Front matter (continued 4)

As works of Art, these things are not to be criticised. They are works of money—that is, paid for by weight; merely meant to compliment a party or faction in the State, and not to honour, particularly, the subject of the Work, or to give a noble expression of human genius or skill. No purpose, perhaps, in the sordid workman other than to pocket the large sum for the big show! Nothing wherein a grand imagination, inspired by a fine enthusiasm and full of a noble conception, glows and breathes in the stone, and makes it imperishable!

Whether an unconscious disgust leave these public statues and monuments alone in their ugliness, I know not; but they are totally neglected, begrimed, covered with filth—often made the roosting-places of the unwashed street Arabs (beggar boys) and loafers [na-sthi]. Even the statues of living Sovereigns are so totally forgotten and deserted, that the nose of Majesty may be a small pyramid of dirt, and the ermine robes more defiled and foul than the rags of the street mendicant!

The Western Barbarians are very fond of Science [kno-tu-ze]—(this is the nearest word in our language, though quite defective)—and consider themselves in this to be far superior to the ancients and to all the peoples beyond the great Seas. I have never been able to comprehend, nor do I think the Barbarians themselves comprehend very accurately, the meaning of the word.

They will say of a man who is almost a fool, "Ah! but he is very scientific." Of another, constantly blundering, and who has been famous for prodigies of mistake, "His science is astonishing." A builder of a great ship, or of a great bridge, sees his ship upset or his bridge fall down; none the less, he demonstrates to his admiring countrymen that, upon scientific principles, the ship should have stood upright and the bridge been as stable as rock!

A doctor kills his patient [vi-zton] scientifically; a dentist cracks the jaw in extracting a tooth; a surgeon breaks the leg which he cannot set: Science is satisfied—"all was scientifically done!" A man spends his life in looking at the stars; he is a man of wonderful science. Another keeps a List of fair and rainy days during twelve moons; his scientific attainments are respected and his observations recorded, as if the fate of the harvests were involved.

You will hear of a man of marvellous science, before whom ordinary scientific men stand uncovered in silence; he has discovered a new kind of tadpole, and added another to the already interminable terms of natural Science.

I have heard one of these learned professors [pho-phe-sti] say wisely, "He is a benefactor of the race who makes two blades of grass to grow where one grew before;" "but," he added, "he is a greater who teaches mankind how to do this." In this way, wishing to show that an idiot might chance to find a way to double his growth of grass, but would be incapable of discovering the cause; so that, probably, the accident would die with the finder. A wise man would, at once, look for the reason, and finding that, be able to secure the benefit for all time. This knowledge of cause is the kind called Science.

The explanation is familiar to us. In our Flowery Kingdom, the master teaches the rules, and the artificer puts them in practice. We call him an Artisan who has knowledge of an Art: we call him who knows how things ought to be done, and who examines into things so as to comprehend the best modes of doing, simply a teacher, or master. We do not see that his knowledge, without actual performance, makes him a great man—a man of Science (as the Barbarians have it). Indeed, if a man do a thing merely mechanically, as a horse turns a mill, no doubt he is an ignorant artisan. Still, this stupidity does not exalt, in any degree, the nature of the knowledge of a brighter man: this one is only an intelligent artisan. On the whole, then, it seemed to me that the Barbarians, for the most part very ignorant, were easily imposed upon by those who, having leisure, mastered the multiform terms (or some of them) used by the teachers of Natural History in its various departments. These, too, idle and with some ambition to be known, easily fancied that the dry knowledge of words was knowledge; and discovering with surprise at first, but soon with great complacency, how very little one need to know to be ranked with men of Science, at length prided themselves upon the very trivialities which otherwise would have been unvalued. In fact, finally imposed upon themselves as they imposed upon others, and really believed those trifles to be important, because confined to those who paraded them as Scientific. These busy, idle triflers in words become the men of Science.

This is very laughable, and shows how mankind, everywhere, constantly repeat the same follies. In our Illustrious annals men like these have appeared and disappeared; founded schools, been admired, had disciples, then passed into oblivion; their works, often voluminous, never met with; or occasionally dug out of mouldy bins and reproduced in some parts to show up the pretensions of a new charlatan—to show how much better the same things were explained, or the same terms used by an old and forgotten author, 5,000 moons ago!

These men, as with us, constantly overrate the value of their labours; the world really can get on without them. Getting together in Congresses [Bed-la-mi], they pay (or affect) great respect to each other, and put on an air of abstraction; they are supposed to be pondering upon the care of men and things, and feel the weight of responsibility. Other men may be trivial; but to those upon whom rests the due ordering of Nature, Care should be a genius and Dignity a presence.

In these Meetings, nothing is worthy of debate unless it be Scientific. A plain paper, directed to a simple, useful object, and stating in ordinary and intelligible language the rules useful to the end, is not satisfactory. There should be something novel and obscure, or it is unlikely to come within the desired category. In truth, high and mighty principles on which man and the gods exist and move and flourish, or upon a disregard of which decay and dissolution follow—these are alone the proper objects of philosophers and men of Science; and involved in the profound investigation of principles, the Congress disappears from the common eye, and is lost even to itself!

On the whole, the value of these scientific men to the world did not seem to me to be considerable. I mean as scientific men—without any of the pretension or cant [Bo-zhe] of their class, individuals may be useful, and would be more useful without the false glamour of class-vanity. A man of brain and who really thinks and examines, if he have anything to say will say it, and it will be judged by its merit. But when men having time and not knowing what to do with themselves, and having some knowledge of words and but little brains, see an opening for imbecility, and are received and praised and dubbed Scientific, because they devote time and waste a large quantity of paper to give the world their thoughts—it is doubtful whether the more harm or the more good be done. To be sure, the idle and empty man may be rendered supremely happy in his vanity, and may have been saved from some personal degradation or vicious inclination—but the world could have been well spared his Catalogue of the Parasites on the Lobster, or his Notes on the Habits of the Barn Swallow, or his Suggestions as to the proper use of smoke, or his Hints upon the hybernation of Eels. No great harm is done, for nobody reads these things but the men of Science, who are obliged to keep up to the work of busy idleness, in reading for debate with each other and at the Congress.

This body professes to teach the proper rules for physical improvement, and its members are natural philosophers. They do not, however, confine themselves to the investigation of natural phenomena—they range over the whole broad field of speculation as well, demanding to know the cause of all things, and the very essence, object, and end. Those who take upon themselves this wider inquiry, assume a dignity far above the mere Scientists—these deal with mere visible forms; but those with the laws which underlie the forms, and with the source of Law, its origin, its object, and its end! These are Philosophers! and when a man is a man of Science and a philosopher, then no more is possible to human exaltation!

I have sufficiently referred to the works of these in another place. They cannot be wholly useless, if there really be a brain, honest and strong, at work. For to such patiently, humbly, earnestly, full of grateful recognition and conscious of the limitations of knowledge and of inquiry; seeking and looking out, with sad eyes, upon the vast world; to such, some new evidence of the grand order, some new and brilliant ray of divine illumination may come—not to show cause nor purpose, but to delight and tranquillise, to give new assurance of the Beneficent and Infinite Wisdom!

The English Barbarians have true men of Science. They are those to whom the people are indebted for nearly all of the useful discoveries and inventions. Men, who, engaged in some pursuit, apply a patient investigation and thoughtful experiments to see if they cannot improve the existing means to ends. In these investigations, they discover a new source or a new way of power; and, in the experiments, new applications and uses of it. When these men fall into the hands of the Scientists and Philosophers, and, leaving their work-shops, shine with the gods, at the Congresses—they usually end in that glamour—their light is no longer an illumination!

Of the musical Art, some things may be said. There is a wonderful variety of instruments—not many at all like ours.

Some of the stringed are similar to our Che. There is one, so enormous a structure, as to equal a house in size. It is made by a wonderful combination of hollow, metal pipes, ranging in size from a flute to a big cannon; and in height from a span to the lower mast of a ship. Its sounds are many, single in melody, or astonishing in a wild, clanging harmony (the Barbarians think); but to me, discord. All the combined noises are terrific; and surpass what the effect would be of our Che, Yuhnien, and Pieu-king all sounding at once!

In Singing, the men often roar like bulls, and the women scream, making hideous contortions. A handsome woman does not like to sing.

