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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49911	Memoirs and observations typographical, physical, mathematical, mechanical, natural, civil, and ecclesiastical, made in a late journey through the empire of China, and published in several letters particularly upon the Chinese pottery and varnishing, the silk and other manufactures, the pearl fishing, the history of plants and animals, description of their cities and publick works, number of people, their language, manners and commerce, their habits, oeconomy, and government, the philosophy of Confucius, the state of Christianity : with many other curious and useful remarks / by Louis Le Compte ... ; translated from the Paris edition, and illustrated with figures.	Le Comte, Louis, 1655-1728.	1697 (1697)	Wing L831; ESTC R15898	355,133	724

load of a violent Distemper disturbed with the impure desires of unlawful Love given up to Idols and their Priests just upon the brink of death and that death an Eternal one The Emperor who saw him in this concern would not let him speak upon his Knees but raised him up and heard his last advice with somewhat less prejudice against it than usual ordered him afterward a present of Tea and dismissed him with such marks of tenderness as touched him to the bottom of his Soul of which he was the more sensible because he never could bring it about to work in him a true Conversion His death was equally fatal to the Bonzes who were thereupon driven from the Palace and to the true Religion which was thereby brought within a nails breadth of destruction Many Churches built upon the Coasts of the Maritime Provinces were destroyed by an Edict which commanded that every body on the Coasts should retire ten or eleven Miles within Land and destroy all Habitations within that compass all round the Coasts because a famous Pirate made use of them in carrying on a War against the Emperor They were also just going to ruin Macao and order was given to drive the Portuguese thence when Father Adam used his utmost effort to save it At this time all his Credit and Interest which he had employed so much to the advantage of Religion ended For in a little time he became the object of the most bloody Persecution that ever the Church sustered The four Mandarins who had the Regency during the Emperors minority moved upon different Topicks and especially animated against the Christians to whom this Father was the main support put him and three of his Companions into Prison Other Preachers of the Gospel were summoned to Pekin who met with the same treatment and were loaded each with nine Chains They burned their Books their Beads and Medals and whatever else carried the Face of Religion nevertheless they spared the Churches as for the Christian Flock they met with a more mild usage Those famous Confessors had the honour to be dragged before all the Seats of Judgment There it was that their Enemies did admire their Courage But they were above all moved by the miserable condition of Father Adam That Venerable old Man who but a day or two before was the Oracle of the Court and the Favourite of a great Emperor now appeared in the form of a Slave loaded with Chains and oppressed with Infirmities dejected by the weight and burthen of Age but much more by that of calumny which labour'd to blemish his Innocence He had a sort of Catarrhe which hindred him from making his defence but Father Verbiest forsook him not and answered for him to his Enemies in so sensible a manner that the Judges could not enough admire the Constancy of the Pe●son accused nor the heroical Charity of the Person who defended him However as innocent as he was he was condemned to be strangled which is in China an honourable kind of Death but afterwards as tho' they repented that they had not been unjust enough they repealed the Sentence and gave another wherein the Father was condemned to be publickly exposed in the Market place and be hacked alive into ten thousand pieces The Supreme Court sent the Sentence to the Regency and to the Princes of the Blood to have it confirmed but God who had till then seemed to have relinquished his Servant began to speak in favour of his Cause by a terrible Earthquake The whole Land were confounded at this Prodigy Every body exclaimed that Heaven itself would punish the injustice of the Magistrates who therefore to appease the People opened all the Prisons in the Town and made an Act of Oblivion for all Criminals excepting the Confessors of JESUS CHRIST who were still kept in Chains as tho' they had been the only Victims for whom Heaven had no concern But because there arrived divers Prodigies and in particular fire consumed great part of the Court of Justice at last fear obtained that from these unrighteous Judges which innocence could not They set Father Adam at liberty and permitted him to go home to his House till the Emperor should otherwise dispose of him This great Man blemished indeed to outward appearance by an ignominious Sentence which was never repealed but in truth full of glory for having defended the honour of Religion by exposing his own life dyed a little while after worn away by the toil of an Apostolical life but more by the hardships and inconveniences of a troublesome Prison His death was too precious in the Eyes of God to be unaccompany'd with some signal blessing upon the sorrowful remains of persecuted Christianity It is true that the Missionaries of the Provinces were banished to Canton among which three were Dominicans one a Franciscan and another of the same Order dyed in Prison and one and twenty Jesuits yet four were kept at the Court whom the Providence of God made use of afterwards to settle Christianity again in its pristine splendor God himself revenged the innocence of his Servants Sony the first Mandarin in the Regency the most dangerous Enemy the Fathers had dyed a month or two after The second named Soucama was afterwards indicted and condemned to a cruel death his Goods Confiscated his Children in number seven had their Heads cut off excepting the third who was cut to pieces alive the punishment which that wicked Judge had design'd for Father Adam and with which God chastised his Crimes in the Persons of his Children Yam-quam-sien who had been the chief Instrument in the Persecution fared no better than them After the death of Father Adam he was made President of the Mathematicks and had the charge of the Kalendar of the Empire committed to him Father Verbiest accused him and plainly made appear the ignorance of this pitiful Mathematician This was a bold stroke because the Presidents Party was very strong and the flames which had caused the Persecution were not yet quenched But many things concurred to give good success to this Enterprise The understanding of the Father the kindness which the new Emperor had for the Europeans but especially the particular Providence of God which did secretly manage this important Affair For it is certain that in the several tryals whereby they proved the goodness of our Mathematicks the Heavens did so exactly agree with what our Fathers had foretold even above the certainty which our Tables and Calculations could promise us that it seemed as tho' God had guided the Stars in such a course as was necessary to justifie our Missionaries account of them The President of the Mathematicks used his best endeavours to defend himself and because he could not hide his Ignorance in Astronomy he endeavoured to put upon the Judges and persuade them that the Christian Religion contained much greater errors than those he was guilty of In the midst of some meetings where the Emperor

