an especial dispensation of Providence, that they have been happy in leaving behind them immediate descendants in a right line. • Thus is the man blessed that feareth the Lord;' and think it no less a peculiar blessing, that from among the judges and their offspring more peers and great men of the realm have risen than from any other profession or estate of men whatsoever who have rendered themselves wealthy, illustrious and noble, by their own application, parts and industry, although the merchants are more in number by some thousands, and some of them excell in riches all the judges put together."

This he refers to the peculiar blessing of God, whose promises are "to the generation of the upright." Fortescue was himself the lineal ancestor of the present Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

We cannot at present follow our author through the more serious part of his subject; we have scarcely room indeed for more than an allusion to the care with which the education of the young lawyer was in the days of old conducted in the inns of court.

"I have known," says Roger North, "music, geometry, and natural philosophy, as well as the knowledge of geography, states and republics in great perfection harboured in eoden subjecto with the body of the common law and coexistent with as great practice and preferments as have been known in the profession. Of this, Bacon was an instance; and, in latter times, Selden."*

Fortescue, in the treatise we have just quoted, gives an interesting account of the pursuits and studies of the young lawyers of his day. The expenses of living at the inns of court, he says, were greater than merchants were willing to afford; the students were, therefore, generally men of high birth and adequate fortune.

"There is," he adds, "both in the inns of court and the inns of chancery, a sort of academy or gymnasium, fit for persons of their station, where they learn singing and all kinds of music, dancing, and such other accomplishments and diversions (which are called revels), as are suitable to their quality and such as are usually practised at court."

In a very amusing book, of which we

gave an account in a former number of the magazine,† Roger North's Life of Lord Keeper Guilford,' we are told of Lord Guilford's admirable skill as a musician, and he was fond of saying "that if he had not enabled himself by such studies," and he particularised his practice of music upon his base or lyra viol, which he used to touch lute fashion upon his knees, " to divert himself alone, he had never been a lawyer." Saunders, too---such of our readers as have the opportunity, will be rewarded if they look back to Roger North's account of him in one of our articles on jiggs upon a harpsichord, having Lord Guilford's life---used "to play taught himself with the opportunity of an old virginal of his landlady's."

The revels to which Fortescue alludes, and of which some account is given by Dugdale, were held on certain solemn festivals in the inns of court, and consisted, as far as we can make out, of a series of stately measures. There were also the post-revels 'which consisted of galliards, corantoes, and other regular dances, performed by the better sort of young gentlemen of the society." These revels were matter of actual obligation, as appears by the following order of the society of Lincoln's Inn, mode in 1610 :

"That the under barristers be by decimation put out of commons for example's sake, because the whole bar were offended by their not dancing on Candlemas day preceding, according to the ancient order of this society, when the judges were present."

The masques and revels of the Templars continued, at least occasionally, for more than a century longer. The last was in the Inner Temple, when Mr. Talbot took leave of that house, of which he was a bencher, on having the great seal delivered to him. A minute account of the scene is given in the note to Wynne's Eunomus, from information supplied by two gentlemen who were present.

"On the 2nd of Eebruary, 1733, the Lord Chancellor came into Inner Temple Hall, about two of the clock, preceded by the Master of the Revels, (Mr. Wollaston) and followed by the Master of the Temple

(Dr. Sherlock) then Bishop of Bangor, and by the judges and serjeants who had been members of that house. There was a very elegant dinner provided for them, and the Lord Chancellor's officers; but the barristers and students of the house had no other dinner got for them than what is usual on the grand days, but each mess had a flask of claret, besides the common allowance of port and sack. Fourteen students waited at the bench-table, among whom was Mr. Talbot, the Lord Chancellor's eldest son; and, by their means, any sort of provision was easily obtained from the supper table by those at the rest. A large gallery was built over the skreen, and was filled with ladies, who came, for the most part, a considerable time before the dinner began; and the music was placed in the little gallery at the upper end of the hall, and played all dinner time.