There is a Theatre—play—where all the parts, men and women, are sung. The passions of love, hate, jealousy, and so on, are sung and screamed at each other by the players in the most absurd manner. The woman will sing and shriek out the most astonishing gymnasts of voice, the man shouting and bellowing back, and then both together bellow and scream; the woman, at last, falls into the arms of the man, or the man throws himself in a passion at the feet of the woman—both singing and screaming all the while—and the curtain drops! Then arise the noisy plaudits of the spectators—demanding a repetition!

The barbaric music is, for the most part, like themselves, rude and noisy. There are some exceptions—and in simple melody often sweet and tender. The flute and the horn are pleasing—the former is much like our Cheng.

Occasionally, one or two thousand singers, and as many performers on instruments come together, and give a grand Musical Treat. Judge what this must be, when you add to this vast combination also the prodigious House of Noise (called Organ)!

Oratory is an Art much admired among the Western tribes, and the English think themselves to be prëeminent. I can hardly judge; one needs to be a perfect master of a tongue to follow a speaker as he ought to be followed. Barbarous races commonly produce effective Orators; the imagination is vivid, the passions strong, and there is enough culture to make the forms of speech at least tolerable.

In the Law-making Houses speeches (orations) are often delivered. For the most part dull in manner, insignificant in thought, poor in illustration, very ineffective. The members go to sleep, or withdraw, or rudely interrupt—sometimes coughing down the speaker. Very rarely are to be seen any flashes of eloquence, to be felt any thrill of its power. Unfortunately the same conceit, here as elsewhere, leads many to believe themselves to be Orators to whom the ability to speak properly is denied by nature. Yet these insist upon "airing their eloquence" (as it is styled) on every occasion possible. Generally these men have some subject, nick-named by the other members as a Hobby, which must be spoken to whether the House will hear or not. Then occurs one of those scenes so characteristic. The Hobby-man rises and tries to speak. He waxes eloquent (at least, he intends to be) on his favourite topic—perhaps the Pope at Rome; or the rights of women; or the purification of mud-streams; or the poor man's beer; no matter what, when the other members determined to drown the speaker, break through all the rules of the House, the orders of the Head officer, and more, all the ordinary decencies, and caterwaul, and cough and howl, till, from mere impossibility of hearing his own voice, the poor, squelched orator sinks into his seat.

Now, the House prides itself upon the liberty of speech and of debate; it is one of the palladia of English Freedom; and this is a forcible illustration of the liberty. Anything obnoxious to the majority, or even to a noisy minority, may be silenced—such is the freedom of debate!

The English Barbarians especially boast that the Great Council (Law-Houses) is not only the foremost of all national councils, whether ancient or modern, in character and in wisdom, but also in dignity, and the extreme care with which is guarded that most inestimable of all Institutions, the Sacred liberty of Speech!

There is a kind of oratory, sometimes contemptuously called Pulpit-oratory by the English, which may be referred to, because it forms a considerable part of the literary entertainment. Once a week, on the Holy day, ten thousand speeches or more are uttered by the Bonzes from a high place (called Pulpit) within the Temples. From the place of delivery the name mentioned is given to this kind of speech-making. The speech is known by one name—Sermon. These sermons form a part of the rites in the Temples, and are therefore numberless and never ceasing. As ought to be expected, they are as dull as such a formal thing must be. Some Bonze, new to his office, may attempt to give a little life to the performance. But the High-Caste do not like to be disturbed by any novelties; they prefer comfortably to sleep in the soft seats with high-backed supports, where their fathers have slept, Holy-day after Holy-day, for generations before them. They will not have the Bonze, therefore, thunder the terrors of Jah in their ears, nor affright their wives and children by painting Hell and the Devil. Eloquence, therefore, in the Temples, if it exist, must be content to glide softly over "green pastures," murmuring drowsily with "meandering streams."

The lower-sects are not so disposed to neglect their duty. With these the Bonze is expected to be "instant, in season and out of season," in the work of Jah. His terrors and the awful Hell; the wiles of Satan; the agony of the damned; the danger of neglecting repentance; the need of Salvation; the glorious Gospel; the blessedness of the redeemed; the worthlessness of good works; the absolute loss, here and hereafter, of failing to Believe; all these canons are vomited forth from the pulpit with an energy, and, sometimes, when directed to unbelievers, with a vindictive ferocity, startling and overpowering. The hearers do not sleep; even the boldest tremble, and the timid and weak sometimes go into convulsions of fear.

There are itinerant Orators, who go about the country making speeches (and trying to make money) upon all sorts of subjects. They are rarely effective, though occasionally, when they happen to seize upon a popular fancy, or to stir up some popular feeling, they gain a certain attention from the Lower-Castes. Whenever effective, it is by blending some of the strong points of the Idolatry with the prevailing agitation. If there be some matter concerning which the populace presume to have any opinion, then the itinerant speaker has his chance; and he is doubly influential if he mix in his discourse a good proportion of matter taken from the Sacred Writings and the Canons—this he distributes, to damn opposers and to reward adherents, with a combined Priestly and Lay vivacity and force!

We have, and have always had, ample specimens of these self-elected teachers and speakers; and they receive with us, in general, about the same neglectful consideration accorded to them by the Barbarians.

On a review, it must be admitted that the Western tribes are ingenious in domestic arts, and not wanting in invention. In the fine Arts they are sometimes effective, though immoral—merely imitating the ancient Roman-Greeks, whom they call Masters. Their architecture, when worth attention, is Roman. But they have produced one novelty, the Gothic—a wonderful outgrowth of the Barbaric mind, formed by its great Superstition. In painting, when confined to natural scenery and objects, they are sometimes very pleasing and correct. But in this department, where they are not immoral, they are often repulsive, seeking for startling effects, caught from the strongest passions. True Art elevates, refines, and pleases. It never lends itself to deformity, to the bad passions, to baseness. And it cannot sully itself by tampering with impure things. It recognises the twofold nature of man, and addresses itself to his moral instinct and love of divine beauty.

CHAPTER IX.

OF AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, AND SPECTACLES.

When the lowest-caste takes a holiday, decent people keep away from the place of resort, as they would from pestilence. The coarseness, indecency, and uncleanliness are too revolting. Not that they really differ in the ways of enjoying themselves; but from their personal brutishness.

The remarks following refer to those above them, and to the great body of the people, when at spectacles and public resorts.

To me, unaccustomed to it, the presence of women everywhere perplexed and surprised. In days of sports, eating, drinking beer, gin, and other drinks, romping of the sexes, and an incessant restlessness, are very noticeable. In the open grounds, all kinds of sports and games are going on; women and men dance, whirl about upon seats, rush after and chase each other, swing in swings, all in a wild revelry! There will be games where the woman is now pursued, and now the man; and now shouting, screaming, giggling, struggling and kissing, men and women rush after each other, catch each other; and then, reforming in ranks, go through the same wild pranks again.

The chief out-door sports are horse-racing, boat-racing, hunting upon horseback, bats and balls, foot-races, and the like. In-door: the theatres, the dancing-halls, the circus, and a great variety of shows and spectacles. Women attend upon all, and take a part in all—or nearly all. In the theatre, the circus, the dances, and many other places and things, they take the most conspicuous parts.

Horse-racing is esteemed as the greatest of all spectacles; and ranks as worthy of a national support. The Highest-Castes—even the Sovereign—attend. The Law-making Houses, the Great Officers of Administration, and the High-Bonzes, leave the duties of their exalted rank, and postpone the making and ordering of the Laws, to attend the Races. The Illustrious wives, daughters, and female relatives—even royalty—hasten to them, and esteem them as the best of all sports.

Every Caste—thieves, beggars, jugglers, the very scum of the cities; loafers, vagrants—rich, poor; men, women, children—every description of person, rush or crawl to the Races. Every sort of vehicle, every mode of conveyance is used: on horseback, on foot; in any way, the enormous multitudes crowd to the Races—it is the English Saturnalia (as an ancient Roman festival, noted for its licentiousness, was called)—I have heard the word punned [jo-akd] Satan-ail'ye, by jesters—meaning the Devil is in it. Not a bad notion, having reference to the evil effects of the sport.