Dutch Impression of Nieuhof and the Parisian of Magaillans are deservedly most in esteem for their Chinese Observations as well by their Exactness and Sincerity as the choice of things they relate the one being Secretary to a Solemn Embassy from Batavia to Pekin and the other Resident above Thirty years in many of the Provinces of China where he made it his business to correct the Errors and supply the Defects of all the Writers before him but he did not live to publish his own Work which afterwards came forth by Order of Cardinal d'Estrees As for our Country-man Ogilby he only copy'd and compil'd without any discretion from Purchas Kircher and N●●uhof but of all the Copists the Commentator upon Magaillans has shewn the best judgment so that indeed he might pass for an Original Master-piece having sill'd up the Posthumous Fragments of that excellent Father with fidelity and accurateness There are great numbers of other Writers upon China among the Religious Missionaries but they have rarely follow'd the Rule of Truth in their Relations of the State of Religion in that Kingdom so difficult is it for Men ●o be honest in their own Trades and Callings often forging false Miracles multiplying Conversions and composing such Legends as they thought most agreeable without ever promulging the true Gospel or propagating the Catholick Faith which hath been very ingenuously own'd by a famous Bishop of Malaga by Mounsieur Arnaud and many other worthy Clergy-men of the Church of Rome who confess that some Orders of their Communion have prepar'd and preach'd several Systems of Christianity according to the Climates they travell'd So in China the subtle Iesuites have adapted their Model to the Philosophy of Confucius seldom or never Teaching the Crucifixion and Godhead of Christ and frequently allowing the Worship of Pagods Some of those Politick Apostles traffick wholly in Chinese Merchandize others turn Mandarins and become Ministers of State whereby they get Riches Interest and Power not only to drive away the rest of the Religious Orders but all Christian Strangers whatsoever that are not in the Secrets of their Empire 'T is computed that since the Year 1580 about 630 Jesuits and 200 Priests of other Orders have been sent out of several Parts of Christendom to China half of which never landed in that Kingdom and but very few of them ever return'd being taken off either by Diseases or intercepted by the Dutch in the Straits of Sundy and Malaca or else executed by the Civil Powers for disturbing the Publick Peace however I cannot but admire the indefatigable defatigable Industry and Policy of the Church of Rome in the Schemes and Projects she lays for reducing the whole World under her Dominion which may be a Lesson to the rest of Christendom to be more unanimous and crafty if they intend to stand their ground against such a Church Militant as commands all the Catholick Legions and observes a Discipline fit for Conquest But 't is high time to come nearer the Letters here publish'd the Author whereof was well prepar'd and very willing to make Observations Natural Mechanical Astronomical and Civil notwithstanding the Duty of his Religious Employment He is pleas'd to begin his Journey where Father Tachart and Mounsieur Loubere whose Voyages from Brest to Siam have been already Translated into English left off theirs and so carries on the Itinerary to Pekin by way of Letters rather then Diary 'T is well known the French Court hath been very curious of late fas est ab Hoste doceri to improve Astronomy Geography Natural History Commerce and indeed all such Arts and Sciences to the shame of some of their Neighbour as prove more serviceable to Humane Life and Empire then all the Scholastick Cobwebs Logical Quibbles Metaphysical Phantomes or Poetick Chimes Vox praetereà Nihil Upon the first Foundation of this mighty French Monarchy 't was thought necessary to set up and encourage divers sorts of Domestick Manufactures and to discourage all Forreign to open Publick Schools for Navigation Fortification and the other Parts of Mathematicks to found and endow several Academies and of late to establish Missions for the remote Quarters of the World out of all these many able Persons have been dispatch'd away under Royal Pensions to the most distant places of the World there to observe the Heavens Air Water and Earth comparing their several Remarks in the Academy and Observatory at Paris of which we have already many admirable Collections extant in all Volumes some of great use to adjust the Longitude from the Cape of Good Hope the Coasts of Malabar Cormandel Siant Borneo Malaca Pegu Manille Macao Canton Nimpo Nanquin Cancheu Feuken and Pekin Besides from the Isles of Cayenne Panama and more are expected from California and the South Seas The Persons generally sent are skilful in the Mathematicks in the Art of Designing in Natural Philosophy and are always well provided at the King's charge with Materials sit for such sort of Observations as Compasses Needles Loadstones Dials Telescopes Microscopes Levels Sextants Quadrants Pendulums Barometers Thermoscopes Hygrometers Burning Glasses Pencils Anatomical Instruments Tools for Drawing Surveying Collecting Preserving c. The Priesthood it self hath not thought it below the Dignity of their Sacred Function to accept sometimes of these Employments and therefore 't is that we have of late so many excellent Pieces in this kind from Men of Holy Orders who have apply'd themselves to such sort of Studies as will render them renown'd in the Registers of Arts and Sciences as well as in those of Martyrs and Confessors Father Thomas has been pleas'd to promise his own Observations and other Memoirs upon the undescribed Countries of Corea and that part of Tartary lying between the Chinese Wall and Muscovy thro' which Caravans are said to pass yearly between Mosco and Pekin in the space of four Months for the Longitude of the Cities in China are found by many Astronomical Observations made there and compar'd with those at the Parisian Observatory not to be so far Eastward by many Degrees as commonly placed in our Globes and Charts Father Verbiest Father Grimaldi Father Couplet Pereira Richa●d Fontanay Father Beze Noel Bouchet Gerbillon and some other Fathers Missionaries have Treasures of Observations and Draughts made by themselves and their Fellow Travellers in the Oriental Regions The Priests employ'd of late years in the Missions being of a higher Rate in Knowledge then formerly The Performances of Mounsieur Richer M. Varin Des Hayes and De Glos in the African and American Plantations deserve our Notice where Monsieur Surian Physician at Marseilles and Friar Plumiere have design'd and describ'd very elegantly the Vegetables and Animals Neither is that noble Present to be pass'd by which our Author made the Royal Academy of the Pictures of Chinese Plants from the Life together with a large new Map which I suppose to belong to Dr. Claudius mention'd by Father Tachart in his first Voyage to

