THE HISTORY of the COURT of the KING OF CHINA.  
Out of French.  
London Printed by H. B. for Christopher Hussey at the Flower de Luce in Little Britain, 1682.   

TO THE Truly Worthy, and ever-honored, JAMES QVINE, Esq  
SIR,  
VEry much to be commended in my opinion is that Custom amongst the Courtiers and best educated Persons of China, whereby instead of oral Compliments they use to deliver unto their Friends written Protestations of a sincere and cordial Amity, to remain as a Testimony against them, if they shall afterwards fall short in performing (as occasion requires) the D●voirs of a veritable Friendship. The Esteem I have for this Practice, so usual amongst them, has excited me in these few Lines to assure you of the entire Respect and Veneration, I have for the Amity, wherewith you have been plea●ed to honour me, and at the same ●ime to present ●ou wit● this little History of t●e Chin●se Court, which having translated into our Language, and finding the Subject such, that I need not be ashamed of having bestowed my time therein, I have thought fit to communicate to the Public under the auspicious Protection of your ever-honored Name. Nor was it possible for me to choose a more suitable Patron for this Narrative of the Grandeurs of a Court, where Learning and Virtue are had in singular Recommendation, than your noble ●elf, whose profound Science, Heroic virtues, and generous Nature would easily induce me (did not the Principles of Christianity forbidden me to believe a Pythagorean Metempsychosis) to think you animated with the Souls of all the greatest Heroes and most eminent Scholars, whose Fame is at this day celebrated in the Universe: For if the Heroic Generosity of your Spirit represents to me a Caesar and an Alexander, your extraordinary Eloquence does at the same time tempt me to think you a Demosthenes and a C●cero▪ I might her● (according to the usual Custom of Dedications) make a large Enumeration of these many great and virtuous Qualities, that gain you a most particular Esteem in the Hearts of all those, that have the honour to ●e acquainted with you; but knowing, how offensive this would be to that Modesty, which you have made your insepar●bl●●ompanion▪ and being conscious also of min● own Inability to give to such high Endowments the Encomium, they deserve, I here put a stop to my Pen, which is ambitious to honour itself with celebrating your Praises. Receive then, Sir, this little Present, which I take the boldness to off●r to you, as a pledge of the unfeigned Zeal, I have for your Service, and believe me, that I shall n●ver think myself any longer worthy to live, than I sha●l be ready to embrace all Occasions of verifying, what I here prot●st, that I am,  
SIR, Your most entirely devoted, and most affectionate Servant, A. G.   

Page 57, Line 19, in some Copies for Judgement read Punishment.   

THE HISTORY Of the COURT of the KING of CHINA.  
THE Kingdom of the Sinae whose Customs have been related unto us by the ancient Historians, is called by those of the Country Taybinco, by their Neighbour's Sancley, and by the Europaeans China. It is situated in the Extremity of Asia, being on the East and South washed by the Waves of the great Ocean, on the W●s● bounded with the higher India, and having on the North the Scythians and Massagetes for its Neighbours. The Circuit thereof is nine thousand five hundred and sixteen Dias or Miles of the Country, amounting in our account to three thousand Leagues, the Diameter or Length thereof being eighteen hundred League●. In this vast and immense space are contained fifteen fair and great Provinces, five hundred ninety and one Cities, fifteen hundred ninety and three Towns, and an infinite number of Villages. Fifteen of the Cities are Metropolitan or Principal of the Realm, superbly and commodiously built on fair Seaports, or the fertile Banks of great navigable Rivers. The Provinces are Paguie Canton, ●oquien, Olan, Cinsay, Susuam, Tolanchie, Cansay, Oquian, Auch●o, Honam, Xanton, Quincheu, Chequcan, Saxii or Sancii. They are governed each of them by the wise Administration of a Viceroy, except Paguie and Tolanchie, which are immediately under the Care of their Sovereign and the Advice of his Council: For in them he resides, as lying nearest to the Tartars, their ancient Enemies that the Royal presence, as the Sun of the State, may dissipate the Mists and Clouds of Troubles, which would obscure the Glory thereof. The Goodness of the Country is envied by all the rest of the earth: Men breathe there the Air of the Eastern world: Wine, Corn▪ and Fruits are there exceeding plentiful▪ the fertile Land producing them th●●e a ye●●: Wool, Cottons, and silks ar● th●●e in very great quantity: Perfumes ●re there gathered, Metals are there found, Gold and Silver do there abound, Diamonds do there sparkle▪ ●earls are there fished up, the Sea obeys ●heir Navigations: It is watered by great Rivers, and the Chin●s●s may disdain and slight the Succour of other men▪ and the Commodities of their Provinces. They are also enclosed and shut up as it were in another World, Nature hath furnished them with great Mountains, which lock them in, and Art by the care of King Tzinson has drawn a Wall five hundred Leagues long, of a very great height, and above five and twenty Paces thick, which finishes that Enclosure, which Nature seems to have left on purpose, that knowing their own Strength, they might make themselves a World apart: although History says, that the Incursions and Ravages, which the Tartars made upon them on that side, advanced the Project thereof, and caused them to hasten th● Work.  
The principal Laws, under the sage conduct whereof they live in the midst of an assu●ed R●pose, accumulated with all sorts of Felicities, are  
First, that the Sceptre of the Chines● Kingdom can never fall to the Distaff▪ the Males only, and not the Females, being capable of s●cceeding to the Crown.  
Secondly, that no person of the Country presume to go out of the Ports thereof into any foreign parts without the express Leave of the King himself, and not of any of his Officers; and that no other from without be admitted, or may enter thereinto without the same Licence: Thus they keep inviolable the Purity of their good Customs, and with the aid of this great Wall hinder Strangers from entering into their Realm, and their Vices from their Court, which are elsewhere the Domestics of Courtiers. If by chance any Foreigner slips in amongst them, he is soon discovered by every one: For to this purpose they have long since established a Custom amongst them, which is to crush and ●latten the Noses of their Children at the time of their Birth, so that all the Chineses are flat-nosed: whereby a Stranger in their company has his Countenance wholly different from theirs.  
Thirdly, that State-employes are conferred on none, but such, as are very capable of them, and endued with rare and excellent Qualities. That no man be esteemed Noble, if he be not Virtuous. That the Children of great Personages cannot be admitted to the Employs of their Fathers, nor partake the Glory of their Reputation, if they do not equal or surpass them, fixing thus Nobility to the Person, and not to the Blood.  
Fo●rthly, that the Children of Merchants and Artificers, how rich soever they be, cannot rise any higher than to the exercise of their Father's Trade, except some rich Endowment of Mind so far advantages some one of them above other men, that he is able usefully to serve the State and Public: Then by the express permission of the King after long Study and many painful Exercises he is made a Loytias, that is, a Gentleman with the lustre of a pompous Solemnity, whereof we shall speak in its place.  
Fif●hly, that Idleness is punished as a capital Crime, and for to banish it out of the Realm, they forbidden under great Penalties the giving of Alms to those, that shall demand it: For poor maimed or s●ck persons are sent to their Relations, whom the Law constrains by force to tax themselves, and make a Purse for the furnishing of those poor afflicted one's with Food and other Necessaries: But if their Relations are poor, the King's Purse, and public Charity nourishes them in Hospitals, and other Houses, founded for this purpose; but the Blin● and Lame, who can work, eat not th● Bread of the Poor, they are forced to ge● their Living by turning at Mils, and doing other Works, the Wages whereo● supplies their Necessi●i●s.  
Now this great Realm, under the conduct of so good Laws, is governed by one Sovereign King, who resides ordinarily in the Province of Paguie or Pagule in the City of Taybin or otherwise Suntien, which signifies in their Language the City of Heaven: Marcu● Paulus Venetus calls it also Quinsay, so great, that it fills with admiration the mind of those that read the Extent thereof; and being but a small Pattern of the Kingdom, shows manifestly what the Piece is: Its Diameter o● Length is as much as a man on horseback can well travel in one day, for it requires so much time to go from on● Gate to the other: Its Breadth is hal● its Length, and its Circuit very vast: The Suburbs, which are many, contain all together as much as the Town. The Chineses have heretofore raised in this City upon the pressing Necessity of an important War, an hundr●● thousand Foot, and as many Hor●● I was present in the year 1616. when a Flemish jesuit, newly arrived from China, related to the King in the Lovure the marvels of this Royal City, he affirmed the Length thereof to be twice as much, as from Paris to Pontoise: the Rarities, which he recounted thereof, are conformable to History: Himself appeared in the King's Closet, clothed in the Chinese Garb, the Fashion whereof was pleasant and agreeable. Three Royal Palaces are built in this great Town, one in the entrance towards the East, another in the midst thereof, and the third at the farther end towards the West. The King of China has chosen the first for his abode, of so vast a Greatness, that to view the Particularities thereof will take up no less, than four whole Days. It is encompassed with seven Walls, so great and spacious, that in the Distances between them are easily kept ten thousand Soldiers, which make the ordinary Guard of the Palace. The number of fair Chambers, rich Wardrobes, and costly ' Closets amounts to above five hundred. There are seventy nine Halls, all richly built, and of admirable Artifice: four whereof make what is most remarkable in this Palace. The first is made of cast Metal, curiously wrought, with a great number of Statues: The second has the Floor and the Ceiling made of Silver, of a rich value: The third is of massy Gold, excellently enameled. But the Lustre, Glory, and Value of the fourth far excels the three others: it is filled with many Jewels of price: therein shines a Royal Throne, set all over with Diamonds, and so great a number of Carbuncles, that with the other pre●ious Stones, they dart forth such Brightness, that the Hall is as light in the darkest Night, as if it had many Torches lighted therein: This fourth is called the Hall of the King's Treasure, which is there also kept. In these four Halls ●he King gives Audience to the Ambassadors of foreign Princes, and measures the Honour, he will do them, by their Reception in these Halls. For those of the lesser Princes, his Tributaries, are received but in the first Hall: the more eminent in the second: those of great Kings, who acknowledge him not, in the third and fourth. He keeps also his Court in these Halls, and gives Audience therein to the Principal Officers of his Crown.  
