SIX WEEKS IX A TOWER. 65 



quite a lively glow. Seldom has hydropathy been 

 pursued under more difficult circumstances, or with 

 better results. At first this process was gone through 

 on the roof, but we discovered, to our horror, that the 

 opposite tower contained spectators whose gender 

 could not be determined. The Chinese, who avoid 

 cold water in every form, judged our proceedings to 

 be indications of insanity ; and the little children 

 used to gather round the door of the room that was 

 finally set apart for our baths, and comment in awe- 

 struck whispers on the splashing of the water. Opin- 

 ions were divided on the subject : there were some 

 who asserted against the explanation of insanity that 

 the bathing was a species of worship ; and others, 

 that it was done in expiation of some horrid crime. 

 In one of the classics of the Taiping rebels there 

 occurs the passage (taken, I rather think, from an 

 older work) " Thang of the Shang dynasty, and 

 Wang of the Chow, honoured God with the intense- 

 est feeling : the inscription on Shang's bathing-tub 

 inculcated daily renovation of mind, and hence God 

 commanded him to assume the government of the em- 

 pire. " Had this spirit prevailed among the Chinese, we 

 should at once have been elevated to the dragon throne 

 and placed in possession of the vermilion pencil ; but 

 " daily renovation " is as rare a virtue among the 

 Taipings as it is with the Imperialists ; it is even 

 rarer than it used to be to find Scotchmen acting on 

 their old adage, that " Cleanliness is next to godliness." 

 VOL. v. E 