even in their Capital City over Pagan Superstition When we were come to the Burying place the Missionaries in their Surplices read the Prayers of the Church before the Mandarins The Body was besprinkled with Holy Water and perfumed with Incense in the usual manner then it was let down into a very deep square Vault enclosed with four good Brick Walls It was like a Chamber under-ground and in the Scripture Phrase became to him an Everlasting Habitation Having pray'd near it some time we remained on our Knees to hear what the Emperor's Father-in-law had to say to us which was this Father Verbiest has been considerably serviceable to the Emperor and the State of which his Imperial Maj●sty being sensible has sent me with these Lords to make a Publick Acknowledgment of it on his behalf that all the World may know the singular Affection his Majesty did ever bear him while he lived and the great Grief he has received by his Death We were so moved with the Dismal Ceremony the Christians continual Lamentations our own great Loss and the Emperor's surprising Bounty that we were not able to Reply Every one melted into Tears but that P●ince who expected another Answer from us was obliged to press us for it when at length Father Pereiva thus spoke on our behalf My Lord our Anguish was not so much the cause of our Silence as the Emperor 's unparallel'd Goodness for what can we say or think when we consider that so great a Monarch uses us who are Strangers Unknown Useless and perhaps Troublesome to him as if we had the Honour to be in his Service Were we his Children he could not love us more he takes care of our Health of our Reputation of our Life He honours our very Death not only with his Elogies his Liberality the Presence of the most Noble Lords of his Court but which never can enough be prized by his Grief What Return My Lord can we then make not to all his Favours but to that alone which your Highness has been pleased to deliver We will only be bold to beg your Grace would acquaint his Majesty that we Weep because our Tears may indeed make known our Sorrow but that we remain Silent because no Words can express our Gratitude The Emperor was informed of what had passed and some days after the Chief Court of Rites presented a Petition That his Majesty would suffer them to Decree some new Honours to be paid that Illustrious Father's Memory The Emperor not only granted it but willed them to consider that Stranger of so extraordinary a Merit was not to be look'd upon as an ordinary Man In the very first Meeting they ordered seven hundred golden Crowns should be laid out on a Tomb for him and the Encomium which the Emperor had wrote should be ingraved on a Marble Stone and that some Mandarines should be once more deputed to pay him their last Devoirs in behalf of the Empire Then they promoted him that is gave him a higher Title than any he had enjoyed during his Life While the Emperor honoured the Saint on Earth he no doubt pray'd for him in Heaven For it is very observable that that Prince never was more inquisitive about Religion then at that time He sent one of his Gentlemen every Minute to the Fathers to inquire about the Condition of Souls in the other World about Heaven Hell Purgatory the Existence of a God his Providence and the Means necessary to Salvation So that God seemed to move his Heart after an extraordinary Manner and to affect it with those Holy Doubts which usually precede our Conversion But that happy Moment was not yet come However who knows but Father Verbiest's Prayers and the Care of several zealous Missionaries who have succeeded him may hasten the Execution of those Designs which Providence seems to have on that great Prince I am most respectfully Madam Hour Highnesses most humble and obedient Servant L. J. LETTER III. To his Highness the Cardinal of FURSTEMBERG O fthe Cities Houses and Chief Buildings of China My Lord AMONG the several Empires into which the World has hitherto been divided that of China has ever obtained so considerable a Place that a Prince cannot be wholly ignorant of what concerns it without neglecting one of those Sciences which seem a part of his Prerogative This My Lord was no doubt the Motive that induced your Highness to inquire so particularly into the State of that Country and to desire an Exact Account of the Number and Bigness of its Cities the Multitude of its Inhabitants the Beauty of its Publick Buildings and Manner of its Palaces By this it plainly appears that the vast Genius you have for Business does in no wise lessen the Acuteness of your Judgment in the Sublimest Arts and especially in Architecture of which the most Excellent Works raised by your Directions at Modave Saverne Berni St. Germans and above all in the famous Cathedral of Strasbourg are several Instances It having been my Business to run over all China where in Five years time I have travelled above Two thousand Leagues I may perhaps satisfie your Highness with more ease than any one besides and shall give a Description of what has seemed to me most worth my Observation Pekin that is the North-Court is the chief City of China and the usual Seat of its Emperors It is so named to distinguish it from Nankin the South-Court another very considerable City so called from the Emperor's Residing there in former Ages it being the Finest the most Commodious and best Situated of the whole Empire but the continual Inc●rsions of the Tartars a Warlike and very Troublesome Neighbour obliged him to settle in the most Northerly Provinces that he might be always ready to oppose them with the numerous Army he usually keeps near his Court. Pekin was the place fixed upon being Situate in the 40th Degree of Northern Latitude in a very Fertile Plain and not far from the Long Wall Its Neighbourhood to the Sea on the East and the great Canal on the South afford it a Communication with several fine Provinces from which it draws part of of its Subsistence This City which is of an exact Square Form was formerly four long Leagues round but Tartars settling there forced the Chinese to live without the Walls where they in a very short while built a new Town which being more Long than Large does with the old one compose an irregular Figure Thus Pekin is made up of two Cities one is called the Tartar's because they permit none else to inhabit it and the other the Chinese as large but much more full than the first Both together are Six great Leagues in Circuit allowing 3600 Paces to each League This I can aver to be true it having been measured by the Emperor 's special Command This My Lord will seem strange to those who are acquainted with Europe only and think Paris the Largest as