The Queen Mother Maria de M●dicis, a Princess, who was the Honour and Admiration of her Age, the Lustre of whose rare and incomparable Virtues spread the Glory of her Name in the most remote Regions of the Earth, sent him in the year 1616. a stately Present of rich Tapestry, and her excellent Piety had for her Aim in this Present the Glory and Honour of him, who had caused her to be born the greatest Princess in the World: for she did it, to the end this Prince might give fre●er Access to those, who wen● into his Kingdom, to withdraw by the light of the Gospel deceived Souls from the false worship of Idols, and put them in the way of their Salvation. He, that had the charge to present it, which was the Fl●ming, of whom we have spoken, assured me, that the King of China would cause a rich Hall to be built expressly according to the dimensions of the Tapestry, where he would cause it to be extended, and would esteem it the richest Movable of his Palace: for China, which has found before us the fairest Inventions of Arts, has not yet that of rich Tapestry. But this superb Palace affords the King the Delights of walking. There are therein very curious Gardens, enameled with all sorts of Flowers, watered with Fountains of clear water, where the sweet Murmur of their little Bubbles allure an assembly of pretty Birds, who by a natural Concert of agreeable Music in the fair Allies thereof charm the Troubles and Cares, that ●ollow Royalty, and spring ●p under Crowns. The number of Women, which he entertains, make his most ordinary Company; He pleases himself by beholding in their beautiful Faces more Roses and Flowers, than the Parterres of his Gardens do produce. On the sides of his Gardens are many goodly Orchards, which bring forth all sorts of delicious Fruits, and farther on are extended great Woods, some trimmed, and others growing up to a great height, where he sometimes takes the pleasure of hunting. They are in several places compassed with many large Ponds, covered all over with River-Fowl, amongst which the Swans, who under their white F●athers have a Skin hideously black, appearing fairest in the Eyes of the Prince, tacitly teach him this wise Lesson, that the fair Appearances of the World and of the Court cover many Deformities, and conceal many Perfidies. The Kings of China have often experienced this: The Divisions of their State, and the Troubles thereof, which lasted one and forty years, the Treasons & Massacres, which were committed even upon the Persons of the Kings under the unfortunate Reigns of Yanthei, Laupi, G●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 elsewhere 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 Father's Widow, found by his pursuits in the vain Enjoyment of his Love the loss of his Life: This fair Queen, named Caus●, 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 s●lf up, being removed from them, to the Calm and Repose, wherein the Soul, enjoying itself, finds its Good and Felicity: She shut herself 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 herself 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 ●s thereby an Example, that Kings, as well as other men, live in their Beloved's: He entertains her at the Grate, caresses her, persuades her to quit her Veil, and put again a second time the Royal Crown upon her Head. Cause hearkens to him, believes him, and coming forth from the Monastery, shows, 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 Honour, 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, ●ay even proffered. This debauched Life of a Princess, who ought to be an Example of Virtue in a State, giveth offence to every one, as being a public 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 herself, 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 h●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 Natural Son of her Husbands, Crown him, an● acknowledge him for their King. He, named Tantzon, seized this impudent Woman, brought her to Trial, and put an end to her detestable Lif● 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 passed lived extremely retired in their stately Palaces. There has been such an one, as never came forth in public, but on the Day, that he was Crowned King, and took the accustomed Oath. If the People at any time see them, '●is through an interposed Glass. They say, they do thus to conserve the Royal Dignity, and the Respect due thereunto, and moreover to prevent such Treasons, as might be contrived against them. This manner of living thus sequestered diminishes not the Love and Reverence, which the people own 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 Viceroys make their Residence, they are accustomed to hang up in a public place a rich Tablet of pure Gold, wherein the Effigies 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 ●efore it to pay their Respects in a solemn and submiss manner, giving the Public this Example of an exterior Reverenc● towards their Sovereign, w●ich oftentimes excites an interior Love. On their solemn Festival Days, which they celebrate every new Moon, this Tablet is unvailed, the people see it discovered, and every one runs thereunto, to o●fer up their Submissions.  
In the perpetual recess therefore of these delectable Palaces, the Monarches of China have ordinarily scar●e any other Conversation or Company, but Women▪ For besides those, that serve them, which are in very great number, they have thirty Concubine's, the fairest, that can be found in their Realm, and on● only Queen, whom they espouse, and make Companion of their Sceptre. Th●y w●re heretofore accustomed, who● they had an intent to marry, to invite to a Royal and solemn Feast all the Knights and great●●● Lords of ●he Court, and command●● them to br●ng with them their Sons a●d Daughters. 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 Artifice. 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 amongst them those, the Graces and Perfections of whose Beauties were most capable to captivate their Affections by the sweetness of their Charms. The Inf●n●aes, Daughters of the King, did the same amongst the young Knights, that w●r● at the Feast: They had the Liberty to choose ●ut of their Number him, whom they judged most deserving, to be their Husband. But▪ all mundane things passing away, and more espcially those of the Court, this Custom is extinct. The Kings of China do now all marry with their Kindred, observing only the first Degree of Proximity, and sometimes the second. After that the King has th●●●aken his Wife, he chooses thirty Misses, which the Law of his religion permits him to keep. These a●● ordinarily the fairest in his State, who not being capable to arrive at the Honour of being his Wives (he marrying but one) glory nevertheless in the Enjoyment of his Embraces. They know, that the Children, which they shall hav● by him, will be legitimate, and tha● after his Death they shall be honourably provided for, and married to the Greatest of the Court. For he makes his Will in his life time, before ever he falls sick, in which he assigns them Legacies, and names for their Husbands thirty of the Principal Knights of the Court, that are unmarried. After he is dead. and his Funeral Solemnised, his Successor in the Crown causes these thirty wo●en, who have served his Predecessor, to be magnificently apparelled, and adorned with all sorts of precious Jewels, and to be placed in rich Chairs in the middle of this fourth Hall, whereof we have spoken before, their Faces being vailed, so as they cannot be known. Then he calls into the Hall the thirty Knights, whom the deceased King has named by his Will, who, according to the order of their Age, or of their Nomination in the Will, come one af●er another, a●d ●ake by th● hand one of these Women, thus vailed, and conduct her without discovering her Face to their Houses, where they see, what Fortune has given them, and soon prove, whether the Legacy, left unto them by their deceased Prince, be agreeable or disagreeable: for from that time ●hey take them for their wives.  
The other Ladies of the Court are married, not according to their Desires, or the blind Passions of Love; but according to the Will of their Parents, who know how to choose for them Men, whose Age and Merit is not unsuitable to their Youth and Quality. It is the Custom of China, that the Husbands endow their Wives at their taking them: for the Women bring them nothing, but their Beauty and Virtues. They pay down the promised Money, before they espouse them, who give it to their Parents, as a small Acknowledgement of the Care, they have had in their educating them. Thus it seems, that the Injustice of this Law forces men many times to purchase bad Merchandise, when in their Marriages they meet with indiscreet Dispositions, and unequal and perverse Humours. But another Law sweetens this Displeasure, if they conceive any thereat: for having bought them, they are permitted to sell them again. Which nevertheless happens but very seldom: for the Women of China are so virtuously educated, that they give their Husbands more cause to cherish them, than to put them out of their Families. The Merit of their Virtue has brought unto our Country the Glory of the Reputation of those Women, who are separated so many thousand Leag●es from us, and inhabit the Extremity of the World: for an Example u●to virtuous Ladie●, that the Renown of their Perf●ctions shall never be extinct. The Virtue of these Chinese Ladies, growing up with them, is rendered perfect by Time: for from their tender Age they are bred up to the Love of Virtue and hate of Vice. They are perpetually kept in, and incessantly employed, to the end that Idleness, the Nurse of Vices, may not soften their Minds, and precipitate them into some Disorder. This Care to educate them thus is expressly enjoined to their Parents by a Law, inviolably observed for many Ages in the Kingdom of Chin●, established by the first King, who swayed the Sceptre thereof, named Vi●ey. This Prince, knowing, that the Idleness of women had caused many Debauches to spring up in the World, which had ruined Commonwealths, overthrown whole States, and did in his time afflict many Kingdoms, ordained under great Penalties, that the Wives of Artificers should work at their Husband's Trades, and those of other men should be employed in the works of the Needle, and spinning of Flax. This Law was so strictly observed, that he would have even his own Wise obey it. Thus the women of China continually work, and the Queen herself, who at this day wears the Crown of that Kingdom, is perpetually employed in spinning of Gold or Silk, or making some ●ich Needlework, which serves for an Ornament to the Altar of their vain Idols. This is the Re●son, that there are s●arce ever seen ●ny women in their Streets, they are all employed within doors. If any of the Court-Ladies go abroad (which happens very seldom) it is to visit their near Relations, when they are dangerously sick. They go in covered Chairs, carried upon Arms, where through little Grates, delicately made of Gold or Silver, they see without being seen. Another Invention of the Kings of China, who loved the Chastity of their women; serves not a little to retrench their Rambling and vain Gadding. They enacted, that the Mothers should endeavour to straighten the Feet of their Daughters in the Cradle, to the end they might not grow, persuading their credulous Sex, that the Beauty of a woman consists in having little Feet, and in effect they so firmly believe it, and so violently squeeze them in their t●nder Age, that they are thereby incommodated, and in a sort ●amed, which is yet another Reason, why they so willingly keep their Housés. It would be very difficult to persuade them the contrary to this Opinion, and to withdraw their Minds from this foolish Cruelty of thus racking their Feet in their tender Age: for if any one of them should have the Face of an Angel, and the Foot indifferently great, sh● would think herself the most deformed Creature in the World. It is true, that this vain Belief of esteeming those women fair, who have very little Feet, is not a thing only of this Day in Asia: some Oriental Regions have heretofore followed it with as much Passion.  
Aelian in his various Histories (l. 13. c. 33.) relates, that the fair Rhodope of the Town of Naucratium, bathing herself one day in the liquid Crystal of an agreeable Fountain, had left h●● clothes on the Banks upon an heap of Roses, which her Woman had gathered, when an Eagle, who was searching after his Prey, took up one of her Shoes, and carried it away. This Bird, who has been believed to be the Messenger of War, and to carry the Thunders of Heaven, was then an Envoy of Peace and Love. For mounting up into the Clouds, he flew on very far even unto the City of Memphis, which is now called the grand Cairo, where he let fall the Shoe at the Feet of the King, who at that time reigned in Egypt. This Prince, judging the form of the Foot by the Shoe, which was extremely little, and by the Foot the Perfection of the Lady, believed her fair enough to merit the being crowned Queen of his Stat●, and Companion of his Sceptre: He sent men on every side to inform themselves, who the Lady was, from whom an Eagle had carried away a Shooe. They found her (this Fortune was too great to be avoided by concealing herself) and brought her to their Prince, who took h●r for his Wif●.  
Thus the Oriental Beauties are small-footed▪ and from this foolish Opinion the wi●● Politicia●●●f China have dr●wn this Beyght, to kee● thereby their Wives within their Houses, T●ey are neatly clothed in Silk, and Cloth of ●old; Pearls, Diamonds, and whatsoever the Avarice of man hath ●ished out of the Waters, or digged out of the Mines, is in as much use there, as in Europe. Their Habits do in some measure resemble those of th● Spanish Ladies, and their rich Head-attires are not borrowed, they are made of their own Hair delicately braided, and interwoven with little Tresses of Gold, and elevated on the Top of their Head in the fashion of a Crown, closed or girt about with a Fillet covered with Jewels. All this Pomp, although it depends on the Vanity of the World, agrees nevertheless with their Chastity: for they have always had, as we have elsewhere said, the Glory of being very chaste.  
