emolument, nor preferment from the latter. The Emperor
pays his own priefts, which are thofe o f all his Tartar fub-
jedts ; the Chinefe Confucionifts, or men o f learning, and the
ftate officers contribute to the maintenance o f theirs, whether
o f Fo or Tao-tze, and the mafs o f the people, from the prevailing
propenfity o f enquiring into futurity, afford the means o f fup-
port to m an y . thoufands, I might perhaps fay millions o f
priefts, by the offerings carried to the altars whenever they find
it neceffary to confult the book o f fate, which is done on moft o f
the common occurrences in life.
From the ihort view I have here taken o f the different fedls,
I think it may juftly be concluded that the primitive religion
o f China no longer exifts, or exifts only in- a corrupted ftate;
that there is at prefent no national nor fcarcely a ftate religion
: and that the articles o f faith are as various as the modes o f
worihip ; in all o f which the people appear to be rather actuated
b y the dread o f evil in this life, than by the fear o f punifh-
ment in another : that the duties they perform are more with
a view to appeafe an angry deity and to avert impending calamities,
than from any hope o f obtaining a pofitive good : that
they rather confult or enquire o f their gods what may happen,
than petition them to accomplilh or avert i t ; for a Chinefe
can fcarcely be faid to p ra y ; he is grateful when the event
proves favourable to his withes; petulant and peevilh with his
gods when adverfe.
Little as the priefts, or the numerous noviciates that are
found in all the principal temples, are employed in the duties
of
o f their office, or in worldly concerns, they are not lefs uncleanly
in their perfons and their apartments than thofe are whofe
time is taken up in providing for the neceffities o f life. The
room, in which fome of us Jhould have flept, was fo full o f fcor-
pions and fcolopendras, and they crept in fuch numbers into
our beds, that we were fairly driven out and obliged to fwing
our cots in the open air between two trees. Here we were not
much lefs annoyed by myriads o f mufquitoes and the unceaf-
mg noife o f the chirping cicadas, which continued without in-
termiffion until the ftill more no\iygong announced the break
of day, and fummoned the holy men to their morning devotions.