takeing Sustenance upon the death of my Relations and you who are Grandson to a Saint on whom all the World casts their Eyes to see ●ow you will imitate him you have satisfied your self with three days Abstinence Confucius answered him The Ceremonies have been regulated by the Ancients to restrain the indiscreet and stir up the backward It is our duty to be obedient to the Laws if we would not go astray It is in this golden mean that Wisdom and the wise Man reside that you may never stray out of it Remember that Vertue is not an excess and that Perfection hath its limits Maxim III. A Man ought to change often if he would be constant in Wisdom A Person of Quality said one day to Confucius Your Grandfather was never wanting in any duty of Civility in respect of great Persons nevertheless his Doctrine tho' holy never obtain'd or got footing How do you imagine then that yours should be followed seeing you have a Magisterial Gravity that repulses Men and proceeds sometimes to haughtiness This is not the way to be welcome at Princes Courts Every Age hath its ways answered Confucius in my Grandfather's time Princes and Officers were polisht they delighted in order every one kept his Station to insinuate a Man's self in their Affections it behoved a Man to be polisht and regular like them At this day Men value nothing but Courage and Haughtiness wherewith Princes endeavour to inspire their Officers a Man ought to change with the World that he may be in a capacity to win it A wise man would cease so to be should he always act as the wise men of former times acted Maxim IV. The Grandees of a Kingdom are not always the great Men of the State Confucius coming to the Court of one of the Kings of China was very well received This Prince allowed him an Apartment in his Palace and came to visit him there himself At the end of the Visit he said to him You come not for nothing into my State probably you have a design to do me some good My Lord replyed Confucius I am but an unprofitable Man yet I avow if your Majesty will but follow my Counsel you will not be the worse for it My intent is to present to you wise Men to occupy the principle places of your State Withal my heart says the Prince Who are they My Lord Li-in the Son of a Husband-man is a Man on whom you may rely The King burst out a laughing How says he an Husband-man I have not Employments enough for the Lords of my Court and would you have me take a Labourer into my Service The Philosopher without being moved replyed Vertue is of all Trades and Conditions although it is more commonly annext to a mean Condition We have two Kingdomes in the Empire that have been founded by two Labourers What Inconvenience is there tho' a Man of that Character govern yours Believe me Sir the Court hath hitherto supply'd you with a good Company of evil Ministers Suffer a Country Village to present you with a wise Man You want Employments you say to place all the Lords that encompass you If Vertue alone were rewarded you would find in your Court more places than Officers nay and perhaps would be fain to call for Labourers to supply them When the Body of the Nobility does not furnish the State with great Men the great Men that may be found amongst the People must be chosen and of them must be composed the Body of the Nobility Maxim V. A small Fault often denotes great qualities He one day advised the King of O●●i to set a certain Officer of Reputation at the Head of his Army but the King excused himself for not doing it because that being formerly a Mandarin he took a couple of Eggs from a Country Fellow A Man who hath abused his Authority says he deserves not any longer to command These Sentiments of Equity replyed Confucius are very laudable in a King but perhaps the Mandarins Moderation that stole but two Eggs is no less to be admired Such a small fault in the whole Life of a Man denotes in him great qualities In a word a prudent Prince makes use of his Subjects in the Government as a Carpenter uses Timber in his Works he does not reject one good Beam because there is a flaw in it provided it be strong enough to support a whole Edifice I would not advise your Majesty for the loss of a couple of Eggs to turn off a Captain who may conquer you two Realms Maxim VI. The Prince is void of Counsel who hath too much Wit and when ●e delivers his Opinion the first The same King one day held a Counsel in presence of Confucius where he spoke of some Affairs with so much vehemence of Spirit that his Ministers applauded him and forthwith allowed him to be in the right and comply'd with him without more ado At the close this King said to Confucius What 's your Iudgment of the course we have taken in our last Deliberation Sir says the Philosopher I do not perceive that they have yet deliberated you spoke with a great deal of Wit your Ministers very attentive to please you have faithfully repeated the Discourse they have told your Opinion and not their own and when you adjourned the Assembly I still expected the beginning of the Counsel Some days after the same King asked him his Advice concerning the present Government He answered him No body speaks ill of it That is my desire says the King And that Sir is what you ought not to desire reply'd Confucius A sick Person forsaken whom they flatter that he is well is not far from death a Man is bound to discover to the Prince the defects of the Mind with the same liberty Men discover to him the maladies of the Body Maxim VII The wise Man goes forward apace because the right way is always the shortest on the contrary the crafty Politician arrives later at his end because he walks in By-ways and crooked Paths The King of Ouei confessed to Confucius That there was nothing so fine as Wisdom but the difficulty of acquiring it discouraged the most Courageous and diverted the best disposed Minds As for my part added he I have used endeavours but all in vain I am resolved to torment my self no longer about it and a small parcel of Policy will supply the defect of that Wisdom that is necessary to good Governing Sir answered Confucius 't is true Wisdom is seated on a lofty Place but the Road to it is not so impracticable as People imagine it grows plainer and plainer according as you go on and once got at it one cannot go back without running great danger to fall down the Precipice in such a sort that a wise Man cannot cease being so without doing violence to himself in some respect But do you think that a Prince hath no trouble when he marches in the indirect