"As soon as dinner was ended, the play began, which was Love for Love,' with the farce of The Devil to Pay.' The actors who performed in it, all came from the Haymarket in chairs, ready dressed; and, as it was said, refused any gratuity for their trouble, looking upon the honour of distinguishing themselves on this occasion as sufficient.

"After the play, the Lord Chancellor, Master of the Temple, Judges, and Benchers, retired into the Parliamentchamber, and in about half an hour afterwards came into the hall again, and a large ring was formed around the fire-place, but no fire or embers were in it. The master of the revels, who went in first, took the Lord Chancellor by the right hand, he, with his left, took Mr. Justice Page, who, joined to the other judges, Serjeants and Benchers present, danced, or rather walked round about the coal fire, according to the old ceremony, three times, during which, they were aided in the figure of the dance by Mr. George Cooke, the Prothonotary, then of sixty and all the time of the dance, the ancient song, accompanied with music, was sung by one Toby Aston, dressed in a bar-gown, whose father had

been formerly Master of the Plea-office, in the King's Bench.

"When this was over, the ladies came down from the gallery, went into the Parliament-chamber, and stayed about a quarter of an hour, while the hall was putting in order; then they went into the hall and danced a few minutes. Country dances began about ten; and at twelve a very fine collation was provided for the whole company; from which they returned to dancing, which they continued as long as they pleased; and the whole day's entertainment was generally thought to be very genteelly and liberally conducted. The Prince of Wales honoured the performance with his company part of the time he came into the music-gallery incog. about the middle of the play, and went away as soon as the farce of walking round the coal-fire was over."

But we must conclude. The witchdances of the lawyers must have been as grotesque a sight as any ever fancied by the wildest of romancers. They are alluded to pretty often by our poets: by Donne, by Prior, and by Pope; our readers, too, will remember Gray's long story

"In Britain's isle-no matter where-
An ancient pile of building stands;
The Huntingdons, and Hattons, there
Employed the power of fairy hands,

To raise the ceiling's fretted height, Each pannel in achievement clothing Rich windows, that exclude the light, And passages that lead to nothing.

Full oft, within the spacious walls, When he had fifty winters o'er him, The grave Lord Keeper led the brawls, The seals and maces danced before him.

His bushy beard, and shoe-strings green,
His high-crowned hat, and satin doublet,
Moved the stout heart of England's Queen,
Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble
it."

WHAT a visionary world is presented to the mind of the reader, when the word is pronounced which constitutes the heading of this paper! A people of an almost dateless antiquity; reserved and jealous, in their habits and forms, above all other people upon the face of the earth; numerous almost beyond calculation; and rivaling the most civilized portion of the habitable globe in opulence and refinement; having been possessed of some of the most distinguishing inventions and discoveries of modern Europe, at a time when the rudeness of a primeval barbarism had covered the most cultivated portions of Christendom with its shade; and presenting this great peculiarity, as compared with all other nations, that the most enormous extent of territory ever yet held together under a single ruler, has been so consolidated, and so perpetuated, under a system which impresses it as a sort of religion upon the people, to hold in disdain, or rather in abhorrence, an intercourse with distant, or even its surrounding

nations.

With this great and distant empire, our friendly relations are, for the present, suspended. Indeed, it might be more truly affirmed, that that country and Great Britain are this moment in a state of war. Respecting the causes, or the probable issues of that war, we shall say but little at present; deeming it necessary that the whole subject should be more fully developed, before we pronounce a fixed opinion respecting the conduct of ministers in a matter of

such immense importance. But as our readers may desire to know something of the country and the people with whom we are about for the first time, to come into unfriendly contact, we have deemed it right almost to confine this paper to such a brief account of China, her people, and her institutions, as may enable them to form somewhat more definite notions of that country and its inhabitants, than their ordinary sources of information may have furnished

them with before.

