THE CHINESE AS THEY ARE.

MR. LAY was the Naturalist in BEECHY'S expedition to the Pacific : he subsequently made a voyage through the Indian Archi- pelago in a ship freighted by the religious house of OLYPHANT and Co. to pick up information, distribute tracts, and dispose of com- modities, "fire-arms and opium excepted."* He afterwards, we believe, resided for some time at Canton and Macao, as an agent of the British Bible Society ; and the information which he thus acquired respecting China and the Chinese is contained in the volume before us.

As a narrator, Mr. LAY is not distinguished for much force or fulness ; but his style is plain, and he succeeds in presenting a distinct idea of the subjects he describes, by enumerating their details. His conclusions are generally deficient, especially if the subject be large or complex ; so much so that he seems altogether devoid of logical power in a practical sense. For example, he ad- mits the Chinese to be amiable and contented ; to have acquired by education and national habit a general reverence for authority ; and though he abuses the Government in a few places, be admits that advancement is open to all; and shows clearly enough that life and property are protected, industry encouraged, and popula- tion increasing: yet with all this, he coolly proposes to carry a fraternizing war into China for the purpose of overturning the Go- vernment, and revolutionizing three hundred and sixty millions of people, that he, and the persons with whom he is connected, may be at liberty to distribute translations of the Scriptures. The mad- ness of the Crusaders was nothing to this ; and they had an excuse in the darkness of their age, which cannot avail Mr. LAY. Yet see with what an " equal eye" he is prepared to contemplate the bloodshed and miseries of war, and the " results" of war. " The result of the present war," says he, "may ultimately he to sweep away all lets and hindrances, and to give the opium-merchant full licence to sell his drug where he pleases. Well, and what of that, so long as we have equal licence to disperse the Scriptures and to teach the natives the way of salvation? "

The Chinese As they Are is, however, an improvement on the narrative of Mr. LAY'S voyage in the Himmaleh ; for the subject its larger, more various, and more fully mastered. It is also a useful acquisition to our literature, in despite of the drawbacks we have mentioned; for it is an original work. No single subject may be exhausted, or even very fully or profoundly treated; but what Mr. LAY describes he has seen with his eyes, and what he tells at second-hand is taken directly from Chinese authorities. His occu- pations and pursuits also qualified him to observe the daily life of the Chinese. His calling as a track-distributor took him constantly amongst the people, and it was essential to his object that he should mix with them on familiar terms. His vocation as a natu- ralist gave him a knowledge of medicine—if he is not a medical man; and he appears to have assisted in the native hospitals opened at Canton and Macao by some gentlemen connected with the mission—one of' the most useful and effective modes that could be contrived for conciliating the people anywhere. Mr. LAY has also a turn for art, and is a musical amateur; and he adopted the best plan of learning—put himself under native instructors to study what he wished to acquire, with an eye to general knowledge and track-distributing at the same time.

The division of the work is into chapters, each treating of

some specific subject,—as Physical and Moral Character of a Chinese ; a Chinese Woman ; Maladies in China ; Husbandry of the Chinese. It is not to be supposed that a person whose op- portunities were confined to two cities, and to such truant excur- sions as he could make in their vicinity, or to trips in free-traders along the coast, would be able to acquire experience sufficiently extensive to enable him to pronounce upon the character and cus- toms of so vast a population, spread over an immense region, and distinguished by great varieties of climate. Mr. LAY, indeed, often pronounces his judgments broadly enough, but his narrative fur- nishes a sufficient check to his inquiries ; for in nearly every instance he tells the story of his speculations, and gives the reader his facts together with his opinions. For instance, it does not ap- pear that he has much acquaintance with the dramatic entertain- ments of the Chinese, beyond having witnessed two or three plays ; but as he tells thb story of his playgoings from the time he started from home till the curtain fell, the reader is possessed of the par- ticulars whence he deduces his conclusions. His knowledge of military matters is scantier still; gained by having seen a few soldiers drawn out to disperse a mob, or some analogous occasion. But we gather from his chapter on this subject the sources of his information—the Chinese Encyclopedia, and a collection of paintings.

One of the most seemingly complete chapters is that on music,

• For a review of this voyage, sec Spectator, 30th March 1839, article " Notes upon Voyages to Japan and in the Malayan Archipelago." as might be expected. The theoretical knowledge of a science can be attained anywhere, and musical instruments and performers can be collected together with facility; whereas the character of a dis- trict and its people, as well as the arts in daily use amongst them, can only be observed by going to them. Mr. LAY, moreover, took a practical interest in the subject, and studied the art under native tuition. The system of the Chinese appears to resemble that of the ancient Greeks; and Mr. LAY infers that both were derived directly from Noah and the ark. The same resemblance he had previously traced amongst the Polynesians ; and hence inferred that the tetrachord was a more natural system than the octave. These speculations, however, would lead a long way ; and those who take an interest in the matter will do well to read Mr. LAY'S chapter : but we will quote a curious passage illustrative both of Chinese music and of Chinese character.

