On tlie '36th o f January, thé Embafladors received notice
that it was expedled they ihould attend ■ thé proceiîion o f thé
Emperor;to- thè^tëiriplé; ' where he wàh about to make aft offer-
iftgto-the S o d ó f Héàven and o f earth. Having Waited áccérd¿
i«gty by the road fide, from three o’clock in the morning till
fots the weather difmally coldvFahrenheit’ s thermometer iland-
iriS at r63.c! below*. the 'freezing point-, the ■Emperor at length
paffed in his chair, when they made the ufual proftratiôns aiid
returned home.
. again, required to proceed .to
the fame place* and at the fame early,hour, to witneft his return
and again to gO through the iifual ceremony.
On 'the 29 th, they were again funimoned to attend by the
road fidé to do homage before the Emperor, as he palled
them on Ins' way to a pagoda or pw-ta-la, a kind o f temple or
moftaftery, where a great number o f priefts, clothed in yellow,
lived together in a ftate o f celibacy ; and here he made his
burnt-offerings. The myftical rates performed, prefents were
brought ont for the Embaflador and fuite, and alfo for the
K ing o f Holland, cónfiiling o f little purfes, flimfey filks, and
a coarfe fluff fomewhat fimilar to that known by féâmen under
the nkm‘e o f bunting-, and; in token o f gratitude for this marik
o f imperial kindnefs, they were direfted again to bow down
their heads to the ground.
On the 30th, it was-announced to them that the EmperOr
intended to pay a vifit to his palace at Yuen-min-yucn, and that
it
it would be peceffary for them to follow him thither; after
having, as ufual, paid their refpedts in the Ghinefe manner b y
the road fide as he paffed;,¡;.. ,
On the 31ft, they were conducted round the grounds o f
Yuen-min-yum by feveral Mandarins, and received great fatif-
fadtion in viewing the va.fi variety o f buildings, a n d 'th e good
tafte in which the gardens and pleafure -grounds were laid out,,
and which wore an agreeable afpedt, even in the depth o f winter.
In one o f the buildings they faw the feveral prefents de-
pofited, which bad been carried the preceding year by the Earl
of Mhdartney;; T h e y were flowed away with no great care,
among many other articles, in all probability never more to fee
the light o f day. It feems the elegant carriages o f Hatchet, that
wefe finiihed with fo much care and objedts11 Of admiration
evenin London,¡were here carelefsly thrown behind one o f
their mean andclumfey carts, to* which they pretended to beftow
a preference. Capricious ks children, the toy once played with
muft. be thrown afrde and changed for fomething new; or, in
this inftanee, it woujd not be out o f eha-radter -to fuppofe, that
-thetwo vehiclesrhad defignedly been placed; together to point
out to Europeans o f how little eftimation the Ghinefe confi-
dered their articles o f oftentation, when* they could perform-the
fame fervices by fimpler, and le ft expenfive means." ^rrilgntipi
The Dutch Embafladors and their fuite were now to ha ve 'a
fpecimen o f the court entertainments, and the polite amuferrtents '
-oftthis grand* empire. T h e y confifted chiefly’ o f the icbhtbr-
tions o f the human body,* - pradtifed by''ijfiifture'-mafie'rs>;i''Of
rope