Selected quad for the lemma: order_n
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A26841
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The history of the court of the king of China out of French.; Histoire de la cour du roy de la Chine. English
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Baudier, Michel, 1589?-1645.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing B1165; ESTC R13758
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39,916
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119
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which they hold in singular reverence Its Form is human and Majestick Out of its Shoulders grow up three Heads equal and alike which incessantly behold one another for to let us understand that they have but one and the same Will This may be taken for some Remains of the Mystery of the most holy Trinity which the blessed Apostle St. Thomas heretofore preached unto them when going to the Oriental Indies where the Martyrdom which he suffered crowned his Life with an immortal Diadem he passed through China as is reported in the ancient Writings of the Armenians but finding the Chineses wholly taken up with Wars he passed on farther after he had briefly explicated to them the Verities of the Gospel In the same Temple where this Image with three Hâ—ads is adored they venerate Pictures which are not unlike to those of the twelve Apostles The Christians who observed these Representations asked the naturaÌ„ll Chineses what men these twelve Apostles had been and had no other answer but that these twelve Personages had been great Philosophers who had so ardently embraced Vertue in this World that after their Death it had elevated them up to Heaven and made them Angels thereof For a third Testimony that they have heretofore had some Ray of Christian Verity they venerate also in the same number of sacred Pictures the Image of a Woman perfâ—ctly fair that bears a Child in her Arms which they say she brought forth without violating hâ—r Virginity and whose Conception and Birth were not soiled with any Sin they know no more thereof The double Cloud of Ignorance of the holy Books and of the Siâ— of Idâ—latry has hid the rest from thâ—m Neverâ—heless all these Marks explicaâ—â—d by the eloquent Mouth of some pious and fâ—rvent Christian might reproach them with being no more what they have been and would be no uâ—proâ—itable Means to render succesâ—ul the Cares which should be employed â—or their Salvation Besides that the excellâ—ncy of their Wits capable of Reason would give a freer Access thereunto and even their Oracles would lend an helping hand to such Workmen for the effectuating their good Designs for they have a Prophecy that saith That from thâ— West must come the true Faith which shall lift them up â—o Heaven for to be thâ—râ— made Angels Certainly the Court of China woulâ— be unto us an agreeable Abode in thâ— Conversation of its Courtiers learned and endued with a very excellent Wit and amidst the honest Recompences which are there given to Vertue but the false Worship of Idols and the abominable Superstitions wâ—ich are there committed force us to quit it It is then time to depart thence to turn our Thoughts another way and to bestoâ— our Labors upon a more holy Employmâ—nt We shall do it with the Divine assistance of him that has conducted our Works after we shall have acquainted you with the Ceremonies which are used at the Dâ—cease and Funerals of the Soveraign Priâ—ces of this grâ—at Monarchy When their King is dead thâ—y wash his Câ—â—ps with Aromatick waters perfume his Royall Habits and cloath him in the most sumptuous manner that ever he was in his Life they sâ—at him in his Throne to the end all his Court may come to pay him their last Devoirs and to bewail his Loss The first who present themselves are the Prince's Children if he had any after them the Queen his Wife and the neerest of his Relations they all put themselves on their Knees before his Body abide there some time and then retire with Tears in their Eyes and Sighs in their Moâ—ths The Chancellor or President of his Councell accompanied with all the Councellors of State pays there the same Funerall honors all the Courtiers and Domesticks of the Royal House being also on their Knees before the Deceased bewail the Loss of their Lord. This sorrowfull Ceremony being performed they take the Body from the Throne and strip it of its precious Habits they put it in a Coffin It is the ordinary passage of the Pomps of the World from their Grandeur to Death madâ— of rich and odoriferous Wood closed in such a manner that no Air can enter thereinto they put it upon a Table in the middle of the Royal Chamber adorned and hung the most sumptuously that is possible they spread upon it a white Linen Cloth hanging down to the Ground upon which the Portrait of the deceased King is drawn to the Life the Autichamber is also superbly adorned and therein are set many Tables with a great number of Funeral Lights amongst which is served up a great quantity of Viands for the Priests and Religious of China who come to sing after their mode to pray and offâ—r Sacrifices for the Repose of him who is dead in eternall Inquietudes To these vain Devotions they add many