China, (confining the term to China proper, and not taking into account the extensive territories subject, or tributary to the emperor, such as Mand

shuria, Mongolia, Thibet, &c. &c.), may be said to be, in its length and its breadth, about half the extent of Europe. It is about 1260 geographical miles from north to south, and 1050 from east to west. Its southern and eastern boundaries are the ocean, the Yellow sea, and the sea of China. Its northern and western, the mild and but little explored or cultivated countries, known by the names of Great Thibet, Sifan, and Kokonor; and Mongolia proper, and Mandshuria.

From this brief and general description, it will appear, that this country comprises within itself almost every variety of climate which is known upon the surface of the globe. In its warmer latitudes, it abounds with the productions of the tropical countries; in its more northern, with those of the temperate and the arctic regions; so that nature would seem to have provided, by the abundance and the variety of its products, for those wants which other nations can only supply by looking beyond themselves; and this, no doubt, has been one cause of the jealous exclusiveness of its policy; that as it contained within itself all the elements of national prosperity and greatness, so there was no necessity for that intercourse with foreign countries which would have been felt to be indispensable, had it been less favoured.

But this immense extent of country is, in other, and very important respects, the most favoured of any with which we are acquainted. The stupendous chains of mountains, the loftiest on the globe, which enclose the high table lands of Thibet and Tartary, upon entering the Chinese provinces, assume a milder and more manageable aspect, sloping into ranges of moderate altitude, and adorning the country and diversifying the landscape by every variety of beauty and of grandeur by which Alpine scenery is distinguished. It is traversed, from west to east, by two mighty rivers, which are only exceeded in magnitude by some of the great streams with which the discovery of America has made us acquainted; and which sweep through their cultivated provinces with a fertilizing influence, facilitating the interchange of

their respective productions, and contributing to the unity and the consolidation of the empire. These rivers are denominated the Hoangho, or Yellow river; and the Yank-tse-Kiang, or Blue river; and the course of the former has been estimated at 1800 British miles; and that of the latter, at 2200. They are fed by various considerable streams which flow from north to south; and by a most wonderous extent of canal communication, which render their advantages coextensive with the whole empire.

These important features of the country, are, we confess, as it appears to us, amongst the most prominent of the causes of its early prosperity and civilization. It has always been remarked that social improvement first begins along the borders of the ocean; and these great rivers in China may be considered as a sort of inland seas; so that the civilization, which commenced along the coast, would, naturally, be carried along their banks; and, connected as they were with the noble streams which are their feeders, and which flow through the country from north to south, the same causes would have operated to multiply and ramify the projects of commercial enterprise, and the products and contrivances of human industry, until every separate province began to teem with the evidences of a skilful and a numerous population.

But these streams, which are the life-blood of the empire, would lose much of their importance, if it were not for the immense extent of champaign and fertile country, which constitutes a still more striking feature in the territorial aspect of this great empire. There is, perhaps, upon the habitable globe, no other instance of any tract of level country, similar to the vast plain in China; stretching one thousand miles in length from north to south, and from two to three hundred miles from east to west; irrigated by fertilizing waters; and covered, from one extremity to the other, with the most astonishing evidences both of the industry of man and the bounty of nature. Other immense plains, of almost equal

extent, but which are not at present so well known to Europeans, contribute to enrich and adorn other portions of this mighty monarchy; and it may almost be affirmed, that had the wisest of its sovereigns the absolute arrangement of its territory, he could hardly have desired a more happy one than that which has been furnished by nature, and which would seem, almost of itself, to invite the formation of a great, united and extensive empire.

