ror were an apparatus for the air pump, various articles for
conducing a fet o f experiments in eledlricity, and the models
o f a complete fet o f mechanical powers placed upon a brafs pillar.
The Emperor, happening to call his eye upon them, enquired
o f the eunuch in waiting for what they were intended.
This mutilated animal, although he had been daily itudying the
nature and ufe o f the feveral prefents, in order to be able to fay
fomething upon them when they ihould be exhibited to his
mailer, could not fucceed in making his Imperial Majefty-
comprehend the intention o f the articles in queftion. “ I
“ fancy,” - fays the old monarch, “ they are meant as play-
“ things for fome o f my great grandchildren.”
The power o f the pulley is underltood by them, and is applied
on board all their large veffels, but always in a fingle
Hate; at leaft, I never obferved a block with more than o»e
wheel in it. The principle o f the lever Ihould alfo feem to be
Well known, as all their valuable wares, even filver and gold,
are weighed with the fteelyard : and the tooth and pinion
wheels are ufcd in the conftrudtion o f their felf-moving toys,
and in all their rice-mills that are put in motion by a water
wheel. But none o f the mechanical powers are applied on the
great fcale to facilitate and to expedite labour. Simplicity is the
leading feature in all their contrivances that relate to the ajrts
and manufactures. The tools o f every artificer are o f a eon-
ftru&ion the moil fimpje that it ihould feem poffible to make
them, and yet each tool is fo contrived as to anfwer feveral pur-
pofes. Thus, the bellows o f the blackfmith, which is nothing
more than a hollow cylinder o f wood, with a valvular piilon,
befide
b efide' blowing the fire, ferves for his feat when fet on end,
and as a box to contain the reft o f his tools. The barber’s
bamboo baiket, that contains his apparatus, is alfo the feat for
his cuftomers. The joiner makes ufe o f his rule as a walking
flick, and the cheft that holds his tools ferves him as a bench
to w o rk • on. The pedlar’s box and a large umbrella are fuf-
ficient for him to exhibit all his wares, and to form his little
fhop.
Little can be faid in favour o f the ftate o f the fine arts in this
country. O f their poetry, modern and ancient, I have given
a fpecimen; but I think it right once more to obferve that,
with regard to Afiatic compofitions, Europeans cannot form a
proper judgment, and more efpecially o f thofe o f the Chinefe,
which, to the myfterious and obfcure expreffions o f metaphor,
add the difadvantage o f a language that fpeaks but little to the
e a r ; a whole fentence, or a combination o f ideas, being fome-
times fhut up in a ihort monofyllable, whofe beauties are moil
ftudioufly addreffed to the fenfe o f feeing alone.
O f the other two filler arts, painting and mufic, a more decided
opinion may be paffed. O f the latter I have little to obferve.
It does not feem to be cultivated as a fcience: it is neither
learned as an elegant accomplifhment, nor praCtifed as an amufe-
ment o f genteel life, except by thofe females who are educated
for fale, or by fuch as hire themfelves out for the entertainment
o f thofe who may be inclined to purchafe their favours. And
as the Chinefe differ in their ideas from all other nations, thefe
s s women