The Kings of China scarce ever●dy without Issue Male: the number of Wives, whereof we have heretofore spoken, sufficiently furnishes them with Heirs to their Crown. The first, that is born of any one of them, is the lawful Successor of the State: the others are educated, as are all the Princes of the Royal Blood, in Towns remote from the Court, which the King assigns them for their Appennage, where in superb Palaces they live with all ●orts of Pleasure and Delight. But they are forbidde● upon pain of Death to go forth of these Palaces, or ever to come unto the Court, except the King summons them thither: The most remote cannot come forth of their Palaces without incurring the same Penalty. These Prohibitions nevertheless diminish not the Respect, which is due to their Persons. The Governors of the Province and of the Towns are obliged to go and visit them every Festival day, which is the first Day of every new Moon. The ●ame, as also the Magistrates, passing on horseback before their Gate, are obliged in reverence to dismount, and if they are in Chairs, to come forth, and go on foot, without Train and Pomp, till such time as they are passed the House, the Gates whereof, to the end no one may be ignorant of it, are painted with the Prince's Livery. Thus the State of China, without the least trouble of Civil Wars, enjoys the sweetness of Repose: and the Princes of the Royal Blood live far from the Inquietudes of the Court with the security of their persons in the midst of all sorts of Pleasures and Recreations, respected and honoured like Demigods, the Care of the affairs of the Province, where they live, never troubling in any sort the Calm and Tranquillity, which they enjoy.  
The Courtiers of the King of China are all Loy●●as, that is to say, Knights: They are of two sorts: some advanced by the Merit of Learning; others by the Valour of Arms: and there is not seen amongst them any man, whom the blind Temerity of Fortune, or the Wind of Courtfavor hath elevated to this Dignity. T●ey ascend only by th● Steps of Virtue, which conducts ●ome in this manner. Th● Visitors General, whom th● King, by the advice of his Council, ●ends from three ye●rs to three years through the Provinces of his Realm, have nothing so much recommended to them, as to look after the young men, that are educated in the Colleges, for to render them capable to serve the Public: They examine them, choose the best Wits, and having found them sit to be employed therein, on the behalf of the King make them Loy●ias, that is to ●ay, Knights, give them both the Privileges, and Marks thereof. These are a Girdle of Gold and Silver, and an ●at adorned with too Brooches of Gold in the fashion of ●alm, having two Labels hanging down behind, like unto those, which are at ●he Mitres of our Bishops. They make ●hem take the solemn Oath, which is, faithfully and carefully to serve the King and the Public in the Charges, wherewith ●hey shal● be honoured; that they shall not in ●he exercise thereof take any present from ●ny person whatsoever, but shall content themselves with the Pension, which t●e King shall give them, sufficient to serve ●heir N●cessities, and the Splendour of their Dignities. The Pomp and Magnificences, which are had on the Day, that ●hese new Knights are made, testify a public Joy, that Virtue is elevated to ●he Charges of Honour, and that the Empire is served and governed by well-qualitied Personages. Then these Loytri●s depart with the new Marks of their new●y-received Dignity, and go to Court, where they visit the Precedent of the King's Council, and the other Ministers of S●ate, by whom they are received and caressed. Their Names are immediately registered in a Book, which serves for ●his purpose: They are commanded to ●eside at Court, expecting till some Employs fall void, whereof they may be provided. During this time they complete themselves, and add to their Acquisition of Learning the Practice of conversing with men, randring themselves capable to do well. When then Occasions are offered to provide for them some are sent Governors into one Province, others Lieutenants into another and some are made Sovereign Judges▪ The other sort of Loytias or Knight's ar● made of Grace (say the Chineses) and b● the Will of the King, who are the Treasurers of the Realm, and old Captains that have done worthy Service. But see not any extraordinary Favour in thi● second Creation of Knights: For al● though these are not made by Examen as are the others, who are learned what Grace is done to them, to giv● them, what their Valour has well merited in the midst of the ordinary Peri● and Hazards of War? The Law also o● the Court of China ref●ses none ●he Recompense of his Valour: the lea●t private Soldier may pretend unto it, and obtain it. Should they ●ee in China a Soldier, lamed in the Trenches, reduced t● beg Alms through the Streets of th● Towns, they would impute it as Crime to him, that should suffer it, an● ●he Realm would be esteemed unworthy to have men, which might serve it at ●ts Necessity. These last Knights are never advanced to the Governments of Provinces or Towns, the Law of the State gives them to those, that are learned, who in their Realm are esteemed above all things in the World. These Loytias or Courtiers are ordinarily clad ●n Silks of divers Colours, covered with Robes and Cassocks: The Governors, and those, that have the principal Employs of State, have their Cassocks from ●he Girdle downwards embroidered with Gold and Silver: They all wear ●ong Bonnets, and have on the top of ●heir Head a Tuft of long Hair, curiously plaited and enterwoven with Gold. Superstition, the Mistress of their Minds, ●as advised them to make use of this sort of Peruke: They believe, that at their Death they shall be taken up to Heaven by this handful of Hair. Their Priests, prouder than the rest, wear none of ●his Lock, but have their Heads quite ●haven: For they preach, that they have ●ower enough by the Merit of their Condition to ascend of themselves unto Hea●en without being forcibly and violently drawn up by the Hair. But they labour in vain both the one and the other: Heaven receives no Idolaters, whether they wear long Hair, or have their Heads shaved. These Courtiers▪ wear also the Nails of th●ir Left hand extremely long for the same Reason, as they do their Hair, as if it were only Scrambling-work to get up to Heaven. Surely the Court has been the Abode of many Fools, and the Spirits of Courtiers forge there strange and ridiculuous Fancies. This difference have I observed in their Histories, that these men with long Nails and sharp Talons do not rake and scrape so much, as those of other Countries, that have them shorter. Their Language is extremely polite, and wholly different from that of the other people of China. Their ordinary Discourse, when they are together, is not, ●s elsewhere, of frivolous and foolish Matters, nor of the shameful Rencounters and filthy Practices of a Bawdy-house; but of Politic and Civil Affairs: They propose Questions of State, discourse of the Means of preserving a Realm, relate such, as have served for the Augmentation of it, and confirm their Discourses by some Example, drawn from their History. Their Deportment is grave, and their Countenance ●erious. When they go forth in public, they are carried in Ivory Chairs: They keep their Eye always fixed upon one and the same Object with the Severity, taught them from their Infancy: Their Guards and Servants are round about them, and their Friends follow them: There are led after them many Horses of State, and many Parafols are carried to defend them from the Heat and Inconvenience of the Wether. If they are already provided of any Charge or Government in the State, many Officers of Justice go before to make them way: Some carry great Reeds, hardened in the Fire, to punish those, whom in their way they shall find convinced of any light Insolence. One of the Company carries before his Breast a Tablet, fringed round about with Gold, wherein is written in great Letters the Power of him, that goes in this Pomp. W●en these Courtiers meet, they salute one another in this manner: They stretch forth their Arms, bending them in the manner of a Bow, then interlace the Fingers of their two Hands one within the other, and make a profound Reverence, accompanied with some honest Compliment, as this: Can I as easily m●et ●ith Occasions of serving you, as I do with your Person, I should sincerely testify, how much I am yours, and should live the most contended man in the Court. They say also very often: I ●ish you all sorts of Felicities, not so much, as your Virtue's merit (for that would be impossible, the World ●ot having enough) but as much, as man can enjoy. This Compliment finished, they are long in a courteous Contest, who shall part first, to continue his way. Persons of meaner Condition, as are simple Citizens, use to salute one another in this manner: They close their left hand, cover it with their Right, and then laying them both upon their Breast, bow very low, in sign of Respect, and by some honest Compliment desire him, whom they salute, to believe, that their Amity consists not only in the exterior Ceremony; but also that it hath its principal Seat in the H●●rt, where they swear inviolably to preserve it: This said, ●hey pass on, and continue their way. Certainly there is no Nation, how rude and barbarous soever it be, which has not received and cherished the Laws of Courtesy. And those, who at this Day rudely reject them, are brutish Spirits, who have nothing of man, but the Exterior. When the Distance of the places, where they are, hinders their Compliments or Discourse by mouth, they do it by Letters missive with the Politeness of the Chinese Court: They gilled all the Margin of their Paper, which is v●ry ●ine, and made of the Rind of Reeds: they limn it, and write in the middle, what their Affection or Courtesy dictates unto them: They put the Letter, without closing it, into a Purse, made of the same Paper, curiously gilded and Painted, close it, and seal it. These Missives, thus gilded, are sold by the Booksellers of the Court, even ready writ, so that there is nothing to do, but to sign them, and the use thereof is so frequent among the Courtiers, that at their visits they give them to one another for a greater Assurance of Friendship. For the Compliments, which are made by Words, have no other Support but the Wind, and those, which are made by Writing, remain for a Pledge, of what is promised. Thus by the Rules of Courtesy, a●d a strict observance of the Laws of the Realm, th●s● Chinese Courtiers live in Calm and Repose, and their Discretion has ba●ished from the Court the Temerity of ill-grounded Quarrels, and the Fury of Duels. Not but that the Insolence, which has brought other Vices to th● Court, has conserved its place there by inducing thos●, who are most susceptible of its Counsels, to injure others by word: Which happens sometimes amongst them, when th●y cast forth Reproaches, which seem as ridiculous to us, as they are sensible to them, their Offensiveness being grounded upon the Oracles of their Religion: for one of their Prophets threatens the Disturbance of their Tranquillity in words of this import, That a Day will come, that they shall be subject to men, having long Beards, Aquiline Noses, and great and Cat-like Eyes. Thus these men, described in this manner, being in their Opinion odious unto them, when they will reproach any one, they call him, Cats-Ey●s, which is amongst them the greatest Injury, wherewith they can attack the Honour of an honest man.  
When in the Commerce of the Court their Ambition pursues any affair, they will know the Event thereof, before it happens, and to this end they cast their ordinary Lot, which they use in this manner. They have two little pieces of Wood, like unto two Nutshells, tied together by a Thread, and after they have invoked the Assistance of their Idol, they ●ast them before it: and if th●se Pieces of Wood meet both with their hollow part upon the Ground, they hope from thence in their affairs the Accomplishment of all their Desires: but if on the contrary they are turned with the hollow side upward, they vomit forth all sorts of Injuries against their Idol, and begin again to cast their Lot: if it continues not to fall well, they take their Idol, beat him, souse him in the Water, and often scorch him at the Fire, and continued their Lot till such time, as 'tis favourable to them. Then they take again their Idol, embrace him, and put him with all sort of Honour upon the Altar, sing Hymns to him, and offer him Wine and the most exquisite Viands, they can find. Certainly in the madness of these Chinese Courtiers we do in a manner see the Portraiture of the Impiety of some others, that live in a better Religion, who in the Disorder of their Affairs accuse the innocent Heaven, as a Party to their Misfortunes. These Chinese Courtiers have also another manner os Lot: They put in a Vessel many little Sticks, in every one of which is written a Letter of their Alphabet, and after they have well shaken the Vessel, they cause one to be drawn out by the hand of a little Child, they look, with what Letter it is marked, and search afterwards in a Book the Leaf, beginning with that Letter, read it, and interpret, what they find written therein, to the good or bad Success of their Designs. Thus every where Men are men, and in all places the Court is a Sea, where Ambition steers her Course, and plies both Oars and Sails for the Accomplishment of her Designs, and, for to arrive thereunto, spares no sort of Invention, how sinister soever.  
