222 CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



illustration. Custine says of Russia that, at the marriage 

 of the Grand Duchess Maria with the Duke of Leuchten- 

 berg (1839) the Emperor Nicholas &quot; was continually leav 

 ing his prayers, and slipping from one side to the other, in 

 order to remedy the omissions of etiquette among his chil 

 dren, or the clergy. . . . All the great functionaries of the 

 Court seemed to be governed by his minute but supreme 

 directions. 



In respect of the range and elaborateness of ceremonial 

 rule, assimilating the control of civil life to the control of 

 military life, Oriental despotisms yield equally striking ex 

 amples. La Loubere says: &quot; If there are several Siamese 

 together, and another joins them, it often happens that the 

 postures of all change. They know before whom and to 

 what extent they should bend or remain erect or seated; 

 whether they should join their hands or not and hold them 

 low or high; whether being seated they may advance one 

 foot or both, or should keep both hidden.&quot; Even the mon 

 arch is under kindred restraints. &quot; The PJira raxa mon- 

 thieraban [apparently, sacred book] lays down the laws 

 which the Sovereign is bound to obey, prescribes the hours 

 for rising and for bathing, the manner of offering and the 

 alms to be offered, to the bonzes, the hours of audience for 

 nobles and for princes, the time to be devoted to public af 

 fairs and to study, the hours for repasts, and when audiences 

 shall be allowed to the Queen and the ladies of the palace.&quot; 

 Again, in the account of his embassy to Ava, Syme writes: 

 &quot; The subordination of rank is maintained and marked 

 by the Birmans with the most tenacious strictness; and not 

 only houses, but even domestic implements, such as the bet- 

 tie box, water flagon, drinking cup, and horse furniture, 

 all express and manifest, by shape and quality, the precise 

 station of the owner.&quot; In China, too, the Li ki, or Book of 

 Rites, gives directions for all actions of life; and a passage 

 in Hue shows at once the antiquity of their vast, coherent, 

 elaborate system of observances, and the reverence with 



