and civil inftitutions, the religious worihip and opinions, the
population and progrefs o f agriculture, the civil and moral cha-
ra£ter o f thè people, as may enable the reader to fettle, in his
own mind, the point o f rank which China may be conftdered to
hold in the fcale o f civilized nations.
The liability o f the Chinefe government ; the few changes
that have been made in its civil inftitutions for fuch a number
o f ages ; the vaft extent o f empire and immenfe population,
forming one fociety, guided by the fame laws, and governed by
the will o f a fingle individual, offer, as Sir George Staunton has
obferved, “ the grandeft colleaive obje£t that can be prefented
“ for human contemplation òr refearch.” T he cuftoms, habits
and manners, the wants and refources, the language, fentiments
and religious notions, o f “ the moft ancient fociety and the moft
“ populous empire exifting amongft men,” are, without doubt
moft interefting fubjeûs for the inveftigation o f the philofo-
pher, and not unworthy the attention o f the ftatefman. But
the expectations o f the man o f fcience, the artift, or the natur-
alift, might perhaps be rather difappointed, than their curiolity
be gratified, in travelling through this extenfive country. It
can boaft o f few works o f art, few remains o f ancient gran-
deur. The great wall, that for a time defended its peaceable
inhabitants againft the attacks o f the roving Tartars, thé walls
o f its numerous cities, with their fquare towers and lofty
gates, and heré and there an old pagoda, are its only architectural
antiquities; and, when thefe are excepted, there is not
perhaps a fingle building in the whole extent o f China that has
withftood the a£tion o f three centuries;. There are no ancient
palaces nor other public edifices, no paintings nor pieces o f
fculpfculpture,
to arreft the attention o f the traveller, unlefs it might
be from the novelty o f their appearance. In travelling over the
continent o f Europe, and more -efpecially on the claffic ground
o f Italy and Greece, every city, mountain, river, and. ruin, are
rendered interefting b y fomething on record which concerns
them ; the theme o f fome poet, the feat o f fome philofopher or
lawgiver, the fcene o f fome memorable action, they all infpire
us with the livelieft fenfations, by reviving in the mind thofe
pleafures which the ftudy o f their hiftory afforded in early life.
T o Europeans the hiftory o f China has hitherto furniihed no
materials for fuch recurrence, and the country itfelf is therefore
incapable o f communicating fuch impreflions. In vain ihould
we here look for the maffy and ftupendous fabrics that appear
in the pyramids and the pillars o f the ancient Egyptians ; the
beautiful and fymmetrical works o f art difplayed in the temples o f
the Greeks; the grand and magnificent remains o f Roman
architedure ; or that combination o f convenience and elegance
o f defign which charaaerize'the modern buildings o f Europe.
In China every city is nearly the fame : a quadrangular fpace o f
ground is enclofed with walls o f ftone, o f brick, or o f earth, all
built upon the fame plan ; the houfes within them o f the fame
conftruaion; and the ftreets, except the principal ones that run
from gate to gate, invariably narrow. The temples are, nearly,
all alike, o f the fame awkward defign as the dwelling-houfes, but
on a larger fcale; and the objeas that are known in Europe by
the name o f pagodas, are o f the fame inelegant kind o f archi-
teaure, from one extremity o f the empire to the other, differing
only in the number o f rounds or ftories, and in the materials o f
which they are conftruaed. The manners, the drefs, the amufe-
ments o f the people, are nearly the fame, Even the furface o f the
country,