the Mandarins not one of them did us the least wrong and what appeared yet more extraordinary was That offering a Present to a Commissioner of the Custom-house People that are usually greedy and attentive to the improvement of such sort of occasions he protested notwithstanding all our earnest Intreaties that he would never take any thing of any Body so long as he was in his Office but if one day he should chance to be in another Condition he would with all his heart receive from us some European Curiosity After all these are rare Examples and the same is not the Character of the Natives As the Chineses have a Genius for Commerce so have they likewise for Affairs of State their Wit has been a long time adapted to Politicks and negotiating Affairs not with Foreigners whom they look upon as Barbarians and their Sub●ects whom the ancient haughtiness of the Empire forbids to correspond with but amongst themselves according as they are bound by Interest or as their Fortune ingages them therein There is Policy amongst Princes and other Grandees of the Realm as much as in any Court of Europe They continually apply themselves to know the Gusto Inclinations Humours and Designs one of another and they study it so much the more as they are more reserved and dissembling themselves they keep a fair Correspondence with every Body nay and even observe a Decorum with their Enemies As the way of Challenging a Duel is not allowed in the State all their Revenge is reasonable and secret one cannot imagine by how many Shifts and Contrivances they endeavour to destroy one another without making any shew of having any such thing in their head They are not only Dissemblers but patient even to insensibleness in expecting a favourable Moment to declare themselves and to strike home But as they observe all sorts of measures with their Enemies the better to lull them asleep so they sometimes huff their best Friends for fear least a too strict Bond of Friendship should involve them in some unlucky business So far are they from that barbarous Friendship that inclines us in Europe to engage those in our private Quarrels that are most devoted to us and to expose without any advantage a Life that we should defend even by the loss of our own The Lords of the Court the Vice-Roys of Provinces and Generals of Armies are in perpetual motion to preserve or acquire the principal Places of the State they carry on their business by Money Favour and by intrigue And since the Laws give nothing either to Solicitation Riches or Ambition of private Persons but solely to Merit the most subtle seem always most moderate whilst in the mean time by an hundred hidden Springs they endeavour to obtain the choice and esteem of the Emperor In short if some Neighbours more potent and better Head-pieces than the Tartars could have been able to have accustom'd them to make Treaties as the different People of Europe do amongst themselves I am perswaded that Policy and Negotiations would have proved more powerful to defend them from their Enemies then that prodigious Wall of which they endeavoured to make a Bulwark and all those numerous Armies wherewith they have hitherto but all in vain opposed them After all that I have said I leave you to judge My Lord of the Character of these People and of the value that ought to be put upon them when a Man hath a gust as good as yours he does not think of things nicely but also judges of them solidly and with the greatest exactness so that I suppose no body will take it ill that I submit the Chinese to your Censure They only would find some difficulty to subscribe to it if they understood the defect of their Wit and Genius as much as we understand the delicateness of yours but as they believe themselves the most witty Nation in the World I am sure they will be glad to be given over to the Judgment of a Person whom all France begins to admire and what is more whom Lewis the Great honours particularly with his esteem You will observe My Lord in China some Faults which one cannot excuse all the favour I beg of you for them is to reflect That formerly they have been wiser more sincere and honest less corrupted than they are at present Vertue which they cultivated with so much care which contributed infinitely to model their Reason made them at that time the wisest People of the Universe and being their Manners were more regular so I doubt not but they were then more spiritual and more rational However in the very Condition wherein they are at present you will perhaps esteem them notwithstanding and find withal that though they have not Ingenuity enough to be compared with our Learned and Knowing Men in Europe yet do they not give place to us in Arts that they equal us in Politeness and that perhaps they may surpass us in Politicks and in Government I am with the most profound Respect My Lord Your most humble and most obedient Servant L. J. THE Present State OF CHINA PART II. To the Cardinal D' Estrees Of the Policy and Government of the Chinese WHEN I had the honour to give your Eminence an account of the present State of China I did a long time doubt whether or no I should venture to describe to you their Form of Government To handle so nice a Subject requires the abilities of the most exact Politician and a knowledg of State-Affairs exquisite as yours a Subject not to be managed by any without pains and trouble but which lies too deep for those of my Character whose knowledg in the Affairs of this World is slight and superficial But yet it would be the greatest of injuries to the Chinese to pass that over in silence which they look upon as the thing to which they owe all their good qualities and which they esteem as a Masterpiece of the most exact Policy Thus therefore my Lord tho' I should own it a piece of imprudence in me to meddle with these mysterious Arcana of Government and to search never so little into the depths of worldly Wisdom I could be content to be blamed for it in Europe if China to whom I own I bear a kindness and respect approve of it in me and get any Credit thereby Amongst the several Models and Plans of Government which the Antients framed we shall perhaps meet with none so perfect and exact as is that of the Chinese Monarchy The antient Lawgivers of this Potent Empire formed it in their days very little different from what it is in ours Other States according to the common fate of the things of this World are sensible of the weakness of Infancy are born mishapen and imperfect and like Men they owe their perfection and maturity to time China seems more exempted from the common Laws of Nature and as though God himself had founded their Empire the

