 so much a peaceable, as. a cowardly prince, was attack- 

 ed by one of his rebellious generals, Song tchao, to whom 

 he quietly surrendered the throne, and was contented to 

 receive a small principality for his subsistence. 



The Seivnlh Imperial Dynatty* 



Voo-K-e ....... 265 



Hoey-tce ....... 290 



Hoay tec ....... 307 



Mm-tee ........ :>! 



"Yuen-tee ....... 317 



Ming tee ....... 323 



Tching tec 



Kang-lee 



Moo-tee ....... .'H.5 



Ngiy tee ....... 362 



e ........ 366 



Kien-ven tee ..... .171 



Hiao-voo-tee ..... 373 



Ngan-tee ....... 397 



During the whole period also of this dynasty, a con- '' 

 slant succession of wars and struggles for the empire pre- *~"~ 

 vailed ; and excepting V o-tro, who kept the petty prin- ' 

 ces in awe, few of the other sovereigns, died a natural 

 death, or without bein^ first dethroned. In the course 

 of this period, the northern armies began to evince their 

 superiority over the more southern, both by their own 

 native courage, and also by the assistance which they Divmon_of 

 frequently derived from the Tartar tribes. Hence ori- ^Th! 

 ginated the division of China, during the four following trn al ,d 

 dynasties, into southern. 



rr> , r i' 



Tartars of Topa. 



Tao-voo-tce ..... 386 &ghih d; 



4-2'* Ming-yuen-tee .... 409 nasty. 



Tay-voo-lee ..... 42 i 



Ven-tching-tee ; . . . 453 



Hien-ven-tee ..... 466 



The Southern Empire, . . and . . The Northern Empire. 

 Eighth Imperial Dynasty. YuN OEY> Qr F , RST QEV 



SONG. 



Voo-tee ........ 420 



Yng-yang-vang. . 



Ven-tee ........ 42* 



Hiao-voo-tee ..... 434 



Ming-tee ....... 46.5 



Tchoo-yo ....... 4" 



Shua-tee ....... 477 



Voo-tee, the founder of this dynasty, whose frst name 

 was Licoo-hoo, was of the lowest origin, and used to tra- 

 verse the country selling shoes; but, at length, becoming- 

 a soldier, he attained to the command of a great army, and 

 murdered the two last emperors of the former family. 

 He fixed his court at Nan-kin, his native place ; and is 

 said to have possessed a figure and deportment inexpres- 

 sibly noble and majestic. Long and bloody wars were 

 carried on between the northern and southern empires, 

 during the reign of Ven-tee and his rival Tay-voo-tee. 

 The remaining sovereigns of thia dynasty were noted f^r 

 their horrid cruelties ; and the two last mentioned were 

 murdered by the prime minister, Siao-tao-tching, who 

 afterwards took the nauie of Kao-tee, and became t'uo 

 founder of 



The Ninth Imperial Dynasty. 



TSEE. 



Northern Empire. 



Kao-tee ........ 479 



Voo-tee ........ 483 



Ming-tee ....... 494 



Tchoo-pao-kiuen . . . 499 

 Ho-tcc ........ 501 



Hiao-ven-tee ..... 47t Ninth djr- 

 Siuen-voo-tee ..... 500 na>t T- 

 Hiao ming-tee .... 516 

 Hiao-tchoang-tee . . 528 

 Tsie-min-tee ..... 531 

 Hiao-voo-tee ..... 532 



During this dynasty, and in the reign of Voo-tee, ap- A ,h f ; st ; c ,| 

 pcared the atheistical philosopher Fan-shin, whose doc- p hilo*o- 

 trine is said to be still privately entertained by many of phy. 

 the Chinese literati, and whose system was simply this, 

 that all the events in the world are the result of chance, 

 and that the soul dies with the body. About the same 

 time, the prime minuter Siao-yieuen, rose to distinc- 

 tion ; a man of boundless ambition, who afterwards mur- 

 dered the two last monarclis of the present race, and 

 founded 



Kong-tee ......... 419 



Thin appellate j wrilUn and accented in the Chinese language, as to sound diflVrontly from the name of the fourth <inaty. 



