1697.] A rHILOSOPIIEK'S RETREAT. 21-9 



" fertil and delicious INIountain ! My Eyes cannot look 

 towards thee without shedding Tears. But whither shall I 

 then carry them, these Eyes where you may see Wonder 

 painted with Grief ? See on the other side the vast and gay 

 Plain of Ocomsiao, of which an agreeable winding of the 

 Eiver Hoang makes a Peninsula, which is likewise the Prey 

 to a most Noble Lord, the Lord Kimnfa, who, altogether 

 opposite to the generous squanderer Ti-Hohai, digs Gold 

 out of the Mines of ^ighcm, for no other Eeason but to 

 raise new ones in his Coffers of Iron : See the frightful 

 Carcasses that drag along his old dislocated Chariot. See 

 him himself, with his mean Aspect and frighted Air, as if 

 the pitiless Tartar was ready to seize on his Treasure. The 

 Noble Kiumfa has, in a word, totally possess'd himself 

 within these five years of the excellent Country of Ocomsiao, 

 and the Fatal Executioner has already expos'd divers un- 

 happy Wretches to the Crows, who, having been despoil'd 

 of all they had by the Conqueror, dar'd, in their extream 

 Necessity, to resume but a small Portion of what had been 

 taken from them. 



"Shall I mount to the top of Vigcan, or transport myself 

 to the forked Brow of Canghchu ? And shall I from thence 

 contemplate the rich Provinces that extend themselves even 

 to the Sea ? But I shall everywhere meet with the like 



Conquests Thou art too small, universal Earth ! To 



satisfie the boundless Desires of one proud Mad-Man. . . . 



" The Philosopher Ycmarii-Xilin, remov'd from cruel and 

 pressing Necessity, would pass a retir'd Life in Tran- 

 quillity, would willingly cultivate some agreeable Garden to 

 breath the fresh Air, under the shade of a Eig-Tree that he 

 himself had planted, and to hear at certain times the sweet 

 and innocent Notes of the harmonious Nightingale. He 

 would willingly adorn this little Paradise with some borders 

 of Flowers, raise a Hive of Bees there, and turn in some 

 clear Spring that might serve him to bath in, and, in Kecom- 