Sorceries they put upon thâ— Coffin a great number of little painted Papers a part whereof they burn the rest they tye to the Bier with little Cords they shake and move them incessantly with such dreadfull Cries and Howlings that it is difficult to hear them without Terror They say that by this frantick fashion of succoring the Dead they send the Soul of the decâ—ased Monarch into Heaven to the number of those that are happy This Tintamarre or Spirituall Charivary of the Priests of China endures the space of fifteen Dayes after which they conduct the Body of the King to the Grave The Procession is in this manner Before the Body go all the Chinese Priests and Religious that are found in the Court they carry in their hands lighted Tapers The Kindred of the Prince follow the Corps severely clad in Mourning they have great Cassocks of wool next theirâ—lâ—sh and are giâ—t about their Reins with Cords their Head is simply covered with great broad-brim'd Bonneâ—s of wool like to our Hats a-la-Mode such as are worn in our Countreys about the end of this present yeer 1625 which is strictly observed For in China Mourning consists not only in the Meen â—t pasâ—es beyond Tears and Sighs which proceed only from Decency The greater Persons to observe well the Mourning for the Death of a Father or Mother deprive themselves of their Offices and â—he Vice-Royes in the like sorrow remit into the Kings hands the Governments that they had received from him To do otherwise there would be no less shamefull and impious than it would be in our Countries for a Son to laugh dance and rejoyce publickly at the Death of his Father The Councell with the honorable Marks of their Dignity go immediately after these and all the Officers of the Royal House and of the Court assist thereat in order and according to the rank of their Employs In this Pomp the Body of the deceased King is conducted to the Grave but not interred without Train they burn at the putting him thâ—rein the Pictures of many Slaves of a great number of Horses of an heap of Gold and Silver and of some Pieces of Silk which they believe follow the Departed into the other World In truth if these Burnings in eâ—â—igie are Marks of the foolish Superstitions of the Chinesâ—s they are also Signs of the sweetness of their Dispositions more humane than those of some Barbâ—rians their Neighbors and of some people which have been ours who at the intermâ—nt of their Princâ—s really burnt their Wives and the Men who had served them and prodigally cast into the fire the Gold Silver and Jewels which they found in their Coffers This light Burning being â—inished and the Pictures reduced into Ashes they descend and close in a little Earth him who commandâ—d a World of Men and Land who might have crowned his Head with fifteen Diadems For the Provinces of China which make this number are in greatness and goodness so many Realms and in doing this they bring unto Dust the greatest and most glittering Pomp of the World And certainly since that all things of the Court and of the Earth are nothing but Dust and that of Dust have the fairâ—â—t and noblest parts of the Universe been formed when Men who are the Kings of the World go down to their Grave we put Dust to Dust. For a Lesson unâ—o Soveraign Monarchs that in their superb Thrones the Royal Crown and Mantle cover only a piece of animated Earth and an heap of living Dust except they have a great Courage a generous Soul and a pious Disposition Then by these Royal and excellent Qualities they will draw their Names out of the Dust of oblivion and if by the common Law of Nature the Body which is but Dust descends into the Dust the Spirit which was never Dust will go to receive in Heaven the immortal Crowns which are the Rewards of magnanimous and pious Kings FINIS
the World and of the Court cover many Deformities and conceal many Perâ—idies The Kings of China have often experienced this The Divisions of their State and the Troubles thereof which lasted one and forty yeers the Treasons Massacres which were committed even upon the Persons of the Kings under the unfortunate Reigns of Yanthei Laupi Gâ—itgey Quiontey and Sontey are veritable Proofs thereof in their Histories This is the cause that at this day they live very retiredly in their great Palaces and instead of Pages and Gentlemen Attendants are served only by Women with whom they ordinarily converse giving them the Care of their Nourishment and trusting them with the Conservation of their Health not but that their persons are guarded by Men. There are as we have elswhere said ten thousand armed men in Guard without the Royal Palace not counting those who are at the Gates and on the Stairs of the same Palace as also in the Hals For the Chinese Princes have not been exempted from the malice of Women King Tronson taken with the singular Beauty of his Fathers Widow found by his pursuits in the vain Enjoyment of his Love the loss of his Life This fair Queen named Causâ— and who was the Cause of Misfortunes to a whole State weary of the Inquietudes of the World and Vanities of the Court abandoned them after the Decease of the King her Husband for to give her sâ—lf up being removed from them to the Calm and Repose wherein the Soul enjoying it self finds its Good and