“TO MY CHILDREN”

They who dote on mortall excellencies, when by the inevitable fate of all things fraile, their adored idolls are taken from them, may lett loose the winds of passion to bring in a flood of sorrow; whose ebbing tides carry away the deare memory of what they have lost; and when comfort is assay'd to such mourners, commonly all obiects are remoov'd out of their view, which may with their remembrance renew their griefe; and in time these remedies succeed, when oblivions curtaine is by degrees drawn over the dead face, and things lesse lovely are liked, while they are not viewed together with that which was most excellent: but I that am under a command not to grieve att the common rate of desolate woemen, while I am studying which way to moderate my woe, and if it were possible to augment my love, can for the present find out none more iust to your deare father nor consolatory to myselfe then the preservation of his memory, which I need not guild with such flattring commendations as the hired preachers doe equally give to the truly and titularly honorable; a naked undrest narrative, speaking the simple truth of him, will deck him with more substantiall glorie, then all the panegyricks the best pens could ever consecrate to the vertues of the best men.

All this while these pettie committee fellows had carried themselves as absolute governors, and Plumtre was now their intimate favourite, and began to vapour that he would have the castle pull'd downe to re-erect the church, and the fort at the bridges throwne downe, and all the arms and souldiers brought into the towne.

But at London, the governor being growne into acquaintance with the gentlemen of the sub-committee, that were to heare his businesse, and they perceiving with how much wicked mallice he was prosecuted, Sr. Henry Vane was so honorable as to give him advice to putt his businesse in such a way, as might take away all colour from his enemies; whereupon he put in some propositions to the committee of both kingdomes, for the composure of these differences, wherein he was willing to decline all things of his owne right, which might be done without preiudice to the publick service, and to passe by all the iniuries that had bene done him; which condiscension gave such satisfaction, that forthwith the whole businesse was determined at the committee of both kingdomes, and the governor sent back to his charge, with instructions drawne up for all parties, and letters written to the officers and souldiers, both of horse and foote, to be obedient; and likewise letters to the maior of the towne and the committee.

A FRAGMENT

The Almighty Author of all beings, in his various providences, whereby he conducts the lives of men from the cradle to the tomb, exercises no lesse wisdome and goodnesse then he manifests power and greatnesse in their creation, but such is the stupidity of blind mortalls that insteed of employing their studies in these admirable bookes of providence, wherein God dayly exhibitts to us glorious characters of his love, kindnesse, wisdome, and iustice, they ungratefully regard them not, and call the most wonderfull operations of the greate God the common accidents of humane life, specially if they be such as are usuall, and exercised towards them in ages wherein they are not very capable of observation, and whereon they seldome employ any reflexion; for in things greate and extraordinary some perhaps will take notice of God's working, who either forgetfc or believe not that he takes as well a care and account of their smallest concernments, even the haires of their heads.

Finding myselfe in some kind guilty of this generall neglect, I thought it might be a meanes to stirre up my thankefulnesse for things past, and to encourage my faith for the future, if I recollected, as much as I have heard or can remember, of the passages of my youth, and the general! and particular providences exercis'd to me., both in the entrance and progresse of my life.

ON the 8th of October we embarked, for the fecond time, on the Pei-ho in yachts, however, that were very different from thofe on which we had afcended the river, being much fmaller but broader in proportion to their length, and fo fhallow and flat-bottomed, that they required little depth of water; yet we found them fufficiently commodious. Of the neceffity of fuch a change in the accommodation yachts, on account of the low ftate of the river, we were fpeedily convinced, which, previous to our embarkation, had been by fome attributed to a different caufe. It was fuppofed that the men in office throughout the country, piqued at the refufal of the Embaffador to fubmit to their degrading ceremony, would not fail to retaliate the affront by depriving us of every little comfort and convenience, and by otherwife rendering the long journey before us extremely unpleafant. The character of the people at large juftified fuch a conclufion; and, I believe, every individual had laid his account of meeting with difficulties and difagreeable occurrences on the journey to Canton. In juftice, however, to thofe who had the fuperintendence of the embaffy, and particularly to the two moft worthy characters Van and Chou, who were more immediately connected with its concerns, it is but fair to obferve that no attention was wanting, nor expence fpared, to render our fituation as eafy and comfortable as poffible.