Their Devotion, which has no Object, but Wood and Stone, carved and fashioned into Idols, is Courtlike, that is, Cold, done in a customary manner, and in the Languors of a soft Negligence: and their Sacrifices are in some sort the Image of the Love, proper to Courtiers. They retain the best part, of what they immolate, and give their Gods, what they would refuse themselves: If they cut the Throat of an Heifer, or kill a Boar, they give the Altar only the Tips of the Ears. If they sacrifice Fowls, they offer there the Claws and the Bill, and eat all the rest: Great Vessels of Wine are there presented, but they drink it themselves, after they have consecrated and poured forth only some few Drops thereof: For at Court all is for themselves, and scarce any thing for Heaven. History accuses them of Unfaithfulness in their Promises: It says, they measure the continuance of their Faith only by their proper Interest, and keep it no longer, than it contributes thereunto: And indeed what Good can be expected of Men and Courtiers, who are always in Delights. Th● Fertility of the Land, the Sweetness and Temperateness of the Air, the Tranquillity of the State, the Affluence of Riches, and above all the Falsity of their Idolatrous Religion plunges ●nd bemires them in all sorts of Pleasures, the capital Enemies of Virtue. The least voluptuous amongst them are these learned Loy●ias, whom their Condition, and their ordinary Employ in the most important Affairs of State, keeps always in Business, which, being incompatible with Vices, the Offspring of Idleness, stifles them in their Birth. When these Courtiers go into the Country they make use of Coaches, which sail upon the Land as well, and almost ●s swift, as Ships upon the S●a: To show, that the Wind guides and governs all at Court: And if in China the Coaches of the Nobility go with Sails, the Spirits of Courtiers are elsewhere driven by the Wind: For if the World be nothing but Vanity, the Court, which is the Quintessence thereof, sells, gives, follows, and adores the Wind.  
The King of China is served and followed by such Courtiers; but his Council makes the soundest and best part of his Court: For Kings cannot be without it, which is (when good) the Conservation, yea, the Augmentation of their States, and without Counsel the most puissant Monarchies are ruined and destroyed by the weight of their own Grandeur. The King of China chooses his Counsellors from amongst the learnedst, most experienced, and wisest of his Realm. 〈◊〉 the Choice and election of them Favor has no Vote; Merit and Virtue only speak for them: For this Prince practices as fully, as any other Monarch of the Earth, the Advice of the wisest of Kings, whose Counsel to his Equals is, Not to admit into their Counsels ill-qualified, ignorant and stubborn Spirits, who are ●urr●ed, whithersoever their Passions drive them. The Councillors of State in Chin● ought, besides the Probity of their Life, and the Integrity of their Manners, to be learned in the Laws of the Kingdom, to have taken the Degree of Loytias, to be skilful in Moral and Natural Philosophy, and well versed in Judiciary Astrology. Their Religion expressly requires this last part: because (saith it) those, who are at the Helm of the State, aught by this Science to have an Eye to the Future, to foresee Tempests and Storms, to avoid Rocks, to preserve themselves from Shipwreck, and happily to steer the Ship of the Commonwealth. They are thirteen in number, twelve Councillors, whom they call Auditors, and a Precedent, who is with them, what the Chancellor is with us. The Council is held in the Royal Palace; the Hall, where they assemble, is suitable to the Pomp and Magnificence of the Chinese Monarch, there are erected therein for the performance of their Functions twelve stately S●ats, six of Massy Silver, and six of pure Gold: In the midst of which under a Canopy of Cloth of Gold, adorned with two wreathen Serpents, woven of Gold, which are the Royal Arms, shines one of fine and Massy Gold, enriched with Jewels, wherein sits the Precedent of the Council, or Lord High Chancellor of the Realm. Certainly this august Furniture of these Councillors of State is worthy the Matter, wherewith they are concerned: for if Counsel be somewhat divine and sacred, as inspired by GOD, we must not think it strange, that in China it is accordingly reverenced. These men, thus magnificently seated, give the best and soundest Advices for the Glory of their Prince, the Good of hi● Stato, and the ease of his People: Their unblameable Life, and the Wisdom of their Minds furnish them with Lights worthily to serve their King. It is also from such men, that one learns the wise Maxims of good Government, and not from Councillors, that are disquieted by Avarice, diverted and corrupted by Delights, puffed up and swollen with Ambition: For who is he, that would search for a living Spring in a silthy Bog, or that would draw foul Water to drink, says a wise Councillor and Chancellor of Antiquity. When any one of these Statesmen dies, he, that is next in Order of Reception, takes possession of his Place according to the Law, so strictly observed in China: That the Services of every one have the Recompense, that their Condition can pretend to. They ascend then from one Degre● to another, it not being necessary to demand therefore the Permission of their Prince. But for to supply the last Place, the Council chooses the most experienced and wisest man of the Kingdom: If he be absent, they send for him; being arrived, they present him to the King, who confirms, or disallows his Election; but the last scarce ever happens. The new chosen Councillor in this manner takes his Oath between the King's hands: That he will render justice to every one according to the Laws of the Kingdom, and that in the Administration thereof, as also in the Nomination of Governors, or judges of the State, Passion or Affection shall never supplant with him Virtue and Merit: That he will not receive any Presents: That he will with all diligence preserve the Peace of the Kingdom, and that he will advertise the King and his Council, of whatever shall come to his knowledge, prejudicial to his Service. After this solemn Oath, he is put in possession of his Place in one of the thirteen Seats in the Councell-Hall. The Royal City celebrates the Solemnity thereof, all the Realm keeps Holiday, and the People rejoice thereat with Sports and Public Feasts. And surely the Passengers have Reason to rejoice, when wise Pilots are called to the Government and Steerage of the Vessel: For a King, who is swayed by Counsel, has need only of wise and well-advised men, who may counsel him without Passion. The Precedent only of this Council had the Priviledg● to speak to the King, when he does, 'tis always on his Knees with a singular Respect: When he is sick, than the ancientest Auditor of the golden Seats performs his Office. Happy indeed are the men of Chin●, who live in a Kingdom, where Virtue receives its Honours and its Recompense: B●t much more happy woul● they be, if the Worship of the tru● GOD conducted them to eternal Felicity by the means of a better Religion, ●han that, which deturns them from it. Now although the Kingdom of China be of a very great extent, as we have already said, nevertheless the King's Council is advertized ●very Month of all, that passes in the Provinces thereof, the most remote from the Court. The Viceroys or Governors are obliged to give them by the Post continual Advice thereof. The Precedent of the Council, having received it, gives an account thereof to the King, and very exactly informs him of all, that passes in his Realm: And if the Disorder of any Province obliges the Council to send thither some one of the Court, it is done with incredible Expedition, and that Secrecy, which is very often requisite in State-affairs. He, that is sent, departs without being known, arrives there Incognito, informs himself of all, that has past, and afterwards, if it be necessary, makes himself known, and shows his Power. Moreover these Councillors of State, not by Dozen as elsewhere, but twelve in number, keep the first and uppermost Ranks in the Realm: For there b●ing in China neither Dukes, Marquess', Earls, nor other like Persons of this Illustrious Quality, the Law of the Country removing from the Court all the Princes of the Blood, they receive in their Places the Honours and Devoirs, which should be rendered unto them: They are visited with very great Respects, they are spoken to on the Knee, and every one pays them an extraordinary Veneration.  
By the Advice of these wise Counsellors of State, the King commits the Charges of his Realm to those, whom Virtue and Merit has rendered most worthy thereof. These Charges or the most eminent of them are six in number. The first is that of Viceroy of the Province, who in their Language is called Common: He is Supreme Magistrate, and represents in his Government the Royal Person of his Master. The second is the Insuanto: He is after the Common Governor of the whole Province, as is in our Countries a Lieutenant General for the King. Now in every Town of the Province reresides a Governor, called Tutan, who besides the Care, he has to govern the Place, entrusted to him, is obliged also in the exercise of his Charge to report to the Insu●nto the principal Affairs of the Place, where he commands; the Insuanto advertizes the Common, and the Common gives Advice thereof to the King and his Councils. The third is the Po●●chasi or Superintendant of the Treasures, who has under him many smaller Officers, and a complete Council: He pays with the Money, which is sent him, all the Officers of the Province, and consigns th● Surplusage into the Hands of the Tutan. The fourth is the Toioc, who is Captain General of the Men of War, that are in the Province, as well Ho●se, as Foot. The fifth is the Anchasi, or Lord Chie● Justice, as well in Causes Civil, ●s Criminal: To him belongs the last Decision o● all Differences, brought before him by Appeal from the inferior Judges. The sixth is the Ay●ao, or Precedent of the Council of War, whose principal Office consists in levying of Soldiers both by Land and Sea, in furnishing and providing with Necessaries the Garrisons, that are upon the Frontiers of the Realm. Besides this, it belongs to him to take an account of the Strangers, that arrive in his Province, to question them very exactly, to know, whence they are, and on what Design they are entered into the Realm, and diligently to advertise the Viceroy of all. These Charges have in them the brightest Lustre and Glory of the Realm, and every one of these abovenamed Officers hath under him ten Auditors, chosen out of those, who are adjudged to be the most prudent and most experimented in Affairs, who ●ase them and aid them in the expedition thereof. These Auditors are in the Function of their Charges in very great Consideration through all the Country: They assemble ordinarily in the House of the Common or Viceroy in a superb Hall, destinated for holding the Council: Five of them sit on the Right hand of him, that presides, and the five others on his Left hand: Those, that are on the Right hand, are the ancientest, and have Place above the others; besides which their Habit also makes their Difference from the others: for they wear Girdles, garnished with Gold, and Hats of a pale colour; whereas those of the Left hand wear only Silver in the Garnishment of their Girdles, and have blue Hats. But both the one and the other, as also the Precedent, wear before their Breast and on their Shoulders the Arms of the King, which are two Serpents in embroidery of Gold. This Mark is so necessary to them, that without it they dare not go abroad, nor perform any Exercise of their Employs. History crowns these Judges and Officers of China with the Praise, merited by the Virtues, which it recounts of them, and particularly takes notice of the admirable Patience, wherewith they are endued: They hear (says it) very patiently the Parties, even in the Heats of their Passions: and the confused Tumul● of many, even of those, whom the Vehemency of Affairs causes to speak with Disorder, troubles no● in them this fair Virtue of harkening without Choler to those, that are transported therewith. And their Speech is accompanied with so incredible a Sweetness, as makes them appear gracious even to those, whom they condemn. Such are the Officers and Judges of China, whom Virtue and Experience, not Money and Ignorance, advance to the Dignities of the Realm.  