"The intervals upon the pepa [a species of guitar] agree very nearly with our own, but the player generally avoids the half-note. I asked my instructor why he did this; but the question confounded him greatly ; so that his friend, who bad introduced him to my acquaintance, addressed him an angry tone, *Yea do not know !' To make him understand my question, I showed bin, that in passing a whole tone on the violin I could thrust the nut of my bow between my fingers, but in the case of the half-note the fingers were close together. He then followed me upon the sun been as I ran up the scale, and discovered that his own fingers corresponded to mine; and thus he learnt to appreciate the difference between the whole and the half in the musical scale. Be and his friend were bumbled at this, and could not forbear muttering, in subdued tones, their mutual conviction of the foreigner's intellectual reach. These fankwei understand things !' is indeed a mortifying conclusion, but it cannot be helped."

In the main object of his mission we cannot see that Mr. LAY made any progress : nor, indeed, is progress likely. If a person were to come to Europe with books evidently of price, and force them upon the acceptance of any persons they fell in with, it is not very probable that either the books or the givers would be regarded with that respect which is necessary to make converts from keen And highly intellectual persons. Besides the innate difficulties of the subject, the language, and the modes of thought born of lan- guage, offer great obstacles. We saw on a former occasion, that the theological meaning of sin could not be expressed in Chinese : respectable persons are therefore angry or indifferent when charged with vice or criminality. There seems, moreover, to be a natural obstacle with proper names, or some oversight on the part of the translators. See the difficulty.

" Much hindrance in the perusal of the sacred code arises from the manner in which proper names are rendered. A great deal of laborious diligence was bestowed in endeavouring to imitate their syllables by Chinese words, and often with very little success; for who, for example, would recognize Gan to loo as the representative of Andrew? Had not the inventor of this substitute been so thoroughly imbued with the English version instead of the original, lie would have chosen Gan le or An is as a far nearer approximation to Andreas. These names occupy a great deal of room, and each syllable has a meaning; so that the rarest jumble of discordant senses often comes together, to the dis- may and disgust of the reader, who finds it more difficult to make out the characters that compose a single proper name than all the rest which are em- ployed to convey the meaning. * • • I remember seeing a young man of tome intelligence looking at the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel: if one had thrown him into a thicket of brambles, he would have felt more pain, but be could not have been more puzzled, till I told him that the words were most of them proper names."

The following is an example of the mode followed in distributing Scriptures.

"In my first essays to circulate the Scriptures in China, I several times crossed over to an island near Macao, either alone or in company with Wil- liams, an American Missionary, whose name will occur more than once in this work. In these excursions, we were sometimes very happy in distributing a bag filled with books amidst what looked like a very lively interest, while we took great pains to recommend them by the kindness and condescending familiarity of our conduct. We found that no circumstance had so great a tendency to create a taste for the documents of Divine truth as the throwing of ourselves into the midst of the people, and as far as possible becoming one of themselves. For example, we saw on one occasion a large party of men occupied about a grave, under the superintendence of one who seemed to be Above the common level : we accordingly made towards the spot, in hope of meeting with customers. They treated us at first with superciliousness; but finding, after a time, that we understood the precepts of their own teachers too well to return such usage in kind, they suddenly grew very merry, parted our books among themselves, and filled the bag with various kinds of fruit which they had brought for their own entertainment. As this assumed the air of being done against our will, it led to a great deal of mirth ; and as a China- man loves a piece of humour exceedingly, it had perhaps more influence in making them read the pages thus obtained than the most serious admonitions that we could have used. We conveyed our bag to the nearest village, and divided the contents among the children, to the very great delight of their mothers and grandsires ; and amidst the feeling this created in our favour, we gave away a few books that we had reserved in our pockets."

If the subject were less serious, this would be an incident for a farce; but the matter is too serious for jesting in itself, and still more if it be true, as Mr. LAY asserts, that the opium-trade was only one cause of war, a " secret though ill-defined dread of our religion" being another. Of the personal character of the Chinese Mr. LAY speaks highly; having always found them good-humoured, friendly, and hospitable to the extent of their means; industrious and patient to a high degree, and paying great respect to any thing of a literary cha- racter, whether native or foreign. Their alleged infanticide he disbelieves, and on valid grounds. Their forms, he admits, are numerous, but he says there is a feeling under them ; they are polite from the heart : and this is the comparison he institutes

between

THE POOR IN CHINA AND THE POOR IN BRITAIN.

It would not be easy to draw a comparison between the habits of the poor in this country and the cottager' of China, respecting the state of their house- bold, because it is difficult to come at an average; but I think that while the poor at home are far leas happy, they are far more cleanly than the poor are in China. There is, perhaps, thrice se much contentment in that land among the villagers, but only one-third of the mind which is displayed by the lower orders in England. I will not be dogmatic in these remarks, and proceed no further in prescribing an opinion than the enunciation of this fact, that care-worn and half-starved faces are rare things in China. A plumpness of feature, cheerfulness of mien, and a gait full of animation, though without hurry, be speak a condition of mind that looks on to-day's supply with complacency, and forward to to-morrow's chances without apprehension. The happiness and general prosperity of the Chinese are so conspicuous that they merit a short analysis.