On both sides of the space where the horses are to run, immense numbers of carriages of all descriptions, booths, stands and seats, are arranged, where the vast crowds stand, or sit, pushing, elbowing; whilst the horses are trotted out, and the race is duly prepared. At length, a great many horses, ridden by little men, looking like Apes, rush off at a signal; spurred, whipped, urged by the riders into madness, with eyes bloodshot, and nostrils distended, and every cord and muscle starting out and straining—whilst the multitudes of men and women stand up, shouting, leaping, screaming with excitement—sweep like a whirlwind along the course, and pass the goal! And thousands of gold are lost and won! By as little as a head, or a neck, one of the horses is declared to be winner! The name of the horse is sent all over the Barbarian world, and the event is watched for by millions—because bets are made, not only upon the ground, but in every part.

I can hardly explain to the people of our Central Kingdom, the excitement and the confusion of this scene. The most illustrious men and women are present; the great Bonzes are there—all classes, the lowest and highest, jumbled together, if not in contact, all carried away by the same wild passion. About the splendid equipages of the rich, mere human vermin crawl and fight for the crumbs and bones which fall, or are thrown from the feasting women and men, carousing in the carriages. In these, beautiful women laugh and bet with the men, drink the wines, and exchange a hundred smiles and jokes. Betting books are opened, and the women take bets and plunge into the vortex of the phrensy. The race is over, and thousands are impoverished, many utterly ruined.

With us the Theatre is merely a public, out-door spectacle, of no importance, amusing the ordinary crowd, and free from immorality. Women take no part in the representations—boys, dressed as females, playing for women. But with the Barbarians the Theatre is an organisation of government, and receives the highest support. Women act, and are more popular with the spectators than the men.

The first in estimation is the Opera. In this representation, as I have said in another place, the action goes on, all in Singing. To me nothing could be more ludicrous, more in defiance of all reason and nature. The most terrible emotions—fear, hate, envy, as well as the tender; love, affection, friendship—all sung, and not merely sung, but bellowed, screamed, shrieked, in every contortion of throat and mouth!

In the Tragic performance the fierceness of the Barbarians delights in dreadful murders, plots, assassinations; in things which tear and lacerate human feelings, and bring despair and death!

The Comic is as coarse in loose buffoonery [Kro-sen-to-se] as the tragic is for an extreme of agony, based upon crime and baseness.

But the most astonishing of all the representations upon the Stage is the Ballet. I should not dare nor desire to refer to this, were it not to illustrate a point in the Barbarian character, only too prominent; and to give further cause to the people of our Flowery Land to be thankful to the Sovereign Lord, that He has not permitted such mark of degeneracy to stain us.

The Ballet is supervised by a very High-Caste Lord. It is composed of a band of young women, selected for beauty of form and of limb. They appear in public nearly naked, or so clothed in tightest hose [ki-i-e] and draped in thinnest diaphanous fabric, that what is concealed is half disclosed and more piquant than if left uncovered. Troops of these appear—dazzling in white or pink—upon the stage-floor. Before they show themselves to the public, however, they parade, one by one (as I was truly informed), before the High-Caste Supervisor of the Ballet, who, with his assistants, duly examines the legs, arms, busts, and drapery, to see if all be in due order. The drapery is carefully measured to see if it be of the required length, and, if too short, must be extended to the knees. Not to cover anything, but to satisfy a pretence. For these transparent fabrics, aside from that quality, are so contrived that they float off from the body and limbs with every movement—and the motions studied are those which produce this effect—twirling around rapidly being a chief feat. When the High-Caste is satisfied that there be nothing to offend the most delicate, and that all the demands of a pure Christ-god morality are satisfied, he sends the young girls to the stage, and they appear in the Ballet.

This is a dance—why should I say more. But consider this dance is before the highest and best—in an immense and brilliantly lighted, lofty house. There are vast crowds, seated upon a level with, or just below the stage—in rows, one row above another, forming a grand half-circle, from the floor to the dome; so high, that the faces cannot be distinguished. Then the rich and glittering decorations; the paintings, the sculptures, the music!

The music of innumerable instruments strikes up. In come the troops of half-naked girls; their busts, their legs exposed. In they come, leaping, dancing, twirling, whirling, flying! They twirl around on the toes like tops. They spin on a single toe, sticking out the other leg—and, in this attitude, revolve about! They retreat, advance, stoop, go backward, forward; twisting, twirling, throwing themselves, their arms, and particularly their legs, into all possible positions; whirling about on one leg and extending the other, being the most admired feat! This is (very faint) the Ballet!

Mothers, wives, husbands, daughters, sons, lovers, maidens, look upon this spectacle—and pray for the benighted Heathen!

Englishmen often remarked to me, jocosely, "Ah-Chin—no like the Ballet—why, the Theatre nowadays stands on Legs!"

It is a fact that, in those times which the Barbarians call dark, when ignorance and brutality marked the whole aspect of common life, the instinct of decency prevented women from appearing on the Stage at all. It is quite a modern invention.

The Circus is another favourite show. In this, women appear, ride the horses, fly in the air, walk upon ropes tightly drawn above the spectators, and form a main feature. They make the same study of exposing themselves, and are undressed like the women in the Ballet. They give to the performance the same kind of stimulus, to which is added the further excitement of danger. For in leaping, flying through the air, vaulting, and walking upon the tight-rope high above the spectators; the probability of a broken back, or neck, gives a new sensation.

In the warm weather, the English Barbarians find great amusement in crowding to the Sea. Here, little houses placed on wheels are trundled into the waves. From these, women, men, and children wade, and plash and dive into the water. The women, and even children, often swim very well—the men nearly all. The two sexes bathe quite near, or together, in full sight of the people on the shore. Here, on the sands, thousands are walking, sitting, and lounging about, amusing themselves in the idlest sports. The men in the water are, with the exception of a mere loin-cloth, naked. The women, though tolerably covered, yet so carelessly that, with the motions of the bath and waves, they are sufficiently exposed! In these sea-bathing places you will see Barbarian life in all its rudeness, and love of boisterous fun and frolic. The men, and women, and children, abandon themselves to eating, drinking, bathing in the sea-water; to sports and games; to dancing, sight-seeing, and match-making. The last is the pursuit of husband-catching, which the free-and-easy life at the sea-side greatly facilitates.

Boat-races—sailing boats, and boats rowed or paddled—take place at these sea-side places, and are greatly admired. They are unobjectionable, and natural to a maritime tribe.

A strange feature is to see women go fearlessly into boats, and, hustled with the men, enjoy the excitement of the wind and wave, to witness these races, or merely for the frolic—but women are everywhere!

The Cattle Shows are characteristic. Here, fat cattle, sheep, fat swine, fine horses, poultry, tools used in tillage, fruit and vegetables, are shown; and the best receive prizes. Only a few of the High-Castes attend these, and then merely as a form. The real support comes from the farmers; and from the Lower-Castes. These crowd to the show, paying at the doors, merely for frolic and fun. Open to late hours at night, with music, lights, and places for eating and drinking, the mixed crowd of men and women delight in the hustling, crowding. The usual beer and other drinks are ready; the usual giggling of women, surging, and elbowing, and pushing about! One wonders much, whether the fat animals are not more respectable than the animals which crowd about them! But I can hardly fairly judge of the real character of the crowds, for they are too novel and too offensive to the habits of our Flowery Land. It is certain, however, that the Barbaric element always perverts the most useful things; and a Cattle Show must be debased and turned aside from its proper objects. What have the women and men, who push and surge about the brutes, of interest in the thing? Nothing. They may know and care for sheep, when roasted, or for fat swine, when in the shape of a rasher [fri-ie-tz].

The most curious, and, perhaps, most important of out-door scenes is the Hustings. When there is a vacant place in the Lower-Law-House (of the great Council), the Sovereign commands a new member to be chosen by those who have the right, in the town entitled to send. A sort of stage is put up in the market-place, and here those meet who are to be hustled for. Hustings comes from this word, and means to shake together in confusion. There are some who wish to send A., others who wish to send B. Accordingly, these are seized by their struggling supporters; each side endeavouring to put upon the stage its man, and each trying to put off the man of the other side! One may judge of the hustling. Each candidate submits to every sort of indignity. The hustlers (voters, generally called) are chiefly of the Lower (not Lowest) Caste, and enjoy this privilege mightily. Beyond the immediate actors are the associates of the two parties—not having a right to hustle; but, none the less, aiding in the general struggle, by pelting with rotten eggs, garbage, or other harmless (sometimes not harmless) nastiness [phu-fo], the man whom they dislike. Finally, one of the men is got upon the stage; entitled to be the new member for having had the larger number of indignities put upon him, and come out a-top! These are—to have the head-covering driven violently down over the face—to be befouled with stinking eggs and garbage, and all the time to say, "Free and independent voters," accompanied by bows and grimaces, intended for smiles!