Besides these six principal Officers there are many others, inferior and subordinate to them; as the Cantoc, who is the great Standard-bearer; the Pothin, who is the second Treasurer; the Pochinsi, or Keeper of the Seals; the Avizatzi, or great Provost▪ three Judges of the Court, who are named in their Employs H●gtag, Tzia, and Tontay, who give Audience in their Houses once a week, and before the opening of their Gates for that purpose, cause three pieces of Canon to be discharged, to make known, that they are going to take their Seats: imitating in the Gravity of their Seats of Justice the Wrath of the Thunders of Heaven, which serve not only for an Advertisement to the innocent, but also to strike Terror and Dread into the culpable. They have under them a great number of Provosts for the Exercise of Justice: but they are not so absolute in their Judgements, but that they have over them another Judge, who may reform them. This Judge is called Hondim, which signifies in the Chinese Language the Repairer of Evil: It is also his Business to repair it by his Decrees, if the other Judges have done any by their Sentences. There is also at Court the Tompo, and by the Example thereof his Office is erected in the remote Towns. His Duty is to make provision for Victuals, and to set the Price thereof. The Quinchay, which signifies in their Language Golden Seal, is an Officer that never departs from the Court, unless some important Affair obliges him thereunto: He makes publication of the Edicts of Peace, and others of like Nature, established by the King.  
This is in general the account of the Chinese Officers: let us now consider in particular the manner, how they worthily perform their Employs. As soon as they are invested therein, they depart to go and exercise them: The Charges of their Journey are at the King's Expense, so is their House in the place, where they are to make their abode: Which is so vast, that all the Officers of Justice dwell therein, for the convenience of the Public, and the ready Execution of Judgements. The Salary, which they have besides this▪ is sufficient for all their Expenses, wherewith they ought to content themselves: For to take any Present from the Parties, the Law, so rigorously observed in the Realm, very expressly prohibits them under great Penalties, as also it doth the Parties to give any, who are not permitted to see the Judges in their Houses: for to have Justice of them, they m●st tender themselves at the accustomed Audi●n●es.  
When the Judge is in his Se●t, the Ushers go to the Door of the Hall, and there with a loud Voice nam● him, who comes to have Justice, and also tell, what he demands: The Party presently enters, knelt down before the Judge, proposes his Demand: or, if it be by Writing●, gives it to the Clerk, who reads it: The Judge without delay ordains, what is just, and does himself write his Judgement with red Ink, to avoid the Faults, committed by the Clerks, the Inconveniences from which Faults proceeding are in other places sufficiently proved to the Damage of the Parties. These same Judges are obliged to go fasting to hold th●ir Audiences, and if their Infirmity demands some Support in their Weaknesses, they are only permitted to use Conserves in the manner o● a Medicine: but should they take any Wine b●●●re their Audience, th●y would be no 〈◊〉 punished, than if they had been guilty of committing some violent Injustice. The Judgements are executed from p●int to point without any fraud: In all matters th● Judge's proceed always by Writing and if the Affair be important, ●hey d● themselves w●ite the A●ts and D●po●●tions of the Witnesses: W●i●h is 〈◊〉 caus●, t●●t few men complain of ●●ei● Justice, and that there are v●ry fe● Appeals to the superior Judges. They number in their Jurisdictions the Houses of the Places, that resort thither, they set them by Ten in a Tablet, hung up at the Last of the Ten, in which the Names of the Inhabitants are written, with the Ordinance of the King, which enjoins all persons▪ of what Quality and Condition soever they be, to reveal incontinently to th● Justice, what they shall see committed by any of their Neighbours against the public Good▪ and even against that of the Delinquents, that the punishment ●hereof may be speedily inflicted. But if any one of the Ten goes a Journey, quits the Country, Town, or Stre●t, he must ten days before his Departure ring a Bell, or a Coppe● B●son, through all the Quarter, to the end tha●, if he owes any Money, his Creditors may know of his Departure, o● if any one has lent him aught, they may come to demand it: but if he will departed unknown, his Neighbours ought to wa●ch over him: for in his absence ●he Judges constrain them to pay for him.  
But there are very few persons, which become Bankrupts: The Laws, strictly observed in China, punish them rigorously: They give them Times for payment: The first Failure is punished by scourging; if they satisfy not at the second time, their Chastisement is doubled; if they are Affronters to the third, they are whipped, till they are bloody, and are kept perpetually in Prison. Which causes, that, when any one is unable to pay his Debts, he implores the Aid of all people to be quit thereof, and if he cannot bring it about in this manner, he gives his Liberty, and sells himself to his Creditors, to avoid the smarting Stripes of the Whip. Now when any Judge appears abroad (which is very seldom, their Custom being to be very retired, by which means, they say, they are less diverted, and better preserve their Authority) he goes accompanied with all the Officers of Justice: whereof the two first, who go in a breast, carry upon their Shoulders two long Maces of Silver, for a Sign, that they are Officers of Justice; two others follow them, having each of them in their Hands a long and straight Reed, which they carry upright, showing thereby, that they ought to do right Justice, and that such will be done by the Judge, whom they attend; these are likewise followed by two Officers, who carry also Reeds, which they draw upon the ground with long red Girdles, these are the Rods, wherewith they scourge such Criminals, as they meet with; the two following carry two white Tables, wherein are written the Name of the Judge, his Office, and his Quality: The rest of the Train are Persons, that follow and accompany the Magistrate, to do him Honor. This Pomp and Formality of Justice is not a vain Ostentation of these Officers, they live as they speak, and are such, as they appear, endued with Virtue, exact and upright in their Employs, and of unblameable Lives. But Men are Men, and not Gods, who cannot deflect unto Vices; and the Probity of a Magistrate, being in an unconstant and mutable Life, may be the same, although this happens seldomer in China, than elsewhere. The King and his Council have provided for this Inconvenience necessary Remedies, which punish those, that offend, and keeping the other in awe, make them contain themselves in their Devoir. The Employs of such▪ Officers are but of three years' duration, which being expired, they must before certain Judges, named Cha●nes, render an account of th● Administration thereof, Nevertheless the King sends e●ery year Visitors through the Provinces of his Kingdom, named Lenthis, persons faithful to his Service, ver● well experienced in the Affairs of the World, and of signal Honesty. This Delegation is done so secretly, that it is known only to the King, and the Precedent of his Council, who causes the Secretary of State to dispatch Letters thereof, leaving a Blank for the Name of the Person, that is sent, and the Province, to which he goes. There is put in the Letters this Clause, necessary for the absolute Power of the Visitor, That in what place soever the judge or Loytias should come, bringing the present Letters of Provision, he should be obeyed, as the King himself. These Letters being sealed, the Precedent puts in the Name of the Visitor, and of the Province, whereunto he is sent: He, having received them, departs so secretly from the Court, and travels so incognito, ●hat no one knows who he is, or whither he goes. He arrives thus unknown in the Province or Isle, which he is to visit, goes through the Country, travels from one Town to another, and informs himself with all manner of Care and Diligence of the Deportments of the Officers from the Viceroy to the meanest Auditor, not letting himself, during the Labour of ●his exact Information, be known to any one. When he has finished it, and believes, that he has sufficient Proofs of the Probity of some, and ill Demeanour of others, he goes to the Capital Town of the Province, and there expects the Day, that such Officers assemble in Council, which is once a Month at the house of the Viceroy, or, in his absence, at the Tutan's. And when they are assembled, he comes to the Gate thereof, and commands the Usher to advertise them, that there is at the Gate a Judge, who will come in, for to declare unto them a Command of the Kings. The Viceroy, who conceives, what the Business may be, causes the Gates to be opened, descends from his Seat, and accompanied with his Officers, goes to receive him, as Superior: Who enters, carrying in his hands the Letters of Provision. These P●●ents strike Terror into a part of the Assembly, and the guilty Judges show already upon their pale Faces the Marks of their Offences: The Patents are read aloud: Which being done, the Viceroy rises from his Seat, makes many low Reverences and Submissions to the Visitor, which is done likewise by all the other. Then he takes his Seat in the most eminent place, and in a grave and serious Harangue declares to them the Cause of his Coming, the Care, he has taken, in making his Visit through the Province, and exactly and truly informing himself of their Demeanours: He crowns with a thousand praises the Virtue and Probity of those, that have done well, promises them to make report thereof to the King and his Council, assuring them of the Recompense, which their good Services merit, and in the mean time installs them in the most honourable Places of the Council of the Province. After that these deserving Persons have thus received from his mouth and hand this Honourable Testimony of their Virtue, he publicly reproaches those, that he has found culpable, with the Filthiness of their Traffic in the Sale of Justice, shows them the Shamefulness of their Oppressions, and reckons them up particularly the Number of their Misdeeds. The Effect follows close this shameful Reproach, he fulminates against them the Sentence of Condemnation, deprives them of their Employs, and despoils them of the Marks thereof, takes from them in the face of all the Council the Girdle, and narrow-brimed Hat. If their Faults merit a greater punishment, he leaves the Judgement thereof to his Sovereign Prince and his Council: For the Law of China prohibits all Judges from condemning any one to Death, without the King be first acquainted therewith, and judge, what is sitting to be done. But ' ●hus Justice is exercised in China upon those, that deny it to others. In this manner Reward being wholly apparent, yea, certain for Virtue & Judgement for Vice, the greatest part of men embrace ●hat, for ●o enjoy its Crowns, and shun this, for to avoid the Evils, it brings along with it: and th● Realm of China enjoys ●ll sort ofFelici●ie●  
This wise policy is practised in China, for to keep the inhabitants within th● Bounds o● their Duty. But Realm's▪ like humane Bodies, are not only ass●il●d by interior Enemy's. S●rang●rs and ●●●se without may ruin them: 〈◊〉 as M●ns Body is killed by Sword and Spea●, ●s well as by those Diseases, which have their Source and Cause within the same. This causes the Sovereign Monarch of China to furnish his Holds with good Garrisons, to cover, when there is need thereof, the Field with armed men, to keep constant Guards at the Seaports, and to oppose against forr●ign Violence the best and resolutest Troops of his State, who know how to defend it against the Designs and Attempts of an Invader. Let us see first the Vigilance and Greatness of his Forces by Land, and afterward we sh●ll give you an account of his Strength at Sea. Every Province has its Council of War, consisting of the valiantest and most experienced Warriors of the Realm: These dispose of the Soldiers according to Occasions and Occurrences, and cause them to be so exactly paid, that they lose nothing of their Due: for the Treasurers, who keep the King's Coffers, are charged to refuse them nothing. Towns are not preserved by Bastions, nor defended by strong Towers. The Monarch of China practices the Advice of that generous Greek, who said, That the best Defences of a C●●y consisted in the Valour of the Citizens': They have nevertheless very good Walls, encompassed with deep Ditches, which they fill with Water at their pleasure by the Current of the Rivers. The best Fortifications, that can well defend them, are the good Garrisons, that are put therein, which keep a very exact Guard, not permitting any one to go in or out, without Leave in writing from the Magistrate, or Governor, that command there. They are careful in shutting their Gates, they seal up the Locks, and open them not, till the Sun is up▪ that they may know their Seals. Their Artillery, which is excellently good (the use whereof was first known to them, before it arrived to us) is usually placed upon the same Gates. The Captains are Natives of ●he Provinces, which they guard, to the end that the Natural Love of their Country, joined with the Duty of their Charge, may augment their Cares for the Conservation of the Places. They lodge upon the Wal● of the Towns, where their House's are built on purpose, for to be continually in their Exercises: they do th●m without any Contradiction, wit●●●● any ●esistance of the Inhabitants of ●he Town● which they guard: for ●he 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 S●ate has taken ●rom them the Means of revol●ing, forbidding them to bear Arms, or have them in their Houses upon pain of Death, permitting it only to those, that are in ●he Kings Pay, who succeed in this Quality from Father to Son. They are distributed into Thousands, whereof every Hundred has its Captain and Ancient, and all these are commanded by on● Chief, as is with us the Colonel of a Regiment. They use often Exercise, to ●eep the Soldier in breath, and hinder Idleness from rusting his Arms, or abating his Courage. Their Arms are Harquebusnes, Pikes, Staves headed with iron, and Hatchets. The Horse use other Arms: the Trouper, when he goes to battle, carries at the Pommel of his Saddle four Swords, two whereof he takes in his hand, when he sights, and uses them with admirable dexterity: Arrows and Lances are also in use with them. They are wont to be environed with a Troop of Servants, that are about them, when they go to battle, who are nimble, and well armed. Their Valour consists in Craft, and Stratagems of War, in which they more employ their Wits, than they do their Courages in charging the Enemy openly. They are very bad Horsemen, and manage their Coursers with the Whip and the Voice ' having instead of a Bitten only a piece of Iron, which they put cross their mouths. Their Arms are light, and their Courages heavy.  
