the Emperor had named the 7th Lnftant for the beginning o f
our journ e y; and had given orders- that every honour and dif-
tin&ion lhould be paid to the Embaffy on the road.
But before I quit thefe renowned gardens o f Yuen-min-yuen,
it will naturally be expected I ihould fay fomething on their fub-
je<£t. From all that I had heard and read o f the grandeur and
heauty o f the fcenery and the magnificence o f palaces, I had
certainly expedited to meet with a ftyle o f gardening and laying
out o f grounds fuperior, or at leaft equal, to any thing in the
feme line in Europe; and, perhaps indeed, I might have been
fully gratified in all my expectations provided no reftraint had
been thrown upon our walks, which was far from being the
c^fe. A ll the little excurfions I made were by ftealth. Even
in the fhort diftance between the hall o f audience and our lodgings,
which might be about three hundred paces, we were continually
watched. The idea o f being flopped by an eunuch or
forae o f the inferior officers belonging to the court, was fuffici-
ent to put us on our guard againft meeting with any fuch mortification
; pride, in fuch circumftances, generally gets the better
o f the defire, however ftrong, o f gratifying curiofky. I fome-
times, however, ventured to ftroll from our lodging in the evening
in order to take a ftolen glance at thefe celebrated gardens.
The grounds o f Tuen-tnin-yuen are calculated to comprehend
an extent o f at leaft ten Englifh miles in diameter, or about
fix ty thoufend acres, a great part o f which, however, is waftes
and woodland. The general appearance o f thofe parts near
where we lodged, as to the natural furface o f the country, broken
ken into hill and dale, and diverfified with wood and lawn,,
may be compared with Richmond park, to which, however, they
add the very great advantage o f abundance o f canals, ri vers, and
large iheets o f water, whole banks, although artificial, are neither
trimmed, nor ihorn, nor Hoped, like the glacis o f a fortification,
-but have been thrown up with immenfe labour in an irregular;,
and, as it were, fortuitous manner, fo as to reprefent-the free
hand o f nature. Bold rocky promontories are feen jutting into
a lake, and vallies retiring, feme choaked with wood, others
in a ftate o f high cultivation. In particular Ipots where plea-
fure-houfes, or places o f reft or .retirement, were eredted, the
views appeared to have been ftudied* The trees were .not only
placed according to their magnitudes, hut the tints o f their
foliage feeroed alfo to have been confidered in the compofition
o f the pi&ure, which fome o f the landfcapes might be called
with great propriety. But, i f an opinion may be formed from
thofe parts o f them which I have feen, and l underftood there
is a great fimilarity throughout the whole, they fall very ihort
o f the fanciful and extravagant defcriptions that Sir William
Chambers has given o f Chinefe gardening. Much, however,
has been done, and nothing that I few could be confidered
an offence to nature.
Thirty diftindt places o f refidence for the Emperor, with all the
neceffary appendages o f building to each, for lodging the feve-
ral officers o f ftate, who are required to be prefent on court
days and particular .occasions, for the eunuchs, Servants, and
artificers, each compofing a village o f no inconfiderable magnitude,
are faid to be .contained within t-he inclofure o f thefe ga rr
a dens,