If the Lower-House, however, find on examination that some one has hustled twice—that is, thrown two missiles, then the scene must be rëenacted! For it is thought to be too dangerous to allow of this unfairness. If one could do this on the one side, then it would be done on the other; and in the excitement, things harder than mud would be thrown, to the danger of life! As to the outside throwers, the police take care that they do not exceed mud, filth, rotten eggs, and vegetables!

When the new member is chosen, he is called upon by his supporters to thank them in a speech. He rises to do this, and, bowing, says, "I am powerless to express my grateful sense of the honour. Free and independent voters"—at this moment a half-drunken supporter of the defeated man gives the signal. The rotten egg has fairly hit the new member in the face; the crowd on the one side and on the other rush in pell-mell; the stage is broken down; stones, sticks, clubs, brickbats, are used and fly about freely; noses bleed; heads are cracked; oaths and yells arise! The new member, surrounded by his supporters, finally conquers; and, placed in a chair, is lifted by strong arms to the shoulders of sturdy men, who bear him to his illustrious house, where his exalted wife and noble friends receive him with delight. The tumultuous crowd are feasted by the Servants; and, finally, yelling and shouting for my Lord—the new member—he appears at a lofty window above them, thanks them once more, and disappears. The rabble leave the place, the gates are closed, and my lord and lady can congratulate themselves and be congratulated that the farce is over. Power and influence remain with them—the indignities are all washed off—it is merely English humour.

In these Hustings the Illustrious wives and daughters, as well as all male relatives, take part, and are obliged to take their share of the indignities. The dirty child of a low-caste (who happens to have a right to hustle) will be taken upon the silken lap of my Lady, and feel boldly in my Lady's pocket for pennies; and the daughter of my Lady sits down upon the stool and feeds the hungry old hag of aged poverty. The old hag being ill, and mother to the hustler. In this way, and on these rather infrequent occasions, the bold Englishman of Low-Caste vindicates his manhood and shows his power in the State. But it is a mere form. The High-Castes understand the Barbaric temper, and consider this mode of amusing it the cheapest and least inconvenient. There is a struggle sometimes for the new membership between individuals, but these are always of the High-Caste connection and order. Actual power does not exist in the hustling rabble—that is in the High-Caste. Nevertheless, sometimes the Hustlers can determine which of two shall be sent; and, therefore, it is necessary, when more than one desires to go, to submit to the hustling. Nearly all the worst indignities are omitted when only one person is named. In this case, all the hustlers being of a mind, they do not inflict more than the accustomed indignities, which are moderate in comparison; though one would think sufficiently humiliating.

In the civic processions, which occur when a new magistrate is appointed to a city, one observes how the old barbaric features still predominate. Like children those things are most esteemed which grown people disdain or laugh at. Rude force and the emblems of it; men absurdly accoutred in old, fantastic arms and armour; banners which once marshalled trained men to war; gilt and golden vehicles, conveying priests and officials; these carrying glittering baubles in their hand; loud music and bands of curiously dressed braves; these things delight the multitude, which comes swarming out from every hole and corner of the city. Such crowds of both sexes, with children even in arms! Nowhere out of these Barbaric and populous tribes can such a spectacle be seen. The vast throngs rush and push about, and woe to that decent man who gets entangled among them! Often the selfish, reckless hordes, rushing through some street with a new purpose, overwhelm and crush every moving thing in the way.

Women, children, strong men, are often thrown down, maimed; even killed outright! Thieves, beggars, the indescribable scum of degraded humanity, mixed with the crowd (in its own character but little removed from lowest debasement), give it an air of unspeakable disgust!

Of these Civic Spectacles, a Coronation is supreme. This only takes place when a new Sovereign is crowned. No one is admitted to the actual Ceremony but the highest of the High-Castes. The common people, who bear nearly all the taxes to pay for the enormous cost, must be content to get such glimpses of the passing pageant, as is possible to them, at the risk of limb and of life. The whole thing is so guarded by armed bands, on horseback and on foot, with fire-arms ready, and swords drawn, that it is only by rushing close to the horsemen, and pressing upon the foot-braves, that any glimpse can be got by the common multitude; and for these mere glances—under the bellies of horses, or between their legs, or through some iron railings, or the like—the devoted barbarians will risk their lives. Such is the admiration which this great show attracts!

It is thus admired, not only because of the awfulness of the Crown, but also because the Idolatry plays so large a part in it. The new King is always crowned by a Highest Bonze, in his costly priestly robes, and anointed with holy oil; whilst the Sacred Writings and Incantations are duly read and uttered! The worship of Christ-Jah and the other gods, are all pledged, together with all the Canons and beliefs, including the Divine Revelation of the Jewish Sacred Writings; in fact, the ceremony, in the Priestly part, is Jew throughout!

The scene is characteristically barbaric. Force, and glittering display; all the jewels, the gewgaws, the golden rods, orbs, bowls, sticks; the spears, swords, steel armour, helmets; the robes, furs, silks, velvets; jewelled garters for the legs; ornamented chains in gold, for the neck; coronets, for the hereditary nobles [Hi-fi]; cassocks, gowns, mitres, staffs; scarlet and crimson cloths, cloaks, and waving plumes of the great braves; men in steel, on horseback—all these things, and a thousand more! With the grand women, and the High Lords! all are present. All is show and glitter; and childish! In the midst, out there rides a man, all covered with steel armour, with a long and flashing spear, who, sitting proudly on his horse, looks defiance! A trumpet sounds; another dashes forward, and proclaims the new Monarch; then the first, with a loud voice, defies to mortal combat any one who dares to challenge the right of the proclaimed Sovereign—and, thereupon, throws down a glove [kang]. If any one should pick up the glove, it would imply an acceptance of the challenge. No one takes up the glove. The trumpets sound, the music strikes up in a hundred places; the vast multitude cry and shout, "Long live the renowned, the exalted, the Illustrious!"—and the new-crowned man is King!

In this barbaric display, the money expended is enormous in amount. The jewels and mere inanities are so costly that, put to proper use, poverty would scarcely exist. Nor is this all; the High-Caste get all the honours and emoluments, though they bear but a small part of the expense. Many of this Caste hold hereditary offices connected with this Show, from which they derive revenue and high honour! One may be hereditary sword-bearer, another cup-bearer, another towel-holder, another bottle-washer. Nor is this sort of sinecure (name for frivolous, useless Service) confined to males; females may be hereditary folders of the Queen's night-cap, washers of the baby-linen, keepers of the robes, maids of the bed-chamber, and so on! Still, such is the ignorance and debasement of the common people, and even of the better classes, that, although they pay for these expensive whimsicalities and barbarisms, and never by any chance share in the personal benefits, they admire them; and believe them to be, in some mysterious way, connected with their glorious constitution and privileges!

I scarcely like to speak of the displays by the braves. These are those on horseback, those on foot, those with horses, and cannons mounted on wheels; and some who march partly, and partly ride. Our Flowery Kingdom knows these armed bands, and how rude and disorderly they are. How they plunder and kill the defenceless, and burn and destroy! How fierce they are, and how reckless of order, even to their own chiefs!

But I will refer to the main display of these armed bands. Once or twice in twelve moons, all the bands being assembled, are divided into two parts. Each part has a great Chief at the head, with horsemen, footmen, and those with the wheeled-cannon.

One of these Divisions is sent to a distance, and the other is kept at hand. Then the one near is commanded to act as if the distant force was an enemy, who, having landed, was marching into the country to subdue it. In this way, it is intended to teach the armed bands to march, countermarch, hide, seek, advance, retreat, get into ambuscade, get out of it, rush up hills, rush down hills, cross rivers, make bridges, construct roads; pretend to blow up and to construct earth-forts; pretend to charge, to fire, to shoot, to rush with horses, to swiftly move and fire the cannons, each against the other; to skirmish in small squads [kong], and fight in large bands—in fine, to carry on a Military campaign (as the Barbarians term this prodigious nonsense). Some one said to me, "A very sham pain." It seemed to me no sham to the soldiers—so far as toil is concerned.