Their Cavalry also makes not the best part of the Forces of China, which are so great, that they would suffice for the guard of many Realms. It is true, that the vast and great Provinces, where they are established, contain, each of them in its Dimension, the extent of a Kingdom. That of Paguie, where the King makes his ordinary abode has for its Conservation one and twenty hundred and fifty thousand Foot, and four thousand Horse. That of Canton has an hundred and twenthousand Foot, and forty thousand Horse. That of Foquien fifty eight thousand nine hundred Foot, and two and twenty thousand four hundred Horse. Olam seventy six thousand Foot, and five and twenty thousand five hundred Horse. Cinsay, eighty thousand six hundred Foot, and no Horse: because the Situation of the Country is mountainous and rocky. Oquian has likewise no Horse: the Guard thereof consisting only in an hundred and twenty thousand six hu●dr●d Foot. The Province of Susuam I as eighty six thousand Foot, and thirty four thousand five hundred Horse. That of Tolanchie, neighbouring on the Tartars, with whom the Kings of China have often had great and bloody Wars, is guarded and strengthened with eigh● and twenty hundred thousand Foot, assisted by two hundred and ninety thousand Horse, both the one and the other being the best and stoutest Soldiers of the whole Kingdom. Cansay has fifty thousand Foot, and twenty thousand two hundred and fifty Horse. Auchco is guarded by eighty six thousand Foot, and forty eight thousand Horse. Honan by forty four thousand Foot, and eighteen thousand nine hundred Horse. Xanton has seventy six thousand Foot and ten thousand one hundred and fif●y Horse▪ Quinch●ue forty eight thousand seven hundred Foot, and fif●een thousand three hundred Horse. Chequ●an thirty four thousand Foot, and thirtee● thousand Horse. And Sancii, the least of all the Provinces, has forty thousand Foot, and six thousand Horse. All whi●h Forces amount in the whol● to five Millions eight hundred and sev●nty thousand eight hundred Foot, and five h●ndred forty eight thousand Horse. This Multitude of armed men might, if they were valiant, conquer the rest of the habitable Earth. But History places their Courages much below the Europae●ns. The most redoubted Commanders of former Ages, who conquered many Realms in Asia, triumphed over afric, and struck Terror into Europe, had not in their Armies any thing near the number of the Chinese Garrisons: And truly I should suspect the History thereof, and esteem it fabulous, did it not prove the Verity of its Relation by the great number of the Towns, and the vast Extent of a Realm, which might contain therein fifteen well-peopled Kingdoms, every Province of China being equal to a great Monarchy. But these dreadful Chin●se Forces banish Troubles from their State: For we take Arms, that we may have Tranquillity, and War is often made for the obtaining of Peace. The Garrisons of the Seaports, and the Guards, which lie in the Channel for securing the Merchants, are not in this number. The King maintains many well-armed Ships of War, which are very vigilant i● his Harbours, and on his Seas, to preven● th●●esc●nts or Robberies of Pirates. These Vessels are of divers sorts: some are very great, which they call joncos▪ others are less, and like to our Frigates, and are named by them Bancoens; some are larger than these, and have many Benches, every Bench has eight Oars, and every Oar ●ight Rowers: These they call Lanteas.  
Now for to defray the Expense of so many Soldiers, to pay the Salaries of the Officers of Justice, and of the Exchequer, and to furnish the Royal Palace with all, that is necessary, the Sovereign Prince of China needs a great and puissant Revenue: He levies it upon the Men, the Houses, the Corn, the Mines of Gold and Silver, the precious Stones, the Pearls, the Porcelain, the Wool, the Cottons, and the Silks. The Men of the fifteen Provinces are a great part of them exempt from all Tribute: as the Loytias, Judges, Officers, and Soldiers; and yet the number of those, that pay, is not small. For the Province of Paguie contains two. Millions seven hundred and four thousand Tributaries: That of Canton three Millions and six hundred thousand: Foquien two Millions four hundred and seven thousand: The Province of Aucheo two Millions ●ight hundred and forty thousand: That of Olam two Millions two hundred thirty four thousand: That of Cinsay three Millions three hundred and eighty thousand: Susuam two Millions and fifty thousand: Tolanchie six Millions and ninety thousand: Cansay two Millions three hundred and five thousand: Oquian three Millions and eight hundred thousand: Honan twelve hundred thousand: Xanton nineteen hundred forty four thousand: Chequean two Millions two hundred forty four thousand: Quincheu two Millions and three hundred thousand: And Sancij sixteen hundred seventy two thousand five hundred Tributaries. Each of these Tributaries pays every year two Mases: the Maze may be in value ten Sols French, so that the annual Revenue, arising to the King of China, may be fourteen Millions two hundred fifty three thousand one hundred sixty seven Crowns of France. Besides this, the other Tributes do much advance his Revenue. The Gold-Mines pay him every year in Gold, from seventeen to two and twenty Carats fine, four Millions two hundred fifty six thousand nine hundred Taes, every Tae being of the Value of an Italian Crown. The Silver-Mines yield him in sine Silver three Millions an hundred fifty three thousand two hundred and nineteen Taes: Those of Stones fourteen hundred and seventy thousand Taes. The Fishery of Pearls brings into his Coffers two Millions six hundred and thirty thousand Taes. The Tax upon Odours, as Musk and Amber, is worth a Million and ●ive and thirty thousand Taes: That, which is upon Porcelain, brings ninety thousand Taes: This second Tribute making in all eleven Millions five hundred eighty four thousand French Crowns: so that the Revenue, hitherto reckoned, amounts to about six and twenty Millions of Crowns. But the third Tribute upon Corn, Salt, Wool, Cottons, and Silks, is yet more worth than all this. This puissant and opulent Monarch gives to his Subjects a great Quantity of Land, depending upon his Demean, on Condition, that they render unto him a part of the Profits thereof, which serves for the necessary Provisions of his Royal Palace, and for those of ●he Officers of his Realm. Those, who are appointed to collect this Tribute, gather every year sixty Millions an hundred seventy one thou●and eight hundred and thirty Measures of White Rice, which is the most ordinary Food of the Men of China, and their Neighbours: Twenty nine Millions three hundred ninety one thousand nine hundred eighty two Measures of Barley: Thirty three Millions one hundred an● twenty thousand and two hundred Measures of Wheat: Twenty Millions two hundred and fifty thousand Measures of Rye: Twenty five Millions three hundred and forty thousand four hundred Measures of Salt: Twenty four Millions of Measures of Millet: In other Grains and Pulse fifty four Millions of Measures. Silk, wrought into Cloth, furnishes him with two hundred and six thousand Pieces of the most curious work, every piece being 14 els long: That, which is unwrought, brings him 540 thousand pound weight. He has in Cotton 300 thousand pounds weight the work of Cover for Beds yields him 8 hundred thousand & 4 hundred Pieces of the most exquisite: Raw Silk also gives him the weight of four thousand pounds: the Manufacture of Cotton brings him six hundred seventy eight thousand Pieces of this Stuff, each fourteen els long: Raw Cotton yields him three hundred and four thousand six hundred forty eight pounds weight: The Value of which Incomes, augmenting the Sum of the Tribute in Money, causes the annual Revenue of this great Empire to amount to an hundred and twenty Millions of Crowns.  
This great and superb Treasure of the King of China, collected from his Subjects, and the excellent Prudence, wherewith he governs his State, and manages so rich a Revenue, have made him take for his Arms two golden Serpents, entwined one within the other: and the immense Extent of so vast and fertile a Kingdom, abounding with all sorts of Felicities, has caused him to put among his Titles the Style of Lord of the World and Son of Heaven: And truly since the Country is a World in Greatness and Goodness, he has Reason to call himself the Lord thereof. King's are in effect doubly the Sons of Heaven, not only by the benefit of their Creation, as are other men, but also by the excellent Privilege of their Sovereignty, whi●h is the living Image of the celestial Power. But the Monarch of China in the Vanity of his deceitful Religion, and the false Worship of his Idols lives as a Son of the Earth. Nevertheless the Greatness of his Treasures, the Puissance of his Forces, the Fertility of his Country, and the Extent of his State, have carried the Pride of his Spirit to that degree of Insolence, as to contemn all the rest of Men, and to esteem only those of China, He says often, and the same Vaunting is in the mouth of his Sujbects, That the Chineses have two Eyes, the Europaeans one, and that all the other men of the Earth are blind.  
