other like them, ! fhould for my own part prefer coming down
from the capital every morning, and return in the evening. T he y
coniifted o f three or four hovels in a fmall court, furrounded
with a wall as high as their roofs. Each room was about twelve
feetfquare, the walls completely naked, the ceiling, broken in,
the ruihes or ftems o f holeus, that held the plaifter, hanging
down and ftrewed on the floor; the lattice work o f the windows
partially covered with broken paper; the doors confi fling
o f old bamboo fkreens ; the floor covered with, dull, and there
was not- the leaft furniture in any o f them, except an old table
and two or three chairs in the one which was intended,, L fup-
pofe, for the dining-room. The reft had nothing in them whatfo-
ever but a little railed platform o f brick-work, which they told us
was to fleep on, and that they ihould cover it with mats, and'
order proper bedding to be brought upon it. Yet thefe mifer-
able hovels were not only within the palace wall, but fcarcely
two hundred yards from the great hall o f audience. T h e
officer aflured us that they were the apartments o f one o f their
Ta-gin (great men.) but that, as I did not feem to like them,,
we ihould be accommodated with others. We were then:
carried a little farther, where there was a number o f buildings,
upon a metre exteniive fcale enclofed alfo - by high walls..
T he apartments were fomewhat larger, but miferably dirty both,
within and without, and wholly unfurniihed; but as our attendant
took care to tell us they Belonged to one o f the mihijlers:
o f jta te, and that he lodged in them when the Emperor was at
Yuen-min-yuen, we were precluded from further complaint.
Had we refufed thofe that were confidered fuificient for
a minifter o f ftate, the man might have thought that nothing;
lefsi
lefs than the Emperor’s own would have fatisfied us. I f the
menial fervants o f his Britannic Majefty’s Minifters were no
better lodged than the minifters themfelves o f his Chinefe Ma-
jefty, they would be apt to think themfelves very ill ufed. We
accepted them, however, fuch as they were, and caufed them to
be fwept out, an operation which had not been performed for
many months before; a table and chairs were brought in, with
mats, pillows, and filken mattreffes; but for thefe we had no
occaiion, having fortunately brought with us from the ihips
our own cots.
T o make amends for our uncomfortable lodgings, we fat down
to a mod excellent dinner, wholly prepared in the Chinefe ftyle,
confifting o f a vaft variety o f made difhes very neatly drefied,
and ferved in porcelain bowls. The beft foup I ever tailed in
any part o f the world was made here from an extrail o f beef,
feafontd with a preparation o f foy and other ingredients. Their.
vermicelli) is excellent, and all their paftry is unufually light
and white as fnow. We underftood it to be made from the buck
wheat. The luxury o f ice, in the neighbourhood o f the capital,
Is within the reach o f the pooreft peafant; and, although they
drink their tea and other beverage warm, they prefer all kinds o f
fruit when cooled orf ice.
The three firft days, while the articles were unpacking and
alforting, we remained tolerably quiet, being annoyed only
with the interference and inquifitivenefs o f an old eunuch, who
had in his train about a dozen o f the fame kinAJimile autfecundum.
But no fooner were they taken out o f their cafes, and fet up in,
3 the