indeed admirable for its antiquity for the wisdom of its Maxims for the plainness and uniformity of its Laws for that exemplary Virtue which it has produced in a long Succession of Emperors for that regularity and order which it has kept the People in in despight of Civil or Foreign Wars which notwithstanding like the rest of the things of this world is subject to a great many inconveniences to Rebellions which have depopulated whole Provinces to the injustice of some Princes who have abused their power to the Avarice of Mandarins who have often oppressed the People to Invasions from abroad and Treachery from home to such a number of Changes as would have unhinged the very Government and Laws if a more Politick People than are the Tartars were near enough the Empire to introduce their own method of Government It would my Lord be a piece of flattery to my self to imagine that I have by this tedious account added any thing to that immense store of Knowledge which you have drawn from the best Springs of Antiquity from the Conversation of the most ingenious of the Moderns from the management of the most momentous Affairs or which is a greater Fountain of Understanding from your own natural Wit and Ingenuity which has made you if I may use the Expression a Native of all Countries and a Philosopher of all Ages But I am sure you will be glad to see that the truest Maxims of good Policy are not altogether strangers in the East and that if China do not form so great Ministers as you are it forms great enough to understand Your worth and to follow your steps and improve themselves from the Copy you set them if they could but know you I am in the most profound manner My Lord Your Eminence's most obedient and most humble Servant● L. J. To my Lord Cardinal de Bouïllon Concerning the Antient and Modern Religion of China My Lord I Do not at all wonder that your Highness is pleased to hear Relations of China It belongs only to great Princes to be thoroughly acquainted with all that concerns the several Kingdoms of the World and to make a true judgment of the Power and Grandeur of Empires God who has sent such Men into the World to Govern it has given them a more than ordinary ability and knowledge to perform it So that my Lord if I take upon me the liberty to acquaint your Lordship with what repeated Voyages for the space of several years have given me oportunity to know in this affair it is not so much to instruct you in it as to beg your Highnesses judgment of it I may say this still with more truth when I have the honour to write to you of Religion This is more particularly your concern and I may say that if your Quality your Ingenuity and your incomparable Learning have made you above all Men our Judge your Eminent Dignity in the Church obliges us in Sacred concerns to hear and consult your Highness as our Oracle 'T is on this prospect my Lord that I now present to you these Memoirs with some Reflections which the Customs of the Chinese and the reading of their Books have suggested to me concerning their Religion being of this mind that after so many different Opinions and long Disputes which have for a whole Age divided the most learned Missionaries there is no better way of coming to decision than to obtain your Highnesses judgment therein Religion has always had a great share in establishing the greatest Kingdoms which could never support themselves were not the Peoples Minds and Hearts tied together by the outward wo●ship of some Deity for People are naturally Superstitious and rather follow the guidance of Faith than Reason It was therefore for this reason that the antient Law-givers always made use of the knowledge of the true God or of the false Maxims of Idolatry to bring the barbarous Nations under the Yoak of their Government China happier in its Foundation than any other Nation under the Sun drew in the chief of the holy Maxims of their antient Religion from the Fountain Head The Children of Noah who were scattered all over the Eastern parts of Asia and in all probability founded this Empire being themselves in the time of the Deluge witnesses of the Omnipotence of their Creator transmitted the Knowledge of him and instilled the fear of him into all their descendants the footsteps which we find in their Histories will not let us doubt the truth of this Fobi the first Emperor of China carefully bred up seven sorts of Creatures which he used to Sacrifice to the Supreme Spirit of Heaven and Earth For this reason some called him Paobi that is oblation a name which the greatest Saints of the Old or New Testament would have been proud to have and which was reserved for him alone who made himself an Oblation both for Saints and Sinners Hoamti the third Emperor built a Temple to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and altho' Iudea had the honour of Consecrating to him one more rich and magnificent hallowed even by the presence of our Creator and the prayers of our Redeemer it is no small glory to China to have sacrificed to their Creator in the most antient Temple of the World Tçouen hio the fifth Emperor thought afterwards that one place was too narrow to contain the Services paid to the Lord of the Universe He therefore instituted Priests or Ecclesiastical Mandarins in several Provinces to preside over the Sacrifices He gave them strict command to observe that Divine Service was performed with all humility and respect and that all the Religious Ceremonies were strictly observed Tiho his Successor took as much care of Religion as he had done Histories relate that the Empress his Wife being barren begged Children of God during theSacrifice with such fervour and earnestness that she conceived in few days and sometime after was brought to bed of a Son who was famous for that forty Emperors successively reigned of his Family Yao and Chan the two Princes who succeeded him are so famous for their Piety and for the Wisdom of their Governments that it is very likely that Religion was still more flourishing during their Reigns It is also very probable that the three succeeding Families did preserve the knowledge of God for about two thousand years during the Reign of fourscore Emperors since the learnedest among the Chinese maintain that before the Superstitions introduced with the God To into China there were no Idols or Statues seen there This is certain that during all that space of time the observation of the Emperor Yao's Maximes was recommended to the Princes of which the most essential and principal was concerning the Worship of the Sovereign Lord of the World and altho' some Emperors have been so wicked as to reject them so far as even to threaten Heaven itself and foolishly challenge it to fight they have been nevertheless looked upon as

