dens. Thefe affemblages o f buildings, which they dignify with
the name o f palaces, are,1 however, of-fuch a nature- as ¡to be
more remarkable for their number than'fo r their fplendour
or magnificence. A great proportion o f the btiildirigS! èOn'fifts
in mean cottages. The Very dwelling o f the Emperor and thè
grand hall in which he gives audience, when diverted o f the gilding
and the gaudy colotirs with which they are daubed, are
little fuperior, and much lefs folid, than the barns o f a fub-
ftantial Engliih farmer. Their apartments are as deficient in
proportion, as their conftrudion is void o f every rule and principle
which we are apt to confider as effential to architecture.
The principal hall o f audience at Yuen-min-yuen flood upon a
platform o f granite, raifed about four feet above the level o f the
court. A row o f large wooden columns furrounding the building
fupported the projecting roof ; and' a fécond row within
the firft, and correfpondihg with it (the interftices between
the columns being filled up with brick-work to the height of
about four feet) ferved for the walls o f the room. The upper
part o f thefe walls was a kind o f lattice-work, covered: over
with large flieets o f oiled paper, and was capable o f being
thrown entirely open on public occafions. The wooden columns
had no capitals, and the only architrave was the horizontal
beam that fupported the rafters Of the roof. This, in
dired contradiction to the eftabliihed mode in European archi-
tedure, was the uppermoft member o f what might be called
the entablature or frize, which was a broad fkreen o f wood,
fattened between the upper part o f the columns, painted with
the moft vivid colours o f blue, red, and green, and interlarded
with gilding ; and the whole had net-work o f wire ftretched
over
over it* to prevent its being defiled by fwallows, and other
birds frequenting human dwellings. The length o f this room
within was one hundred and ten feet, breadth forty-two, and
height twenty fe e t : the ceiling painted with circles, fquares, and
polygons, whimfically difpofed, and loaded with a great variety
o f colours. The floor was paved with grey marble flag ftones
laid chequer-wife. The throne, placed in a recefs, was fup-
pprted by rows o f pillars painte4 red like thofe without. It
confided entirely o f wood, not unlike mahogany, the carving
o f which was exquifitely fine. The only furniture was a pair
o f brafs kettle drums, two large paintings, two pair o f ancient
blue porcelain vafes, a few volumes o f manufcripts, and a table
at one end o f the room on which was placed an old Engliih
chiming clock, made in the feventeenth century by one Clarke
o f Leadenhall-ftreet, and which our old friend the eunuch had
the impudence to tell us was the workmanihip o f a Chinefe. A
pair o f circular fans made o f the wing feathers o f the Argus
pheafantj and mounted on long poliihed ebony poles flood, one
on each fide o f the throne, over which was written in four cha-
raders, “ true, great, refulgent, fplendor and under thefe,
in a lozenge, the charader o f Happinefs. In the different courts
were'feveral miferable attempts at fculpture, and fome bronze
figures, but all the objeds were fanciful, diftorted, and entirely
out o f nature. The only fpecimen o f workmanihip about the
palace, that would bear a clofe examination, befides the carving
o f the throne, was a brick wall enclofing the flower garden,
which, perhaps, in no reiped is exceeded by any thing o f
the fort in England.
With