As there would be no pretence for justifying the Opium and Tract War without some drawback to this picture, he says the authorities are arbitrary ; but one instance he gives shows them not devoid of consideration.

AN OFFICER AT THE HOSPITAL.

Among the visiters of this kind was an officer of the army, who soon gave us proof that he was better acquainted with the ease and refinements of high life than he was with the " hardness " of a soldier. A little smart made him cry out lustily, while his attendants, with a countenance full of wo, echoed their master's complaints in a way that did the highest honour to their sympa- thy; for surely Chinamen have hearts to feel for one another. A medicine was given, to be applied after the example which bad been just set, and the great man took his leave with the usual display of ceremony, in which he did not forget to notice the native assistants at the hospitals; their service in such an institution being deemed more than an amends for the lowness of their birth. And he was not the only one to recognize them in this way ; which led us to observe more than once among ourselves, that but for the hospital no such honours would have ever lighted upon their heads. After the lapse of a few days, the officer again made his appearance, and apologized for it by saying, " When my servant applies the remedy you gave me, I cannot forbear calling out, which makes him desist from his proceedings : now you do not care for my crying, and therefore you must kindly apply the remedy yourself. But to all these,' pointing to a large number of both sexes, "time is precious; to me it is of no consequence : therefore wait upon me after you have despatched the case of every other person before us." This was nothing more than a man of con- siderate feeling ought to have done ; but how few of my readers would be pre- pared to hear of it in a Chinese, and especially that it is not an unique in- stance, but only a fair specimen of what happens on every suitable occasion.

Let us turn to the drama. Here is

THE IDEAL OF AN EMPEROR.

The next scene furnishes us with a view of the Imperial Court ; his Majesty sitting behind a small table, with his high officers on his right and left. He is chiefly distinguished by the predominance of yellow in his robes, and by a countenance which is a singular combination of beneficence and melancholy : a benevolent regard for the public weal and the multitudinous cares of govern- ment have cast this shade of thoughtfulness over his visage. I have seen se- veral Emperors thus represented ; and they all seemed to be members of the same family, such was the similiarity of their features and general bearing. The whole of the minutia of their looks, as well as their conduct, were the result of design, and show what sort of person the Chinese think the supreme ruler ought to be in his temper and behaviour. His counsellors are often bois- terous, hot in argument, and positive in affirming; and he checks them by reaching out his hand, with a countenance of entreaty, and not of threatening. He receives despatches, and answers them with his own hand, with the ease and rapidity of a man accustomed to business.

A CHINESE SAMPLER-BOOK.

For twenty-two cash or tseen, I purchased an elegant book, filled with choice subjects of the graphic art, as patterns for the use of the young needle-woman. She is assumed to be poor, and hence the little manual is priced at about one penny of our money. It has a cover of a fair yellow, studded with spangles of gold, and contains between two and three hundred figures, called from the va- ried stores of nature and art. In fact, the objects are so well selected and so numerous, that they might serve as illustrations to a small encyclopaedia. One acquainted with Chinese literature and natural history might deliver several lectures with this book before him. The meadow, the grove, the brook, the antiquary's museum, and the pages of mythology, with the adornments of the house and garden, are all laid under contribution. The book is said to be for the use of the person who belongs to the green window, which is an epithet for the dwelling of a poor woman; while the red gallery denotes the residence of a rich female.

A CHINESE AT HOME.

I was one day in company with an excellent Missionary, taking an excur- sion upon the island of Honan, in the river near Canton, when our path brought us to a delightful villa : we entered the gates, and proceeded up the principal pathway, admiring the shrubs and flowers, till we reached the mansion; where, in one apartment, we saw a number of young men seated at different desks, quietly pursuing their studies. My friend made some remarks to one of them; but received no reply, as it seemed to be a point of decorum for a student to consider that there is nothing so engaging as his lesson, nor any thing so im- portant as the injunction of his teacher. I wish this statute was recognized in some of our Sunday schools. In a few seconds the master appeared, and with a most accomplished grace and politeness invited us to follow him into the hall, or great room for receiving friends as well as strangers. He ordered tea for us ; showed us a foreign sword ; and asked my opinion as to the genuineness of a bezoar stone, which he had been taught to consider of great value. A little boy waited upon him in the office of page, who, among other duties, was sent to let the ladies of the household know that they might come and see some foreigners who had just called. The ladies soon made their appearance, and endeavoured to improve their opportunity by putting on the most fascinating smiles they were mistress of; "while he deemed it necessary to apologize for this departure from the ordinary rules of etiquette, as females are never invited to sit down with or even to appear in the presence of a stranger. When he thought they had gazed long enough, he sent his page to signify the same to them • and they instantly retired. In this short and casual way, we saw how complete his authority was over his household, and yet with what gentleness it was evidently carried forward in its administration. All was ease and noiseless tranquillity. The habitual reverence thus inspired in the mind of a child follows him through life, and forms an indissoluble link, a social bond of the strongest kind.