under pretence of preaching the Gospel secretly managed a Conspiracy and had a design to seize upon China by the force and assistance of the Iaponnese Hollanders and Christians of that Country It must needs be a great amazement to any one who observes the rage and bitterness of these false Brethren who altho' engaged by their Religion to propagate the work of God even with the loss of their Lives were yet resolved to destroy it by such vile and false Aspersions This Ridiculous Story which was set forth with Heat and Violence and built upon some Circumstances which carried some shew of Truth easily found Credit among the Chinese naturally excessively Suspicious and very well satisfied by a long experience that the least Commotions or Rebellion might bring the most powerful Empires to ruin The Persecution was very sharp the weak Christians were scandalized and did Apostatize from the Faith Father Martinez was taken up imprisoned and bastinado'd till at length he died thro' his Torments and if this Accusation of the Christians had ever came to the knowledge of the Court it is very probable it would have been the utter overthrow of Christianity here But our Lord stop'd the growing Evil in its bud and by the means of a Mandarin a particular Friend of Father Ricci gave Peace to the Mission and Liberty to the Evangelical Workmen After having surmounted a great many Obstacles of this nature and preached the Gospel to an infinite number of People this fervent Missionary died The Heathens judged him the wisest and most understanding Man of his Age the Christians lov●d him as their Father and the preachers of the Gospel made him a Model whereby to form themselves He had the satisfaction of dying in the midst of a plentiful Harvest but was disturbed that there were so few Workmen to get it in So that he recommended nothing more earnestly to his Brethren who assisted him in his last Sickness than to receive with all imaginable joy and comfort all those who should come to partake of their Labours If they find says he to them when they arrive here Crosses from the Enemies of Christianity do you sweeten the bitterness of them by demonstrations of the most tender Friendship and most inflamed Charity The Churches of China of which he was the main support were shaken by his Fall for altho' the Emperour for some Years afterward shewed himself somewhat favourable to the Christian Religion yet in 1615 there arose against it the cruellest Tempest that it had ever yet suffered It was occasioned by one of the principal Mandarins of Nankin They chiefly set upon the Pastors thereby the easier to disperse the Flock Some were cruelly beaten others banished almost all imprisoned and carried afterwards to Macao after having the honour of suffering a thousand injuries and reproaches for the love of IESUS CHRIST The Tempest lasted near six Years but at last the Persecutor being himself accused was by Gods Judgment deprived both of his Offices and also of his Life His death gave the Christians some respite who after that multiplied more than ever thro' the labours of a great many Missionaries It was about this time that the Right Reverend Fathers of the Order of St. Dominick joined with us many of whom do at this time labour in China with a great deal of Zeal and Success About this time Father Adam Schaal a German appeared at Courts and added a new Lust●e to Christianity which had but newly sprang up again He was perfectly skilled in Mathematicks and made use of his knowledge therein to obtain the Emperors kindness he was in a little time so highly in the Emperours favour that he thought he should be able by his own Interest alone to Establish the Christian Religion solidly He began to make use of his Interest with good success when an Insurrection overturned the whole Government and with it all his promising hopes This great State whose Power seemed to be enough to secure it from the most violent Shock whatever was made sensible then that there is nothing constant in this World Some Robbers being met together by the access of multitudes of Male-contents who joined them formed vast Armies they burned Towns and plundered whole Provinces China presently changed its Aspect and from the most flourishing Empire became the Stage for the most bloody War Never were there seen so many Murthers and Barbarities The Emperour being surprised at Pekin strangled himself for fear of falling into the hands of the Victors The Usurper was soon drove out of the Throne by the Tartars who seiz'd upon it The Princes of the Blood who in different places were proclaimed Emperours were vanquished or killed Then all the Mandarins rose some declaring for Tartary others for Liberty others only carried on the Fighting Trade in hopes to make their private Fortunes from the publick Ruin Some of those last were rather Monsters than Men who giving themselves to all that Licentiousness which the most inhumane Cruelty and Barbarity could prompt them to made whole Provinces desolate and shed more blood to satisfie their Brutality than the most ambitious Prince in the World would for the Conquest of an Empire Religion which groaned amidst those Troubles had the comfort nevertheless of seeing many great Persons Converted one Empress with her Son were Baptised scarce either of them lived after their reception of the Faith the fruits of which they could not enjoy but in the other World Lastly the Tartars by their Valour and by a Conduct equal to the Policy of ancient Rome made themselves Masters of China and in a few Years obliged all the Provinces to submit to a foreign Yoak Then we thought Religions Case desperate but God who needs not the assistance of Men when he hath a mind to support his own Work inspired on a sudden this new Prince with a greater affection for the Christian Religion than we dared hope for from the Chinese Emperours He not only took away the Government of the Mathematicks from the Mabometans which they had possessed for 300 Years and gave it to Father Adam but by a special Privilege he suffered that Father to apply himself to him immediately in all things which concerned the Missionaries without first passing thro' the Formalities of the Courts of Justice who are very severe to Strangers This signal Favour joined with many others raised up the Courage of the Christians and gave the Heathens greater liberty to close with the true Religion Many Persons of the best Quality at Pekin desired Baptism the Provinces follow'd the Example of the Court and the Harvest became so plentiful that the Workmen were too few to gather it in Those who were employed therein laboured with such an hearty Zeal that we do at this present feel the effects of it There were found Persons of eminent Vertue Prudence and Understanding whom God had formed during the Troubles and Civil Wars and which the Spirit of the Almighty drew

