430 
PAR 
power of a father (for a mother, as fuch, is entitled to 
no power, hut only to reverence and refpedl); the 
power of a father, we fay, over the perfons of his children, 
ceafes at the age of twenty-one; for they; are then en- 
franchifed by arriving at years of difcretion, or that point 
which the law has ellabliflied (as fome muft necefiarily 
be eftabliffied) when the empire of the father, or other 
guardian, gives place to the empire of reafon. Yet, till 
that age arrives, this empire of the father continues 
evtn after his death ; for he may by his will appoint a 
guardian to his children. He may alfo delegate part of 
his parental authority, during his life, to the tutor or 
fchoolmafter of his child ; who is then in loco parentis, 
and has fuch a portion of the power of the parent com¬ 
mitted to his charge, viz. that of reftraint and correftion, 
as may be neceflary to anfwer the purpofes for which he 
is employed. 
With refpefl to the power of parents and the duty of 
children, much may be faid. There are, however, fcarcely 
any inftances where both are oftener abufed than with re- 
fpect to marriage. This, as it is the mod important 
event in the civil life either of a man or woman, fo it is 
often rendered peculiarly unfortunate, by precipitate folly 
and want of duty in children ; and as often through the 
tinreafonable feverit'y of parents. As a child is bound not 
to give tinreafonable offence to a parent in the choice of 
a partner; fo neither ought the parent to impofe any 
improper or arbitrary reftraint upon the child. 
The power of a parent in China is very great; fora 
father, while living, has the power of an abfolute defpotic 
tyrant, and after his death is worfhipped as a god. Let 
a fon become ever fo rich, and a father ever fo poor, there 
is no fubmiftion, no point of obedience, that the latter 
cannot command, or that the former can refufe. The 
father is abfolute matter, not only of his fon’s eftate, but 
alfo of his concubines and children, who, whenever they 
difpleafe him, he may fell to ftrangers. If a father accufes 
liis fon before a mandarin, there needs no proof of his 
guilt; for they cannot beiieve that any father can be fo 
unnatural as to bring a falfe accufation againft his own 
fon. But, fhould a ion be fo infolent as to mock his 
father, or arrive at fuch a pitch of wickednefs as to ftrike 
him, all the province where this ftiameful adl of violence 
is committed is alarmed ; it even becomes the concern 
of the whole empire; the emperor himfelf judges the cri¬ 
minal. All the mandarins near the place are turned out 
of their polls, efpecially thole of the town where he lived, 
for having been fo negligent in their inftruflions; and all 
the neighbours are reprimanded for negledting, by former 
punilhments, to put a ftop to the wickednefs of the cri¬ 
minal before it arrived at inch flagitioufnefs. As to the 
•unhappy wfetch himfelf, they cut him into a thoufand 
pieces, burn his bones, level his houfe to the ground, and 
even thofe houfes that Hand near it, and fet up monu¬ 
ments and memorials of the horricf deed. See the article 
China, vol. iv. p. 452. 
The emperor of China, who is one of the mod powerful 
and defpotic monarchs upon earth, pays the greateft at¬ 
tention to his mother. An inftance of this Pere Amyot 
relates as having happened at Pekin, A.D. 1752, when the 
emperor's mother entered her 60th year, which, among 
the Chinefe, is accounted a very remarkable, period. 
Grofier like wife particularly defcribes the homage the 
emperor pays his mother every new-year’s day in the 
palace, at which ceremony all the great officers of his 
court affift. 
In the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1750, we have the 
following cafe of confidence. “ A perfon has his own 
parents and his own children living, both parties equally 
indigent, both equally incapable of affifting thernfelves, 
and both equally earneft in calling upon him for relief. 
Things are fo circumftanced that he can poffibly affift but 
one party, and not both. Query, Which party has the 
greateft claim to his affiftance, and to which is he obliged, 
by all ties human and divine, to give the preference J” 
ENT. 
One folves this difficulty, by informing us of a pretty print 
done at Rome, reprefenting a young woman fuckling her 
aged father, on which the following lines are quoted : 
My child and father vital nurture crave, 
Parental, filial, fondnefs both would fave ; 
But, if a nurfling only one can live, 
I choofe to fave the life I cannot give. 
Here we find the preference given to the parent; and 
another correfpondent gives the fame decifion in thefe 
words: “The obligations arifing from nature and na¬ 
tural affection, feem to be in this cafe reciprocal and 
equipollent ; the child is as ftrongly attracted to the 
parent, as the parent to the child. But, will not filial 
gratitude operate and decide in favour of the parent ? 
Does not the perfon, either mediately or immediately, owe 
his prefent power and abilities to relieve, to his parent ? 
and are not they on that account beft entitled to relief ? 
Does not the fifth commandment declare more ftrongly 
in favour of the parents, than any other divine precept 
does in favour of the children ? If a perfon had an op¬ 
portunity given him of delivering either his parent or 
ltis child (but not both) from certain death, I dare fay 
the voice of nature and of mankind would applaud him 
that laved his parent, and condemn him that fhould prefer 
his child. There is more of felfiffinefs in preferring the 
child ; and to fave the parent feems to me to be much the 
more generous, noble, and exalted, conduct. It is indeed, 
upon the whole, a melancholy alternative; but, if both 
parties continue importunate, and neither will relinquifh 
their claims in favour of the other, I fay relieve the 
parent.” 
There are two correfpondents, however, who think dif¬ 
ferently, and their reafons are as follow: “ A perfon’s 
children have the greateft claim to his affiftance ; and he 
is obliged by all ties to prefer them, in that refpedl, to 
his parents. It is true, when a man’s parents are in want, 
they have a claim to his affiftance; but that claim is not 
equal to that which his children have. His parents he 
has of neceftity : his children, of choice. It is his duty, 
before he beget children, to confider how he is to provide 
for them ; and, by being wilfully the caufe of their exift- 
ence, he comes under fuch an obligation to provide for 
their comfortable fubfiftence, as muft be ftronger than any 
obligation of that kind he can be under to perfons with 
whom his connexion is involuntary. But nature and 
reafon point it out as the duty of all parents to provide 
for their children ; but not vice verfa. If a man’s parents 
happen to be indigent, and he himfelf able, he is bound to 
maintain them out of refpedl and gratitude; but his ob¬ 
ligation to provide for his children is a debt of ftridl 
juftice; and therefore ought to be preferred.” “I find 
(fays the author of the lafc anfwer) that all your cor¬ 
refpondents agree, that the life of the parent is to be pre- 
ferved. It is very certain, that the relation between me 
and my child is exadlly equal to that which is-between 
me and my parent; and therefore relation cannot decide 
in favour of the one or the other : I muft then be deter¬ 
mined by a different confideration; and I know of none 
more weighty than the following. If I preferve the life 
of my child, I am inftrumental in giving life to all his 
defcendants, which may, perhaps, be very numerous ; but 
if I preferve the life of my parent, I preferve a fingle life 
only, and that a fhort one. I therefore fay, Relieve the 
child. But it is thought that the voice of nature will 
applaud the perfon who preferves the parent: if fo, na¬ 
ture muft applaud a rule which fhe herfelf does not ob- 
ferve: it is natural for old men to die before young ones. 
Befides, the command, Be fruitful and multiply, and re- 
plenifh the earth, may be oppofed to the fifth command¬ 
ment.” 
It is hoped that fuch conflicting cafes feldom, if ever, 
occur; but our own opinion is with the laft let of rea- 
foners : we certainly think that a perfon, particularly if a 
mother, is bound to prefer the child to the parent. We 
hope 