How, in carrying out this tomfoolery [hen-di-ho-ty], bands of armed men may be seen scattered over a wide range of country. Smoke of fire-arms and reports of the cannons may be seen and heard, in different parts—and a quiet traveller may be surprised to see suddenly a band of men, armed, rapidly approaching, with the bright steel glistening in the sun; and, levelling these steel-spears affixed to the fire-arms, see them rush, pell-mell, upon a row of bushes, firing and shouting—then, suddenly recoiling, rush back and hurry to shelter behind some other row! Then cannon will bang, and smoke will rise from among trees near the place; and the horses will be seen advancing rapidly, dragging after them the cannon, which, being planted on a hill, fire and bang away; then, all at once, some great braves, with feathers flying, and swords flashing, will rush directly upon the cannon, even right into the mouths!

Then pell-mell other horsemen, cutting and slashing with long swords, and firing off little fire-arms, will be seen; and soon long lines of foot-braves will appear among the trees and bushes, and some will rush upon the others, and others rush upon them, firing and banging away, in a manner very surprising; and this is a sham-fight. Sometimes the braves get so excited that they really do fight in good earnest. As there is nothing but powder in the fire-arms, the danger is in the swords and spears, which are sometimes so used in the heat and excitement that many braves are really hurt.

When all is over the head braves of the two forces make Reports of the doings of their respective divisions, complimenting the braves and the head men upon their discipline and order.

On one occasion the Royal Prince and his attendants rode directly upon the mouths of a battery of cannon. Now the whole idea of the Sham is that everybody is to conduct himself precisely as if the doings were real. Any head-brave who forgets this is disorderly and liable to punishment. What would have been the fate of the Royal party had the cannon which they rode directly upon, been charged with balls as well as powder! It is not to be found, however, that the Great Brave in his Report referred to this extraordinary exploit of the Royal Prince.

With an enemy, real, deadly, strong, advancing into the country, then indeed the braves would have work which would stir all their wits and nerve all their strength. Marches in rain and mud; toilsome nights; work in the ditches; cold and biting winds; wakeful and wearisome watchings; all endured manfully, and hardly noticed because it is real. Even a pauper disdains make-believe toil, and takes the pittance tendered for it as an insult. To the common man all this labour and exposure is very hard and very real—all the more so, because it is mere noise and smoke. No wonder that he is careless and indifferent; no wonder that he curses the nonsense which wearies him without giving him any satisfaction. Show him true, honest need; where the enemy of his tribe lurks, and he is alert, active; calls up all his intelligence, looks to his arms, looks about him, and feels no fatigue. But this—he loses discipline, and is really demoralised by a Sham.

Still the Barbarians greatly admire all this noise and blustering; and the Head-Braves fancy that the bands are improved in order and in knowledge of arms; that they would really understand how to meet a genuine enemy more skilfully, by having made-believe to fight a friend. All human experience shows the opposite of this to be true; for the sham is certain to entail some of its mischief and injure the very qualities which it is supposed to improve. In the nature of things this affair cannot be good. The object is a sham—everything, therefore, about it is sham. The fight is a sham, and the fighter is a sham-brave, and, therefore, worthless. Who doubts that he is injured by this pitiful work?

When these armed bands march in the displays made on public occasions, then, knowing that they are doing true work with a true object, they enter into it with spirit. Every man feels himself to be a part of a fine whole, and interests himself to do his best. These displays of the numerous armed men, marching with banners, bright swords and spears, with cannon, great troops of horses, long columns of glittering steel flashing in the sun, with brilliant coverings and gay colours, and the loud clanging music—these attract great multitudes. Whilst the High-Caste Braves, on grand horses, clothed in bright armour and steel, prance about and order the bands of braves. All are quiet and orderly, and preserve due restraint. One would not know that these are the same turbulent, untrained, reckless, and cruel plunderers and murderers, who devastate the homes of peaceful people beyond the seas.

I did not see the big fire-ships, for it was not permitted to me. Or rather it would have been very uncomfortable indeed, for the rude and insolent Barbarians in the ships know nothing of ordinary politeness and civility. They jeer my illustrious country and people, and mock at us with the brutality of conceited and barbaric ignorance. I was told that the big ships perform a great many movements, firing off the great cannons, and moving about each other, and pretending to fight—in this way to teach the head officers and the men how to manage the vessels, and how to fire the enormous guns, and how to shoot the big balls and fire-bombs, and other horrible things, in the most destructive way. Sometimes an old vessel is allowed to float on the waves, and the fire-ships shoot off the cannon balls against the hull, to see how soon they can destroy, burn, or sink it. Sometimes they send against it a curious machine filled with gun-powder, which, sinking under the old hull, suddenly blows up, raising the great mass entirely out of the sea, and utterly destroying it! So ingenious are these fierce tribes of the West in all contrivances for the destruction of mankind!

CHAPTER X.

OF THE EMPLOYMENTS OF THE PEOPLE, AND ASPECTS OF DAILY LIFE.

I have spoken quite at length of the English Barbarians as traders—these form a large portion of the whole. Below these are the lowest caste, workers, beggars, and thieves. The tillers of the land make a great part of the workers; then those who toil in the mines, shops, and great factories; lastly, mere day-labourers of all sorts.

The tillers of land are wretchedly poor. In the years of their strength they just keep from starvation, living in hovels hardly fit for a brute, and not so good as the Master's dog-kennel. When strength goes they become idle, paupers, and die in the poor-house [do-zen-di].

The mine-workers delve in the dark bowels of the earth for coal, iron, copper, tin, and other minerals. No beast works in more dirt, nor under more brutal circumstances. Out of the light of day, far below, in pitchy blackness, illumined only by the faint light of a lamp fastened to his head, the serf toils—exposed to death from suffocation, by the falling-in of earth, from great outbursts of water, from accidents of many kinds, and from the fearful explosions! He gets more money—but in the light of day, when he has cleansed himself from some of his weight of filth, the gin and beer shop give him the readiest and only resource! The lives of these toilers and of their families are scarcely imaginable. An explosion sometimes destroys nearly a whole village!

The vast numbers, men, women, and children, who labour in shops and factories of all kinds, present a very uniform appearance of misery and degradation. They swarm in the great towns, amid the débris [kon] of coal and iron works, and in the purlieus of the places of labour—dirty, noisome, barbarous. No High-Caste, unless by mistake, ever goes among them; and even the lower avoid them. Worked by their task-masters all the day, from early morning till late at night, for such pittance as may keep them at work, what can be expected? Young girls and lads work together; there is no decency (there hardly can be), connections are formed, children come; but who is to care for them? What can describe truly the actual state of things?

When work is over, weary, without respect from others, and feeling none, therefore, for themselves; no decent home, wife and children draggled and wretched like themselves, where else to go but to the warm and brilliant-lighted drink-places? Here is warmth, shelter, comforting drink. Is it surprising that these, the only homes, take nearly all earnings; and that the small remainder gives to the bare rooms, ragged garments, and squalid wives and children, that aspect of misery and brutishness? Whole quarters of towns are given up to this degradation. The portals of Temples, the porticoes of grand edifices, the very steps of public charities, are crowded with these victims of ignorance and selfishness—a selfishness peculiar to the cold nature of these Barbarians, and which receives its finest and most exquisite polish among the High-Caste. I speak of the steps of Charity Halls, where relief is supposed to be given to the starving; but on the very steps misery may find its last, wretched repose.

It seems to be accepted as inherent in the nature of things that this abounding debasement and wretchedness, wherein crime breeds by an inexorable law, must be. The crime must be watched and kept within bounds, and guards must carefully repress the disorders of this foul shame, but the thing itself is inherent and ineradicable. It may be so to the barbaric nature.

