the fireworks which, in fome particulars, exceeded any
“ thing o f the kind I had ever feen. In grandeur, magnifi-
“ cence, and variety, they were, I own, inferior to the Chi-
“ nefe fireworks we had feen at Batavia, but infinitely fuperior
“ in point o f novelty, neatnefs, and ingenuity o f contrivance.
“ One piece o f machinery I greatly admired ; a green cheft o f
“ five feet fquare was hoifted up by a pulley to the height o f
“ fifty or fixty feet from the ground J the bottom was fo con-
ftrudted as then fuddenly to fall out, and make way for twenty
or thirty firings o f lanterns ihclofed in the box to defcend
from it, unfolding themfelves from one another by degrees
“ fo as at laft to form a colleition o f at leaft five hundred, each
“ having a light o f a beautifully coloured flame burning brightly
“ within it. This devolution and developement o f lanterns
“ (which appeared to me to be compofed o f gauze and paper)
“ were feveral times repeated, and every time exhibited a dif-
“ ference o f colour and figure. On each fide was a correfpon-
“ dence o f fmaller boxes, which opened in like manner as the
“ others, and let down an immenfe network o f fire, with divi-
“ vifions and copartments o f various forms and dimenfions,
“ round and fquare, hexagons, oflagons ‘and lozenges, Which
“ ihone like the brighteft burniihed- copper, and flaihed like
“ prifmatic lightning, with every impulfe o f the wind. The
“ diverfity o f colours indeed with which the Chinefe. have the
“ fecret o f cloathing fire feems one o f the chief merits of their
“ pyrotechny. The w'hole concluded with a volcano, of ge-
“ neral explofion and difcharge o f funs and ftars, fquibs, boun-
“ cers, crackers, rockets, and grenadoes, which involved the
“ gardens for above an hour after in a cloud o f intolerable
“ fmoke:
“ invoke. Whilft thefe entertainments were going forward the
“ Emperor fent to us a variety o f refreihments, all which,
“ as coming from him, the etiquette o f the court required us
“ to partake of, although we had dined but a ihort time
M before.
“ However meanly we muft think o f the tafte and delicacy
“ o f the court o f China, whofe moft refined amufements feem
“ to be chiefly fuch as I have now defcribed, together with the
u wretched dramas o f the morning, yet it muft be confeifed,
“ that there was fbmething grand and impofing in the general
“ efle£t that refulted from the whole fpeclacle. The Emperor
“ himfelf being feated in front upon his throne, and all his
u great men and officers attending in their robes o f ceremony,
“ and ftationed on each fide o f him, fome ftanding, fome fit-
“ ting, fome kneeling, and the guards and fiandard-bearers be-
“ hind them in incalculable numbers. A dead filence was ri-
“ gidly obferved, not a fyllable articulated, nor a laugh ex~
“ ploded during the whole performance.’*
Such was the reception and the entertainment o f the B'ritifh
Embaffador at the court o f G ehol, in Man-tchoo Tartary, during
the days o f the feftival o f the Emperor’ s anniverfary. I
now proceed to give fome account o f the manner in which the
Dutch Embaffadors were received, and the entertainments that
took place on the occafion o f the feftival o f the new year, as-
related in the manufcript journal above alluded to.
This