Felicity She shut her self up in a Monastery of Chinese Nuns in which the Devil under the worship of Idols makes himself be adored by the fairest women of the East there laying at his Feet the Crown she had upon her Head she vailed her self like the rest and lived in the simplicity of this Order Tronson her Son-in-Law who was a greater Adorer of her Attractions than she was of the false Deities is advertized thereof He follows her giving â—s thereby an Example that Kings as well as other men live in their Beloveds He entertains her at the Grate caresses her perswades her to quit her Vail and put again a second time the Royall Crown upon her Head Cause hearkens to him believes him and coming sorth from the Monastery shews that the Devotions of women are frequently like to Crystal Glasses which are broken with the first knock She is married to him But what Good can proceed from this unconstant Change and Backsliding from the World to the Cloister from the Cloister to the World Certainly a woman voluntarily unfrockt is a dangerous Animal in a State or Family Cause reassumes the Ambition which she had trampled under foot and that she might reign alone in the Name and during the Minority of her Son causes King Tronson her Husband to be slain Then being Mistress of her Will as well as of the Realm she abandons her Reason her Honor and the glory of her Majesty to her lascivious Passions She becomes the Wife of many Husbands or Gallants There was not any great man about the Court to whom her Embraces were not permitted â—ay even proffered This debauched Life of a Princess who ought to be an Example of Vertue in a State gives offence to every one as being a publick Scandal To cover it in some measure she marries again but that she may continue her Enormities she takes a man of no Quality who permits her every thing Vices follow one another From Lubricity she proceeds to Cruelty Her Children more careful of her Honour than her self testify only by their Regrets the Displeasure they conceive at her ill Conduct She causes their Throats to be cut to make way for a Nephew of hers to the Crown of China who serves hâ—r for a Support and Upholder in her Lubricities in which she reigns forty years a Reign too long for so wicked a woman In fine the Chineses grow weary of those Disorders they send to search out a Nâ—tural Son of her Husbands Crown him anâ— acknowledgâ— him for their King He named Tantzon seized this impudent Woman brought her to Tryal and put an end to her detestable Lifâ— by the hand of the Executioner This was the end of the Princess Cause who had caused so many Disorders in the State and was in fine the Cause of her own shameful Destruction But the Kings of China have for some Ages past lived extremely retired in their stately Palaces There has been such an one as never came forth in publick but on the Day that he was Crowned King and took the accustomed Oath If the People at any time see them ' â—is through an interposed Glass They say they do thus to conserve the Royal Dignity and the Respect due thâ—reunto and moreover to prevent such Treasons as might be contrived against them This manner of living thus sequestred diminishes not the Love and Reverence which the people owe to their persons for the Governors and Magistrates well know how to keep it up and make them observe it and moreover in the principal Provinces of the Realm where the Vice-royes make their Residence they are accustomed to hang up in a publick place a rich Tablet of pure Gold wâ—erein the Efâ—â—â—ies of their King is represented to the life vailed with a Curtain embroidered with Gold The Loytias who are the Knights and the Officers of Justice go every day â—efore it to pay their Respects in a solemn and submiss manner giving the Publick this Example of an exterior Reverencâ— towards their Soveraign wâ—ich often-times excites an interior Love On their solemn Festival Dayes which they celebrate every new Moon this Tablet is unvailed the people see it discovered and every one runs thereunto to oâ—fer up their Submissions In the perpetual recess therefore of these delectable Palaces the Monarchs of China have ordinarily scarâ—e any other Conversation or Company but Women For besides those that serve them which are in very great number they have thirty Concubâ—â—es the fairest that can be found in their Reâ—lm and onâ— only Queen whom they espouse and make Companion of their Scepter Thâ—y wâ—re heretofore accustomâ—d whoâ— they had an intent to marry to invite to a Royal and solemn Feast all the Knights and greatâ—â—â— Lords of â—he Court and commandâ—â— them to brâ—ng with them their Sons aâ—d Daughâ—ers They were very diligent in obeying this Command hoping they might place in the Throne of China some one of their Daughters and therefore advantaged their Beauties by all the Ornaments of Artiâ—ice The Feast being ended these Virgins were placed in a great Hall according to the Order of their Birth and not to the Degree of their Quality Then the King if he were not married or if he were the Princes his Sons came into this Hall to entertain the Ladies and to choose from amoâ—gst them those the Graces and Perfections of whose Beauties were most capable to captivate their Affections by the sweetness of their Charms