The ordinary labourers of all descriptions, in the street, in the shipping-docks, in waiting upon the artificers, in the digging, toiling, manual employments, differ not much from their congeners [re-la-tsi] in the factories and mines. Their habits are the same. All are alike really serfs, taking no notice of the refinements and the enjoyments of the higher-castes, and being everywhere rigidly avoided by them. On a sunny day, if you walk in a public garden, you will see some of these miserable beings lying about on the grass, stretched out in the sun, asleep. By no chance will they occupy any place which is usually used by the upper castes, nor will any of these, by any chance (short of dire need), ever speak to or notice one of these low creatures. Sometimes an open green space will present an appearance like a battle-field after a combat. These serfs scattered around, here one or two perfectly still, there some just turning or raised upon elbow; sometimes an old crone resting upon a recumbent man; most, perfectly still and flat, give an aspect of dead and dying strewn over the field. Occasionally men and women will be cuddled close together for warmth; in truth, this grassy, sunny couch, is to them a luxury.

The aspect of these day-labourers as they lounge, or slouch [gr-utn] idly about the streets, is repulsive and curious. They seem unable to stand up. Whether from the nature of their toil, or from mere shiftlessness, I know not. But they never do stand erect, and slouch along from one beer-shop corner to another, till they can lean or lie down. They cluster about the corners by beer and gin shops, rarely molesting any one, but frequently noisy and quarrelsome among themselves. They carry their strong passions and strong drink to their wretched haunts where crime and violence are rife. Women and children of this class are also at these drinking places, and give a feature to the degradation of unusual repulsiveness. These beer and gin shops, in low quarters of a town, are prolific of riot and crime, but abounding everywhere, in parts more decent, the police [ta-pki] are forced to be more watchful. A striking illustration of the callousness of the High-Caste is, that they derive their own revenues largely from this very degradation of the serfs—for an immense tax is paid by them upon the beer and gin which they consume—and this tax enures wholly to the benefit of the High-Caste. In the Law-making House, therefore, whenever some good man wishes to moderate this excessive evil of drink and drunkenness; pointing out how Crime takes root and flourishes, and vice spreads from these drinking-places; how the whole community suffers; he is laughed at and pointed at, and made odious to these miserable creatures, as one who would deprive the poor man of his Beer! In this connection of the serf with the rich man's revenue, it is convenient to say "the poor man;" on ordinary occasions, the "drunken beast," or the "brute," would be more likely.

There are parts of great towns where decent people never go unless by sheer need, and where in the night they would not go unless accompanied by a policeman. Nothing can describe the aspect of the dark courts and streets, of the mean and filthy buildings, shops, and dens! Nastiness, foul smells, dirty shambles and garbage; doors and windows smashed and stuffed with rags; gutters festering with impurities; and the human vermin swarming like maggots in rotten flesh! Upon this foundation the palaces of the rich and the vast stone Temples rest; one wonders that they do not sink into it.

It is a great boast of the English Barbarians that "a slave cannot breathe in England." At first, when I heard this, I supposed that it meant that he would die under the conditions of life awaiting him—he would not be able to breathe—and therefore slaves were unable to live in the land. But the boast merely means that it is not permitted to add black slaves from abroad; they cannot live in England; nor do I think they could. I do not comprehend the boast, unless on the ground that it would be an expensive as well as useless cruelty to land even blacks, merely to have the trouble and cost of burying their carcases.

I have called these low-castes Serfs, disregarding the barbarian fiction which calls them free. Not long since they were slaves under precise law; now they are so by universal custom. When they were legal slaves they had some care and protection; there was a tie existing between master and servant; hearty service and affectionate concern rendered the relation not merely supportable, but positively advantageous. The tie is severed; there is neither hearty service nor affectionate concern. The master possesses everything as before, but he is no longer obliged to maintain his labourers. These are numerous; they must work or starve. Whilst they work they get enough perhaps to live; no longer able to work, mere pauper-life in poorhouses and the pauper's grave await them. Nor do the masters even pay for these; they have cunningly contrived to have the expense borne by all who have anything to be taxed. Thus the severance of the ancient tie has only enriched the High-Castes and freed them from all obligation to care for the labourer, and sunk him into a condition of hopeless and debasing poverty. The freedom is all on the strong side; the slavery more abject and less softened by humane sentiments.

Now there are a few, who have some dim perceptions of these so obvious features to a disinterested spectator. They see that it is a poor compensation to the wretched misery which holds thousands hopelessly in its grasp, to point out an occasional accident of escape—where some one, more gifted and more fortunate than his fellows, happens to rise into comfort and slight esteem! These noble men, the harbingers of light, who try to see and to act honestly, in spite of early prejudice and habit, perceive that there is no hope for these serfs, unless they can be moved with a higher interest. They think they discover a chance to move them by offering them knowledge, without, or nearly without, cost. But it is doubtful if they be not too low, too brutal, to care for knowing anything. Then, "they must be forced to send the children, to be taught—they must be whipped to School." This is resented as an outrage on the freedom of the serf—as an invasion of his family rights—as a positive, additional, tax and burden. For he gets something from the petty work, or from the begging or thieving of the children, and now the Master takes that! Yet, probably, this is one needful thing—to take the children into the hands of the State, in every case where the natural guardian is unfit to properly care for them. But the State cannot half take them. It cannot take anything of the present pittance, and claim to have compensated by giving words instead. It is cruel to say to him who starves in body, "Starve—I feed the mind!" A poor parent cannot receive even knowledge in exchange for bread. And it cannot be asked of him, in his low estate, to exchange the little added support of the child's wage for the, to him, useless words of knowledge. In the face of want one cares only for bread! Therefore, the State which teaches must also feed the poor—or see to it that the honest poor be first fed. If the parent can only feed by the help of the child, the State must not arbitrarily assume to be Master and Judge—saying, "Come to school—and starve, if must be."

The High-Caste, secretly, clog and obstruct all attempts to raise the low. Learning belongs to the master—ignorance to the serf. It is enough for him to obey and work. There will always be poor, and vicious poor. It is better to merely watch and guard against an Evil, for which there is no remedy. To give instruction to the low-orders, is to arm demagogues with a dangerous weapon. "'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing'—it only enables the multitude to see just what it suits the purpose of the Agitator to show! There is nothing but evil in these grand measures. All must be left to individual effort; and to the Priests. These must work as comes in their way; instructing those who wish, and encouraging those who dutifully obey, and attend to the labours imposed upon them by divine Providence" (Meaning, that Jah has ordained, from all time, that some must be "Hewers of wood and drawers of water"—a quotation from the Sacred Writings).

In this manner, the High-Caste, when it condescends to the subject at all, dismisses it. Indeed, this Caste, the Master-Caste, really feels no other concern in the low orders, but a concern for their peaceful subjection. To this point they direct so much care, as to have always trained bands of braves, and strong, picked, well-ordered men, called Police, ready at hand. So, in case the wretched, degraded, and despised serfs and thieves, should dare to raise any stir, disturbing the ease and enjoyment of the luxurious High-Caste, they may be shot down without mercy!

Necessarily, the elevation of the low-classes will be very gradual. Many of the Priests, wishing to enlarge and maintain the influence of the Superstition, actively exert themselves among the honest and industrious poor. And some of these Bonzes are as benevolent as the traditions of their Caste and of their Idolatry will permit.

It is doubtful if the present condition of the masses of the English Barbarians be so manly and independent as ages ago—when they were sufficiently intelligent to move in their own cause, and were really of some importance in the State. Unfortunately, they did remove from their necks the pressure of immediate, personal service, only to accumulate upon them, as a Class, the whole weight of the landed and trading interests. As a whole, therefore, they are more servile, more abject, and more dependent; and the few individuals who may raise themselves above the level of their class cannot even flatter themselves in this to have gained. There never was a time when these individuals did not exist—it is not clear that their numbers have increased.

CHAPTER XI.

OF THE HIGH CASTES: SOME PARTICULARS OF THEIR DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS.

In this chapter I shall try to show some of the peculiarities of the opposite extreme of Barbarian life. From ignorant poverty, verging upon crime, crime and vice; we are taken to luxury, also verging upon crime, crime and vice—though under very different forms. The All-wise and Sovereign Lord knows how to judge each class of offenders!

The High-Caste is very exclusive—it will not, if it can avoid it, notice one of a lower order; and never will do so unless it has some selfish end in view. This cold-bloodedness characterizes all Castes. When the Barbarians, therefore, chance to meet, and being of near Castes, cannot be distinguished by dress, they never touch or address each other—but stare rudely up and down the person, to see if it will be safe to be civil, the one to the other.