IT may, perhaps, be laid down as an invariable maxim, that the condition of the female part of fociety in any nation will furnifh a tolerable juft criterion of the degree of civilization to which that nation has arrived. The manners, habits, and prevailing fentiments of women, have great influence on thofe of the fociety to which they belong, and generally give a turn to its character. Thus we fhall find that thofe nations, where the moral and intellectual powers of the mind in the female fex are held in moft eftimation, will be governed by fuch laws as are beft calculated to promote the general happinefs of the people; and, on the contrary, where the perfonal qualifications of the fex are the only objects of confideration, as is the cafe in all the defpotic governments of Afiatic nations, tyranny, oppreffion, and flavery are fure to prevail; and thefe perfonal accomplifhments, fo far from being of ufe to the owner, ferve only to deprive her of liberty, and the fociety of her friends; to render her a degraded victim, fubfervient to the fenfual gratification, the caprice, and the jealoufy of tyrant man. Among favage tribes the labour and drudgery invariably fall heavieft on the weaker fex.

The talents of women, in our own happy ifland, began only in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to be held in a proper degree of confideration.

AFTER the fketch I have exhibited of the ftate of fociety among the different ranks in China, a tolerable notion may be formed of the general character and complexion of the court. It is, as Lord Macartney has juftly obferved, “a fingular mixture “of oftentatious hofpitality and inbred fufpicion, ceremonious “civility and real rudenefs, fhadowy complaifance and fubftan-“tial perverfenefs; and this prevails through all the depart-“ments connected with the Court, although fomewhat modi-“fied by the perfonal difpofition of thofe at their head; but as “to that genuine politenefs, which diftinguifhes our manners, it “cannot be expected in Orientals, confidering among other “things the light in which they are accuftomed to regard the “female part of fociety.” Whether the great minifters of ftate, who have daily intercourfe in the different tribunals, fometimes relax from the ftiff and formal deportment obferved towards each other in public, I am not able to fay, but when at Court they invariably obferve certain fated forms and expreffions as ftudied and ceremonious as if they had never met before. It appeared to us highly ridiculous to fee our friends, the two colleagues Van-ta-gin and Chou-ta-gin, on meeting in the precincts of the palace, performing to each other all the genuflexions and motions of the body which the ceremonial inftitutes of the empire require.

THE fufpicious and watchful conduct of the Chinefe government towards ftrangers was ill fuited to the free and independent fpirit of Britons. Confined within the limits of their hotel, the populous capital of China was to them little better than a defert. It was, therefore, lefs painful to be obliged to quit a place which they could confider in no other light than as an honourable prifon, and to take leave of a people, whofe general character feemed to be ftrongly marked with pride, meannefs, and ignorance. After having paffed fome time in a nation, where every petty officer is a tyrant, and every man a flave, how doubly precious do the bleffings of that true liberty appear, which our happy conftitution affords to every one the means of enjoying at home; where property is fecured from violence, and where the life of the meaneft fubject is equally protected with that of the prince. Let thofe vifionary men, who amufe themfelves in building Utopian governments, and thofe who, from real or fancied injury or neglect, feel the chagrin of difappointment, vifit other countries, and experience how juftice is adminiftered in other nations; they will then be taught to confefs that real liberty exifts only in Great Britain—in that happy ifland where, to ufe the expreffion of an eminent writer on the laws of nations, “an enlightened piety in the “people is the firmeft fupport of lawful authority; and in the “fovereign's breaft, it is the pledge of the people's fafety, and “excites their confidence.”