Notwithstanding this Fault, which is common to many Princes, the Amity and Alliance of so opulent and puissant a Monarch merits well to be sought for by other Sovereigns. His Neighbour's esteem and desire it: The Tartar, his capital Enemy, requests it, and the King of Spain has judged it profitable for the Good of his States, and the Glory of his Majesty. So when these Princes send Ambassadors to him for this purpose, or for to treat of some important Affair, he receives them, honours them, and causes all sort of good Reception to be shown them. When they enter into the Realm, the Governor of the ●lace, through which they pass, assisted by all the Loytias and Captains of ●he Country, goes to meet them, for to testify unto them by eloquent Harangue the welcomness of their Arrival. I● they come by Sea, although there 〈◊〉 but a very little Distanc● from the Harbour, where they land, to the Town, ye● are they not at their Landing permitte● to set foot to ground: They are receive● in Chairs, very richly embroidered wit● Pearls, covered with Curtains of Clot● of Gold, which eight men carry on thei● Arms, whereof there are some kept i● the principal Towns, set apart for th● only use: For the Law of China sayas Let a foreign Ambassador be received an● honoured in the same manner, as the Prin●● should, by whom he is sent, if he came in●● the Realm. When they are arrived, the● are lodged in an House, m●de for the● built like a Palace, royally furnished and provided with all things necessary where they are served and treated at 〈◊〉 Expenses of the King, as likewise all ●long their Journey, where they are also at the King's Expenses guarded 〈◊〉 attended by a thousand Soldiers. Tomorrow after their Arrival, the Governor, who was to receive them, goes visit them, and after many suitable Compliments, asks ●hem the Subject of th● Embassy, and having learned it, d●●patches a Curier to the principal Town of the Province, to advertise the Viceroy thereof. The Viceroy dispatches the same Currier to the Court, and writes thereof to the King and his Council, who send the Ambassadors a Safeconduct for their Journey. Having received it, they set forwards towards the Court, attended by the number of Soldiers, whereof we have lately spoken: they are maintained, and have their Expenses defrayed by the King's Treasurers, and wherever they pass, all sort of Honour is rendered them. Whe● they arrive at the Royal City of Taybin, the ordinary Residence of th● Court, the King's Council▪ attended by the principal Knights, go to meet them: The Precedent of this Royal Council makes a Ba●d apar● with the Train and Pomp of a King. If th● Ambassadors come from great Monarches, this great Precedent go●s on their Left hand: if they come from lesser Princes, h● takes the Rig●t, and in this ra●k accompanies them ●o the House, prepared for them, the Furniture whereof, and the Preparation for the Entertainment of the Ambassadors, are truly beseeming the Grandeur and Magnificie●ce of the King of China. By the way he discourses them of the Rencounters of their Journey, and the State of their Health, an Interpreter, who is with them, assisting him, that understands not the Language. When they are arrived before the Palace, where they are to lodge, the Precedent takes his leave of them, and at his Departure gives them Power from the King, to create a number of Loytias or Knights, and to deliver many Prisoners, condemned unto Death, for an assurance of their Welcome unto that Court. The Law of China exempts them from all sorts of Inconveniences, that is to say, that whatsoever Crime the Ambassador commits in the State▪ his Person cannot be any way therefore punished. He passes some days in his Palace, before he has Audience, to the end that the Repose, he ●inds there, may free him from the Wearisomeness, contracted by his Journey. During this time he is treated by the greatest of the Court, who let him see the best Companies thereof, and the Magnificence of their Feasts: After this a day is appointed for him to come to Audience● The King, assisted by his Council, an● by the Principal of his Courtiers, gives it him in one of those superb Hals, whereof we have spoken b●fore: There he treats of the Subject of his Embassy, and after he has received an Answer thereunto, returns laden with Presents towards the Prince, who sent him. His Return is as pleasant, as his Arrival▪ he is attended by the same Troops of Soldiers, maintained in the same manner at the King's Expenses, and wherever he passes, he receives the sam● Courtesies and the same Honours.  
But all the Ambassadors, that arrive in Chin●, are not received in the same ma●ner: for those, that ●ome from Princes, or Republics, their Tributaries, are received according to their ●o●di●ion, and as Dependants of the Re●●m. When they arrive, one only Ju●ge receives them, lodges them, and maintains them at the King's Charge. At the Court th●ir Reception is suitable thereunto: The Judge, who receives them, asks them the Subject of their Journey, they t●ll it him, he advertizes the P●●sident of the Council thereof▪ and the Precedent acquaints the King, who appoints them a Day of Audience: But when they go thereunto, 'tis on ●oot, or if their Indisposition permits not that, they ride on an Horse without a Bridle, having only an Halter for a Mark of Humility and Vassalage: They have no other Company, but the Judge, that received them, with whom they take their way to the Royal Palace: When they come before it, they attend in a great Place a certain Officer of the Kings, that is a Master of Ceremonies, who from a sufficient Distance makes them a Sign to come on, and ●hews them the Place, where they must begin to put themselves on their Knees, to join their Hands, and lift them up on high in sign of Adoration, and to direct their Eyes towards the place, where they are told that th● King ●s: Thus they approach to the Palace, and enter thereinto, after they have made five other Reverences, or rather ●ive Adorations: They arrive at the ●irst Hall, being the least of the Palace, where the Precedent of the Council, Majestically seated, and not the King, whom they see not, giveth them Audience, after which he s●nds them back without making them a●y answer, till such time, as he has spoken thereof unto the King: Then his Majesty's Will is sent unto them by the Judge, ●hat had the care to conduct them. Thus they return, as they came, without any kind of Honour, as being in some sort Subjects to the Stat● of China. For such Principalities or Republics, as send them, were heretofore Provinces of the Realm, but being too remote at such time, as the Chineses withdrew themselves within the Enclosure of the Mountains, which with that great Wall of ●●ve hundred Leagues long lock th●m up, they gave these Provinces to tho●e, who do at this day possess them, upon condition of Tribute and Homage.  
But if any Ambassador of a Sovereign Prince brings Presents to the King of China, and that the Law and Custom of the Country obliges him to expect the Safeconduct from the Court in some Port, or some Town of the Realm, the Governor of the Place, where they stay, receives in the mea● time the Present. But he looks up●n it in the presence of a Notary, and some Witnesses, seals ●t, and sends it ●ealed to the Court with ●hat, which is given to himself: As it happened some years since to the Ambassadors, sent by Philip the second, King of Spain, into China. For it is expressly forbidden under great Penalties to all persons, who have Employ in the State, to receive any Presents from any persons whatever, though they be even their nearest Relations. But thus are received in China the Ambassadors, who go to treat with the Prince of that Country. Which shows, that th● Chin●ses are polit●, and have as good Qualities, as any other people of the Earth.  
But the Virtue of the Chinese is not without Divertisement, and the long Repose, which they enjoy, with the abundance of Riches, brings forth Delights amongst them, and conducts their Life in the Charms of Pleasures. The most ordinary, which robs their serious Employs ●f a part of the Time, that aught to be dear to them, are superb and magnificent Feasts, where they are deliciously treated: They manage and make them in this mann●r. They give every one of the invited, how great soever the Number of them be, ●is ●able apart, where he eats alone: These Tables are of a very rare Artifice, the Wood thereof is exquisite, and the Work ●●gular: They are inlaid with Fillets of Gold or Silver, so dextrously interlaced, that they represent the ●igures of Birds, of Landschapes, of Hunt of div●rs sorts: For the Arti●icers of China in the excellency of their Art are wonderfully industrious, and bear the Bell from all other people of the World. They cover not these Tables with any Tabl●-clothes, the Cleanliness and Neatness of the Chinese in their Eating has no need thereof: They spread upon them Carpets of Damask, or like Stuff, hanging down to the ground: They place upon the four Corners of the Table several little open Baskets, woven with Threads of Gold and Silver, some full of divers Flowers of Sugar, represented to the Natural; others bear an agreeable diversity of several Beasts, made also of Sugar, as Elephants, Lions, Stags, and Hinds: some are filled with Birds of the same Stuff. In the middle of ●he Table are placed exquisite Viands, wh●ch make a part of the good Cheer of the Invited: These are ordinarily all sorts of Fowl and Venison in Plates of Silver and fine Porcelain: They eat nea●ly, and take their Meat wi●h Forks of Gold or Silver, not touching it any way with their Hands. The Wine, w●ich they ordinarily ●ill, is made of Palm, delicious to the Ta●t, and less offensive to the Head. The Tables are placed in a Circle, to the end that th● Invited may see one another. While they thus make good Cheer, many Musicians and Players on Instruments banquet their Hearing with the Sweetness of their agreeable Concerts; some others represent to their Eyes the Rencounters and Inventions of some pleasant History: Their Feasts are never without a Comedy, which is excellently well performed, the Persons are very dextrous thereat, and the Habits, which they use, wholly sit for the Representation. The last Course is of all sorts of Fruits, and Comsits in great abundance, the use whereof is very common in China. The Courtiers and other men of China often pass thus their time in the Entertainment of these delicious Feasts. But particularly on the Day of the great Feast of their Religion, which they celebrate the first Day of the Moon of the Month of March, they give● to their Senses all the Pleasures, that they demand: They cloth themselves superbly, and adorn themselves with the richest Jewels, that they have; They plant at their Gates great Trees, like to the Maypoles in our Country's, and hang the Fronts of th●ir Houses with many Pieces of ●ilk and Cloth of Gold; They crown the Streets with many triumphal Arches; they illustrate the Night with an infinite number of Lights, which they hang at these Trees; They banquet and feast without c●asing.  
These Exc●sses are yet greater, when the Courtiers, or other Grandees of the Realm treat their Equals, or feast any Ambassadors of a Sovereign Prince: then their Magnificence appears in its greatest Splendour. The Invited h●s many Tables for himself alone, the Number whereof amounts to twenty: He eats at the first, and all the others are laden with all sorts of raw meat, as Tame an● Wild Fowl, Venison, Gammons of Bacon, and many others. After the Feast is ended, the Servants of him, who treated, take them off, and carry them before the Invited unto his House, where they leave them with great Ceremonies. The Friends or Kindred of the Family perform the Civilities of the House: For the Master of ●h● Feast absents himself, and through Decency, according to the Custom of the Country, is not to be found: Those, that are entrusted by him, who are nevertheless Persons of Quality, conduct the Invited unto their Places, where they are seated in rich Chairs under a Canopy of Velvet: And before they begin to eat, they take every one a Cup, fill it with Wine, and having made many great Reverences, go to the Windows, where in a place, from whence they may see the Heaven, they of●er them to the Sun, make a great discourse in manner of a Prayer, and request of this fair Planet (that can give them nothing but the Light, whereby they see to drink) constant Prosperities for the Invited, and that the Amity, which they intent to contract, may be beneficial and favourable to them both. Dissolute Feasts are tempestuous Se●s, where amidst the Delights of the Body the Virtues of the Mind are oftentimes shipwrackt. Wherefore he, that has left▪ unto men the Rules of good Conduct, advises them rather to go unto the House of Mourning, and the Accompanying of Funerals, than to the Pleasures of sumptuous Banquets: Because that in those they have before their Eyes the Portrait of man's End, which ofte● ca●se● in them an● 〈◊〉 of their Vanities; but these▪ bewitching their Minds, rob ●hem of themselves, and make them forget their Condition. It is true, that the Chineses have, besides many others, this laudable Quality, that they are no less skilled in politicly managing their State, than in ordering, as they excellently do, the Pomp and Magnificence of a superb Feast: although their licentious Religion forbids them not the entertainment of the Delights and Pleasures, that are Enemies to solid Virtue.  