In general, however, the two Higher-Castes present so many features in common, that a spectator may regard them as one. Both look upon all useful occupation as shameful; and whilst it is hard to call up a blush for anything mean, detection in any honest work covers with confusion!

The women of this Caste appear everywhere in public, with the same boldness as men. They dress in laces, silks, satins, velvets; richest furs, feathers, shawls, and scarfs. Are so addicted to these things, and to costly jewels, and ornaments of gold, precious stones, and the like, that a fortune is often carried upon and about a fine Lady. (Lady is for the female like Lord for a male). In truth, a Lady only lives for two purposes—to dress, and to marry. I ought to add another, but whether it be subordinate or chief I know not; in fact, I hardly know what it is. We have no very near word. It is a something of which you hear constantly—to flirt. To dress, it is necessary to shop [keat-hi]. This, is to buy the innumerable articles which make up a fine Lady's wardrobe and personal appointments. Heaven and earth, and all the lands beyond the great seas, are ransacked to gratify the insatiate demands of Barbarian High-Caste women. The finest paints for the cheeks and eyelids, the most precious stones for the ears, the neck, the wrists, the fingers; the most delicate perfumes, the pure gold, the richest furs and feathers, spices, oils; the laces, scarfs, silks, embroideries;—an endless variety. Shopping is, therefore, the serious occupation (subsidiary to husband-catching and flirting) of ladies. Many ruin themselves, or their fathers, their husbands, or relatives, in this expensive luxury of idle vanity. High-Caste women show themselves in public, sometimes on foot, but, more generally, lolling, with poodles in lap, within open, grand carriages, drawn by great, high-stepping horses. (Poodles are nasty dogs). They attend the Temples, waited upon by solemn servants, clothed in showy colours, and bearing ostentatiously the Sacred books. They are conspicuous, when at the Temple, for audibly accompanying the Priest in the Invocations and Confessions: "miserable offenders" seeming to be a phrase rolled like a sweet morsel, and having a savour of repentance and humility, very edifying!

The men do not appear very numerously with the women—leaving them to do as they please. The men going off to their own exclusive pleasures: gambling, betting, racing, boating, hunting, and other things equally useful and improving.

All through the night, which is the time of High-Caste revelry, the streets where the great live resound with the noise of the carriages, constantly busy with the transporting of the High-Castes to and from the Theatres, the Dances, the places of Amusements, the Dinners, the Parties, Routs, and visits. To mark the difference of the Upper from the Lower, time itself is reversed; night is taken for life and sport, and the day for rest, gossip [Quen], and shopping. In nothing could the difference be more striking. The luxuriousness of mere self-indulgence, which takes no heed of the usual order of nature, and does not suspect that day has any better use! When in the country, there is the same round of busy nothings. Visits, feasting, drinking—dancing, routs, and parties. Women taking the lead everywhere and in everything. Here, as in town, the business of life with women is to flirt, to marry, to dress—the last should be first.

The men add to the follies of women some things more robust, but not more useful. Betting, horse-racing, riding over country with dogs, pursuing timid creatures—or gambling, drinking, and feasting.

When I first arrived in England, I was amazed, and supposed all women were shameless [ba-tsi] that I saw, whenever I went in public. In our Flowery Land this class [ba-tsi], under the strictest survey and care of the magistrates, are barely tolerated, and forced to the most scrupulous decorum of dress and conduct. With us no modest woman of any rank ever appears in public. Therefore my surprise and astonishment may be imagined. Afterwards these were moderated, and I could make allowances for the force of custom. None the less the custom is remarkable, and will receive attention elsewhere.

The mode of dress is simply wonderful. It is ever changing and ever indelicate and monstrous—especially for women. When I first saw one of these with a huge hunch on the top of her back, I thought the person was afflicted with an enormous tumour; but when I observed the same thing on all hands, I saw my mistake. The great hunch was no more than a machine placed on top of the seat, under the outer garments. The effect is something amazing. The women in walking also wear the robe drawn as tightly as possible back and over the hips, so as to display the whole form from head to foot in front, and also in rear, excepting at the back-seat where the protuberance is. Here the clothes are clustered, and hang down in a trail upon the ground! The feet are thrust into very high-heeled shoes, or boots; so, in walking, the woman stoops mincingly forward with short, unsteady steps, as if pinched at the toes, rattling her heels upon the pavement, and tossing her back-gear and headdress, and showing off to an astonished observer (unused to the apparition) something to be remembered! On every little occasion taking up her trail, and discovering legs and ankles.

At home, when receiving male and female friends to dinner, the women do as they please—also in dances, routs, and the like. I was invited, soon after my arrival, to dine. I had looked at a Book of rites and ceremonies for the great, and hoped to get on tolerably well. On arriving, my first mistake was to address the servant as Illustrious, taking him for the master. In many houses the servant, dressed like the master (being much more of a man in appearance), may well be taken for him; but in some houses the servants are made to wear badges and colours of their station. Women are very choice about these men-servants, and will not have one unless he have very large, well-formed calves [fa-tze]. I have heard that the rogues supply this requirement by adding so much fine hay to the leg as will give due swell and figure!

Upon being shown up to the room, where I was to address myself first to the Lady—the Illustrious wife—I made my next blunder. The lady was large, full of flesh, rather red, with bright eyes. Another lady, just moving away, trailed her long robe suddenly before me—my foot caught and held her. She turned her white shoulders upon me, frowned—at the moment I stumbled, and recovered myself awkwardly, with open hands full upon the ample bosom of the Illustrious! Ah, my confusion! I could not recover my composure. I could see nothing but necks, shoulders, backs, bosoms of women, and eyes flashing at me—heads, and feathers and jewels—lights, noise, confusion! I got away—never knew how.

Women, when undressed in this indelicate way, are said to be in full dress. I think this is a sly sarcasm of the men. The men, however, dress in a manner not at all better. When in full dress, they put on a ridiculous close garment, slit up behind, and very scant, with two tails, which pretend to cover the hinder parts. The trowsers (an "unmentionable" article for the legs), no more than the under garment worn by us, is the only covering for the legs and lower part of the body! Imagine the indelicacy! In this style of full dress, the women and men of the High-Caste Barbarians meet and mingle together everywhere, and at all feasts, revelries, and dances.

In the shows within-doors the same mode prevails. At the public spectacles, in full view of thousands, ladies sit exposed to the gaze of men, who often level at them the magnifying glasses taken for the purpose! Critically examining the exhibition before them from a distance of twenty feet [tu-fai].

The dress of women on horseback is as follows:—The head is covered with a man's head-gear, round, hard, high, black in colour, with a narrow rim. The bust and body are just as tightly fitted as possible, the hips and figure exposed in exact shape (how much made up no one can more than conjecture), and the legs covered by the dress falling over them long and full. The woman sits on a side-saddle, one leg well up over a horn of the saddle near the front top, and the other supported with the foot in a steel rest. She is lifted by a male servant, relative, or friend, into her perch. And when she, with the little whip in hand, takes up the long strips of leather by which she guides the horse, and starts off, there is a show the most curious! Up and down, with every motion of the horse, she bobs [Ko-bys], exposing, to any one looking after her, the most precise model of herself! but in an attitude and costume so remarkable, that I never saw even the accustomed Barbarians disregard an opportunity to see this show, however indifferent they may usually be. Nor do I think that the Barbarian women esteem any exhibition of themselves superior to this.

In the country you will see several apparitions of this kind, urging their flying horses after men and dogs, all chasing pell-mell some poor hare, which, running for cover, is pursued by a crowd of men and women on horseback, with dogs, yelping, barking, men blowing horns and shouting; the women on the horses leaping over fences, ditches, and urging their horses as wildly, boldly as the men—and sometimes in all respects as skilfully and well! This Sport is considered by the Barbarians to be very manly—nor do they consider a broken back, or even neck, as any objection to it!

The Rout is a favourite amusement with the High-Castes. So named from the confusion of armed men when routed—put to flight. It is to get together just as many people of both sexes as possible. With no sort of regard to the size of the house, but only to show how many of the High-Caste will respond to the invitation.