Faith We have frequently told him that God was the Master and Giver of these Gifts and that he distributed them according to the Decrees of his eternal Wisdom that it is out of our Sphere to fathom their Depth that sometimes he did not work these Prodigies in Kings Courts because he foresaw the ill use they were likely to make of them sometimes because giving them better Parts and Abilities and more Penetration than to others these ordinary Graces were sufficient for them whereas the simple vulgar and the rude unciviliz'd Nations stood in need of the sensible Marks of his Almightiness for the more easy discovering of the Truth yea and it is more than probable also that carnal Prudence which is at such enmity with the Spirit of the Blessed Jesus the Softness Ambition and Luxury of great Persons draw upon them this terrible Chastisement and that God in his just Judgment refuseth Miracles to Persons who do themselves refuse to submit to the most plain and ordinary Laws of Nature But my Lord have some replied the Charity of that great Number of Missionaries who joyfully forsake Europe where their Quality Estates and their Science ought naturally to detain them who traverse a Thousand Dangers to come hither to sacrifice themselves to the Happiness of your People and with so unbiassed and constant Zeal Sir Is not there something of a Prodigy in it and should it not be as powerful to perswade you as Miracles If they be such Knowing Learned Men as your Majesty allows them to be how do they abuse themselves and if they be Wise as you seem to think them why do they abandon all the Pleasures of this World to come so far to deceive others and all to no purpose After all the Reflections they have made this Hundred Years upon the different Religions of China there is not one of them who hath not judg'd them all wholly contrary to Reason but during so many Ages that we have examined the Christian Religion we have not observed amongst us one wise Man and of good Morals that hath suspected it of Falshood These Answers do usually put him to a stand and force him to make certain Reflections that do not a little disturb him In short most Reverend Father if Miracles be wanting at Pekin the Business is otherwise in the Provinces several are there wrought and those of Father Faber are so generally known that it is somewhat difficult not to believe them not that I go about to justifie all that is related of those nor of a great many more Prodigies which they relate on small grounds but you 'll give me leave not to doubt of those whereof I my self have been Witness and peradventure most Reverend Father you rely so much upon my Sincerity as to be inclined to believe them likewise upon my Testimony In a Village in the Province of Chensi near the City of San-uyen there lived an Idolater devout in his way and extreamly addicted to these Superstitions At the time of Full Moon he burnt commonly in honour of his Gods Gilded or Silver'd Papers wrapt up in different Figures according to the Custom of the Country One day preparing to Offer this kind of Sacrifice before his Gate there arose a Storm that forc'd him to retire into his House where he lighted the said Papers in the middle of a Hall without taking any farther Care but the Wind blowing open the Gate drove them up and down every where and they had not time to prevent one part from flying into a Stack of Straw which set fire on the House People came running but the conflagration became so furious in a moment that it was impossible to extinguish it The House on one side adjoyning to the Idolater's belonged to a Christian and by this time seem'd half encompassed with the Flames driven furiously by the Wind to be in Danger of being quickly quite consumed this poor Man attended with divers others got upon the House-top and did his Endeavour but all in Vain to defend himself from the Conflagration when his brother very confidently came as near the Fire as he durst possibly and fell on his Knees upon the Tiles and looking up to heaven said O Lord forsake not those that put their Trust in thee all that thou hast bestowed upon us is here if we lose it the whole Family is reduced to the utmost Extremity Preserve it O my God and I promise before thee that I will assemble all the Christians in the Neighbourhood and we will go to Church together to demonstrate my acknowledgment of the same Thereupon he loosed a small Relique from his Chaplet threw it into the middle of the Flames that by this time cover'd part of the House This Action perform'd with such a sprightly Air did equally attract the Attention of Christians and Idolaters who mightily astonished at their Companions Confidence expected the event of the Business when Heaven all on the suddain declar'd it self in a most miraculous manner The Wind blowing violently forthwith slacken'd and a contrary Wind stronger than that arising at the same time drove the violent Streams of the Flames to the opposite side upon the House of a wicked falsehearted Christian that had lately abjured It was consumed in a Moment becoming an Example of divine Vengeance as the House that Heaven preserved was an evident Token of his Protection I was at that time Six Miles from the Village 'T is true my urgent Business hindred me from being my self upon the Spot but I sent very credible Persons thither to be inform'd about it The Pagans first of all bore Witness to the Truth and some while after the Christians thereabouts conducted by him who was lately heard in his Prayer appear'd in my Church to fulfil his Vow where with one accord they eccho'd forth the Praises of the Great God who alone is able to cause his Voice to be heard by the most insensible Creatures to the Confusion of false Gods that are not themselves capable to hear the Voice of rational Creatures Some Months after there happened a thing no less surprising the Consequences whereof were very beneficial to Religion An Idolater of an indifferent Fortune felt himself assaulted with an unknown Distemper it was so catching that his Mother and Wife shar'd in it likewise Two or three times a Week he fell into fainting Fits which at the beginning look'd like Swooning and then turned again into cruel Head-aches Pains in the Stomach and Bowels sometimes they found themselves extreamly agitated as if they had had a Fever they lost the use of their Reason their Eyes rolled in their Heads and men judged by several other unusual Postures that the Devil had a hand in the matter They were the more perswaded to it because they often found their House all put out of Order the Chairs Tables and earthen Vessels overthrown not knowing on whom to lay the Fault The Physicians whose Interest it was to pass