The Chinese, it is well known, have laid claim to a pre-Adamite antiquity; but we have no certain records of their history of a date anterior to that of the Egyptian and Assyrian monarchies. The celebrated Confucius was the compiler of the records which contained their earliest memorials. But his work, denominated the Shoo-King, was, 213 years before the Christian era, committed to the flames, by order of an emperor who conceived the preposterous design of consolidating his authority and exalting his name, by destroying the historical records of the empire. He was succeeded, about sixty years after, by a ruler of a different stamp, who was desirous, as far as possible, to repair the ravages of his predecessor; and a very old man was found, who had committed to memory the work of Confucius, and from whose recitation it was again transcribed, A striking confirmation of the correctness of his recollection was soon after afforded, by the discovery of a manuscript in the house where Confucius had lived; which corresponded, in all important particulars, with the old man's representation of it; and this work now constitutes the chief source of all that is known respecting the early history of China.*

The next work of authority, upon the subject of Chinese history, is entitled, "The True Mirror for Governing well a State," and was composed by a society of learned men. It contains a history of the monarchy from 208 before, to 960 years after, the Christian era, together with an introductory view of events from the foundation of the empire. About the middle of the seventeenth century,

Kang-hi, a prince descended from the conquering race of the Matchao Tartars, caused this work to be translated into their tongue; and while the translation was proceeding, Noella, a Jesuit missionary, who understood the Tartar language, took advantage of the opportunity which presented itself of turning it into French. His manuscript was transmitted to France in 1737; but, in consequence of the subversion of his order, it lay dormant until 1777, when it was edited by the Abbe Grosier, and, in thirteen volumes quarto, given to the world. This work now constitutes the text of almost all that is valuable or interesting in the records of this singular people.

The north-western province of Shensee, seems to have been that which was earliest occupied, by some of those roving tribes of Tartars, who were, perpetually, upon the foot in quest of new settlements, and who there, for the first time, experienced those natural advantages by which their migrative propensities were arrested. Their first sovereigns were individuals who distinguished themselves by teaching the people some useful arts, indispensable to their progress in civilization ;-and it is remarkable that almost every invention by which their social advancement was distinguished, has been referred, by their annalists, to the individual ruler who at that time exercised dominion over them.

The monarchy was, at first, elective. And the sovereign was generally chosen, because of the possession of some quality by which he might be enabled to contribute to the well-being of the people. But in process of time, in proportion as the empire extended, this practice was changed; although it was long before the principle of hereditary right was so completely established, as to cause the son, in a quiet and natural manner, to succeed to the kingdom. If the minister was reputed wise and prudent, he was often preferred; and the practice continued for a long time to be regulated by a mixed principle, partly hereditary and partly elective, which seemed not ill calculated for inspiring the people with a respect for the office, rather than the person, of the king, and the sovereign with a due regard for the welfare and the wishes of the people.

Our space would not permit us, even

if we deemed it judicious, to detail, with any minuteness, the various events which marked the progress of this people in their course of peaceful and uninterrupted prosperity. Province after province was annexed to the empire, more by a process of growth than of acquisition; and as it became more extended, it was necessary that its rulers should govern its distant parts by a delegated authority; which, according as the central government was weak or strong, either preserved subordination, or asserted independence. A civil war, which continned, with but slight interruptions, for nearly five hundred years, placed the whole empire in fearful jeopardy, had there been at hand any formidable power to take advantage of its internal dissensions. But, strange to say, that period was remarkable above any other in its annals, for those intellectual efforts to which the Chinese refer as the brightest trophies of their literary glory. It was during the midst of civil commotion that Confucius gave utterance to the wisdom and the learning upon which they love to dwell; and that some of those great discoveries were made which anticipated, by centuries, the progress of European improvement.

The following advice of a Chinese politician, to a king who was disposed to play the tyrant, nearly eight hundred years before the Christian era, indicates not only a shrewd observer of the signs of the times, but also presupposes a course of sagacious inductional observation upon a long established and extensive empire: "An emperor knows how to govern, when he leaves poets at liberty to make verses, the populace to act plays, historians to tell the truth, the ministers to give advice, the poor to murmur while they pay taxes, students to repeat their lessons aloud, the people to talk of news, and old men to find fault with every thing,-affairs then go on without much inconvenience."

At a very early period the Tartars were troublesome neighbours; but they were not able to make any permanent impression upon a people now so numerous and powerful. There were, however, large tracts of the country not unfrequently desolated by their incursions; and the quiet policy of the empire submitted to the payment of a sort of black mail, in order to avert