Note 183 — XV. (continued 2)

One poem of the Chinese Imperial Pretender, which is not included in Dr. Medhurst's collection of the writings published by the insurgent press at Nankin, and for a copy of which we have to thank Mr. Meadows, Government interpreter at Shanghai, has lately been translated by our learned countryman, Dr. Pfitzmaier. The splendidly got up binding of this little book is of a golden yellow on the title page, and red on the reverse; the river Yang-tse-kiang appears to pay homage to the Tai-ping, whose residence it surrounds. The title printed on the exterior of the wrapper runs as follows: "Imperial announcements in theses upon the words of the Heavenly Father, the Most High Ruler." The title within is: "Ten poems upon Supreme Felicity," although these so-called poems are simply strophes, never exceeding four verses of seven feet. The writing bears date the number Kuei-hao (50), corresponding to A.D. 1853, the third year of the reign of the Heavenly King, Tai-ping. The whole production is, if that be possible, yet more bombastic, unintelligible, and stupid than Chinese poems usually are to Western readers.