These men, who say, that they have two Eyes, and who (as we have already told you) look upon the greatest part of other men as blind, are themselves so dim-sighted, as to hold for God's Pieces of Wood and Stone, fashioned into Idols by their own hands. For in the Court, as well as in other places of the Realm, they adore the Works of Painters and Gravers: They keep in their Houses Idols, w●ich they venerate with a particular Worship, and have Recourse to their vain Assistance in all ●heir Affairs: Their Temples swarm therewith, there are some, that contain above two hundred upon divers Altars, amongst which that of the Devil has always its Place, and receives equal Venerations and Sacrifices: not but that the Chineses know, that he is the obstinate Enemy of Mankind, and the Author of the Crimes, that are committed in the World, but they honour him so, that he may not hurt them, and not through any expectation of his Assistance. Besides these dumb Divinities, they revere and pray unto a great number of men, already dead, who have in their Realm surpassed others in th● Valour of Arms, in the Light of Learning, or in the Sanctity of an austere and recluse Life in the Solitudes of their Religious Monasteries: They call them Paus●os, that is, Blessed, in the number of which th●y put also many Women, and of the one and the other they venerate three with a singular Devotion. The first is called Sichie, who came (as they say) from the Realm of Tranth●jico, which lies towards the West, brought into China the Rules of Religious life, and was the ●irst Inventor of cloisters, and of Religious Orders, that live in Community without being married. He had his Beard and Head shaved, his Followers are also shaved, and all the Chines● Monks 〈◊〉 forth the Glory of his Name, and eleva●●● the Merit of his Virtues above a●●●he o●her Saints. The second Subject in this Rank of singular Sanctity is a Woman, called Canine: She is also worthy of her Name▪ for the Devotion, which is born to her in China, does with an importune Bigottery gnaw the Spirits of the simpler Ladies. They say, that she was Daughter to King Tzonton, who desiring to marry her to a Prince, as well as her Sisters, who were all Children of this Monarch, she would never consent thereunto, alleging for her Reason, that she had vowed unto Heaven a perpetual Chastity. The Father, offended at h●r Refusal, revenges it on her, that made it, deprives her of her Liberty, encloses her in a great House in the form of a Monastery, and through contempt makes her employ her Time in vile and abject matters, causes her to carry Water and Wood, and to cleanse a great Garden, which depended on that place: She does it, and labours therein with a singular Patience. But Heaven, to which she had made a vow, and for the Love of which she was thus contemned, solages (say the Chin●ses) her Pains, dismisses from its fair Vaults its ●●ppy Inhabitants for to comfort her, and sends many Animals to succour her: the Saints of Heaven came to draw water for her; the Apes served for her Servants; the Birds ●leans●d the Alleys of this Garden with their Bills, and swept them with th●ir Wings; the Savage Beasts descended from a neighbouring Mountain to carry h●r Wood The King her Father, seeing her one day thus served by these new Domestics, believed her to be a Witch, and resolved to purge by Flames the Crime of her Enchantments: whereupon he caused this House to be set on Fire. She seeing, that this ●ine place burnt for her sake, would have killed herself with a long silver Bodkin, that held up her Hair, which she set to her Throat: but on a sudden there fell a Shower of Rain, that quenched the Fire: then she quitted her Design, retired unto the Mountains, and hid herself in the Caves thereof, where she continued her Penance. Heaven, which protected her thus, would not leave unpunished the Cruelty of her wick●d Father: It struck him with a Leprosy, and abandoned his living Body to the Worms, that gnawed him, and made him suffer many Torments: Canine had a Revelation thereof, Charity makes her quit her Solitude, for to go and succour her Leprous Father. As soon as the King saw her, he cast himself at her Feet, craved her Pardon, and adored her: She, judging her s●lf unworthy of Adoration, would have resisted it, but not being able to do it by reason of ●he feebleness of her Body, a Saint of Heaven came and set himself before her, to repair the Fault, and to let her understand, that the Adoration was performed to him alone. At the same time she returned to her Cave, and there finished her Life with equal Sanctity. The Chineses hold her for a great Saint, and pray u●to her ordinarily to obtain the pardon of their Faults. The third is a Wom●n, named Neome, who, they sa●, issued from a very illustrious Family of the Town of Cuchi, in the Province of Oquiam: And as her Father would have violated the Vow of Chastity, which she had made, and have constrained her to marry, she fled away, and retired into the D●sart of a little Isle, which is over against Ingoa, where she lived very holily, and wrought a great number of Miracles: of which they relate this, as the most remarkable of them all. They say, that a great Captain, named Campo, Admiral of the Navy of the King of China, went one day to wage War for his Master in a neighbouring Kingdom: He came with his Fleet to surge at Boym: When they would departed from thence, the Mariners could by no means weigh up their Anchors, astonished whereat th●y all look into the Sea, and see Neome sitting thereupon, who detained them. The General calls to her, and prays her, as divinely inspired, to counsel him, what he had to do: She answers him, that, if he would triumph over his Enemies, and conquer their Realm, he should take her along with him, because those, with whom he was to ●ight, were great Magicians: He takes her into his Ship, weighs Anchor, sets Sail, and a few days after arrives on the Coast of his Enemy's Country. As soon as they perceive the Fleet of China, these Magicians have recourse to their Charms, cast Oil into the Sea, and by their Illusions so dazzle the Eyes of the Chin●ses, that their Ships seem to them all on Fire. N●ome, who was without doubt an excellent Enchantress, by her powerful Countercharms undoes all, that they had done. Thus seeing, that their Magic was weak, and their Arms unequal to those of China, they yielded themselves, and underwent the Quality of Vassals, and Tributaries to the King of China. Campo, whom the History marks for a judicious man, and a very wis● Politician, enters into some doubt of the Sanctity of Neom●, and believes her to b● a Sorceress: To clear this, he asks of her some M●rk of her holy Virtue, to carry as a Present to the King his Master, and prays her to make a dry Stick, which he had in his h●nd, to become gre●●: She took the S●ick, pronounced over it c●rtain secret words, rendered it green and budding, and moreover of a very odoriferous smell, and thus deliv●red i●●o this Captain, who, blinded with the same Superstitions, as the other Chineses, attributed the Prosperi●ies of his Voyage, and the Success of his Arms to the Sanctity of Neome, whose Name has ever since been singularly honoured in China, and particularly by those, that go upon the Sea, who bear her Image on the Stern of their Ships, and pray unto her, as t●e Divinity, which presides over the Waves, commands the Sea itself, and appeases Tempests and Storms.  
The Sun and the Moon are also Subjects of their Adoration: they revere them, as the Sources of Light, and Causes of Generation here below; but they believe a greater Divinity, that rules over them: for when th●y s●e, that the one or other of these Planets suffers an Eclipse, they say, that the Prince of Heaven has condemned them to death, and that the Fear of Punishment thus tar●ishes their Light. Then they pray this Sovereign Prince to show them Mercy, and not to extinguish these celestial Torches, which are so necessary for their Life: th●y say, that the Sun is a man, and the Moon a woman. Their Belief holds Heaven for the Creator of all, that appears to our Eyes, and of things invisible: they express it thus by the ●irst Letter of their Alphabet, such as we have mark●d before, and affirm, that above t●es● celestial Vaults there inhabits an immortal Governor, whom they name Lemon Tzant●y, that is, Governor of the ●reat GOD: they qualify him unc●ea●●d, incorporeal, eternal, a●d a pur● Spirit, they adore him with an extraordinary veneration, and attribute to him th● care o● Supreme matters: with whom they plac● another of th● same nature, called by them Ca●s●y, wh● has received from the ●irst the Government of that part o● Heaven, which regards the Earth, and holds in his powerful hand the Life and Death of men. This second hath under him three Deputies, all three Spirits, as the two first: They call them Tanquam, Teiquam, Tzuiquam▪ These are aiders and assistants of his great Ministry for the things of this lower World. For the first, which is Tanquam, is an aquatic Divinity, or rather the Fountainier of the World, He has the charge of Rains, and his greatest exercise is to furnish the Earth with Water. Teiquam descends lower towards our inferior Region: He presides over the Birth of Men, commands in Wars, orders Husbandry, and causes the Earth to produce the Fruits, which nourish the Men and Beasts, that inhabit it. Tzuiquam is their great Neptune: He employs his Time in intending over the Seas, retains or drives forward, as it pleases him, the fury of the Waves, commands the Tempests, and has a particular care of those that pass the Seas: Thus all the people of the Marine adore him, the Fishers offer sacrifice, the Seamen make Vows unto him, and the Sailors at their return from their Voyages make Plays, and represent Comedies to the honour of his Name.  
Now amidst the abominations of this false Worship of the Chin●ses are discerned some Traces, and ancient Marks (though half effaced) of a better Religion: For in the diversity of their Images they have one, which they hold in singular reverence: Its Form is human and Majestic: 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 H●ads is adored, they venerate Pictures, which are not unlike to those of the twelve Apostles. The Christians, who observed these Representations, asked the naturanll 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. Virtue 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, perfectly fair, that bears a Child in her Arms, which they say, she brought forth without violating h●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 Si● of Idolatry, has hid the rest from th●m. Nevertheless all these Marks, explicated by the eloquent Mouth of some pious and fervent Christian, might reproach them with being no more, what they have been, and would be no unprofitable Means to render successful the Cares, which should be employed ●or their Salvation: Besides that the excellency 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 th● West must come the true Faith, which shall lift them up ●o Heaven, for to be th●r● made Angels.  
Certainly the Court of China woul● be unto us an agreeable Abode in th● Conversation of its Courtiers, learned and endued with a very excellent Wit, and amidst the honest Recompenses, which are there given to Virtue; but the false Worship of Idols, and the abominable Superstitions, w●ich are there committed, force us to quit it. It is then time to departed thence, to turn our Thoughts another way, and to besto● our Labours upon a more holy Employment. 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 Decease and Funerals of the Sovereign Princes of this gr●at Monarchy. When their King is dead, th●y wash his C●●ps with Aromatic waters, perfume his Royal Habits, and clothe him in the most sumptuous manner, that ever he was in his Life, they s●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 nearest 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 Mo●ths. The Chancellor, or Precedent of his Council, accompanied with all the Councillors of State, pays there the same Funeral honours: all the Courtiers and Domestics of the Royal House, being also on their Knees before the Deceased, bewail the Loss of their Lord. This sorrowful 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 Pomp's of the World, from their Grandeur to Death) mad● 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 off●r Sacrifices for the Repose of him, who is dead in eternal Inquietudes. To these vain Devotions they add many Sorceries, they put upon th● Coffin a great number of little painted Papers, a part whereof they burn, the rest they tie to the Bier with little Cords, they shake and move them incessantly with such dreadful Cries and Howl, that it is difficult to hear them without Terror: They say, that by this frantic fashion of succouring the Dead, they send the Soul of the deceased Monarch into Heaven, to the number of those, that are happy. This Tintamarre or Spiritual Charivary of the Priests of China endures the space of fifteen Days, 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 Corpse, severely clad in Mourning: they have great Cassocks of wool next their●l●sh, and are gi●t about their Reins with Cords; their Head is simply covered with great broad-brimed Bonnets of wool, like to our Hats a-la-Mode, such as are worn in our Countries about the end of this present year 1625, which is strictly observed: For in China Mourning consists not only in the Mien, ●t passes 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 ●he Viceroys in the like sorrow remit into the King's hands the Governments, that they had received from him: To do otherwise there, would be no less shameful and impious, than it would be in our Countries for a Son to laugh, dance, and rejoice publicly at the Death of his Father. The Council with the honourable 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 therein 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 Burn in effigy are Marks of the foolish Superstitions of the Chines●s, they are also Signs of the sweetness of their Dispositions, more humane, than those of some Barb●rians their Neighbours, and of some people, which have been ours, who at the interment of their Prince'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 finished, and the Pictures reduced into Ashes, they descend, and close in a little Earth him, who commanded 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 fairest and noblest parts of the Universe been form, when Men, who are the Kings of the World, go down to their Grave, we put Dust to Dust. For a Lesson un●o Sovereign Monarches, 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.