In full undress the ladies and gentlemen (Barbarian style for any High-Caste man) crowd into the house. Every stairway, every hall, room, chamber is filled. Refreshments are provided, but the flux and reflux of the people render all eating and drinking very difficult. The women flash in jewels, pendants in the ears, sparkling brilliants on arms, busts, ornaments of flowers and gems in the hair, jewelled fans in hand, perfumed laces and scarfs, tinted, and flushed, and adorned, exposed to bewilder and intoxicate the men—in fine, in the pursuit of husbands, or bent upon flirtations! These entertainments are designed for the very purpose of excitement and match-making. "Society is kept alive—life is made endurable by these things," the High-Caste women say. They have no other business but to attend to such matters; and to them Society looks to save it from dissolution and despair!

In the Rout all is confusion and opportunity. The young people, the old people, the highest and the lowest (permissible), are thrown promiscuously together. Women and men mingle, jostle, jamb, crowd, wriggle, and writhe together as best they can. The young lady suddenly finds herself quite in the arms of the young man who has saved her from a fall; and he, in turn, "begs pardon" of some woman, into whose lap he has almost been thrown by a sudden press.

Acquaintances may be made, flirtations begun, ending in something or nothing. But Society has had its excitement, and its members their chances for mere idle display, gossip, sensual gratification, or the more serious business of High-life—fortune-hunting by men and husband-catching by women! The Waltz and Dance are, however, the great game (for they are really one) of Barbarian life. Every Caste, according to its ability, dances—the low imitating, to their best, all the "airs and graces," dress and flirtations of their superiors. In the Waltz, when the music strikes up, the man takes the woman about the waist, standing with the other dancers in the middle of the floor, and she leans upon his shoulder interlocking the fingers of her disengaged hand in his. In this close position, they begin to wheel around, around; one couple follows another about the clear space left for them, till many couples are seen twirling, whirling about, around to the sound of the music—ever in this wild, whirling sort of a gallop, following one after another, rapidly! The long trails of the woman are held up, the embroidered skirts fly out, the silken shoes and hose flash; she is held close and more closely in the supporting arm, her cheek almost touches, her bust, neck, and face glow with excitement, the eyes and jewels sparkle, the man and woman whirl about, till intoxicated, dazed, and nearly exhausted, she sinks upon his arm and motions for rest, and he half supports and half leads her to some soft bench or chair! Such briefly is the Waltz. The dance is the same thing nearly, only more variety of movement is introduced. The whole object is to bring the sexes together, and keep Society alive, as before. Flirtation and match-making being main elements of social life.

The manners of the High-Caste are not really more refined than elsewhere; only there is a cool tone. Nothing must surprise, nothing confuse, nothing abash. A blush must be as rare as a laugh. A young woman seeing a young man gazing at her with bold admiration, must coolly look him down—if she please. His is an action of mere rudeness, or should be, when directed to a virtuous woman: but no, "a man may gaze upon what is everywhere exhibited for his admiration—may he not?" And yet, with strange inconsistency, a woman has a right to complain if a man, captivated by the very means designed, too rudely express his pleasure. And one man is required to chastise another for the rudeness to his relative, though he know that, in the nature of things, the female should expect what she encounters—and more, the complexity is further involved, that though one man must call another to account for this sort of rudeness, yet every man indulges in it!

Young people, in public, of the two sexes, without shame appear in close intimacy—and will look upon statues and paintings of naked women and men, talking and criticizing, examining the works and looking at them in company, without confusion, or appearance of there being any indelicacy. As if, in fact, in the bosoms of the High-Caste there did not exist any of the passions of ordinary mortals!

There are very numerous galleries of Art, where statues, paintings, pictures, models, and the like, are shown, which are always crowded by High-Caste women, children, and men. And shop-windows are made attractive by displays of pictures of nude, or half-nude, women and men, who act in the Plays, or who are notorious in Spectacles. This sort of indecency prevails; and strikes one, not used to it, with an unpleasant surprise. He knows not what to think of its significance—have all his ideas of decency been indecent?

I am not able to say much of the interior life of the family. I was told that a happy family was rare—quite an exception. It is only where the wife rules that any peace is secured. The wife is allowed to do, generally, in Society and at home, as she will. The husband goes off to his pastimes and pursuits. Children whilst young are committed to the care of servants, and when older sent away to be educated and trained by hirelings.

The daughters, when grown, often move the jealousy of the mother by attracting more attention from men—they are often snubbed and made to dress unbecomingly, so that the mother may shine.

Marriage among the High-Caste is an arrangement for an establishment; and to secure the succession of family name and title. To these ends great care is given to the money question. The man demands money for taking the wife. Domestic happiness is hardly thought of; unless, occasionally, by very young people, and they are laughed out of their ridiculous romance.

In the marriage ceremony, the wife, in the presence of the Idols, and following the Invocations of the Priest, solemnly promises to obey the husband. But this is regarded as a mere form. Any husband who undertakes to enforce obedience, finds himself branded by Society, as a "brute!" Much of the infelicity in marriage rests upon this false basis. For, with the virile instinct, man naturally expects obedience; yet has, in his unmarried days, fallen in with the false notion of woman's superiority in delicacy and moral virtue. This peculiar affectation colours all Barbarian intercourse with the sex. It has its root in the Superstition, possibly; where an immaculate virgin gives birth to a Son of god-Jah! who is the Christ-god. Thus, woman came to be mother of God!

From this, very likely, followed all the false worship and gallantry of the barbarians; who still, keeping up this mode of treating women as superior in excellency, could scarcely deny to them a superior place in the family. Assumed to be absolutely chaste and pure, they are to be implicitly trusted—nor to them is there impropriety! Hence follows the fine Art exhibitions—the undress dress; the waltz; the mixed crowds—the everything, where women, according to the ordinary feelings of cultivated men, should not be, or be in a very different way. But the man before marriage, and afterwards, too, (excepting to his own wife), pretends to look upon woman as a divinity—as something far above him in moral goodness! After marriage, it is difficult to dethrone this divinity—the man has not a divinity at the head of his family; but all his friends (male friends) pretend to think so; Society says so; and he is himself compelled to pretend to the same thing. Under these circumstances he will never be likely to get much obedience. None the less, a struggle commences; the man persistent, strong; the woman unyielding, crafty; the family divided; the children demoralized; a false and wretched farce of conjugal Play, so badly acted as to deceive not even Society! and finally ending in the Divorce Court.

This is the tribunal where Causes Matrimonial are settled; and, if one may judge from its Reports in the Gazette, conjugal contention is exceedingly common. For the public cases must be few, compared with those where publicity is avoided by private arrangement.

Doubtless, a fine man and an excellent woman may unite, and live happily together, in spite of the unfavourable conditions. But, more commonly, the high-minded man, really believing in the superior purity of the sex, and her greater moral delicacy, finds his Ideal to be too high; and without absolute cause to quarrel; in fact, seeing that his Ideal was itself only an error of the prevailing delusion; ever after struggles to bring himself into harmony with the existing fact—to love and respect a woman and only a woman, with a woman's vanity, love of excitement, frivolity and caprice—a very weary work. The woman, too, still flattered, and exacting the devotion which her lover (now her husband) gave to her in his days of delusion, thinks herself treated with coldness; and, gradually, by her unreasonable complaints, estranges altogether the husband, whom she, too, tries to forget, in the admiration, flatteries, and excitements of Society!

The affectation and falsity, therefore, respecting woman, tends to a fundamental error in the relation of the sexes and the ordering of the family. It is a strange and almost fatal error to give this exaltation to woman. No doubt, a real trust and respect tend to secure, in some degree, the virtues accorded; and this true respect of an honest man, who places his wife, or his relative, before himself in purity, challenges the best of nature in the female. But man has reversed the true order, and run counter to the true instinct of the race (quite as strong in the female as in himself), when he thus puts woman before him, in anything. What authority is there for this reversal of the natural order? Why is woman more moral, more chaste? There is nothing in the nature of things, why the man, here, as in all things, should not be, as he is, the superior—the master. In morals he should be her guide, her teacher, her best support. That Society is, indeed, unsound, wherein the man may be low and sensual, and fancy, or pretend to fancy, that the woman is better than himself—it is a delusion. Man gives the real character to any Society—the woman will not be, cannot be better than the man. The English Barbarians, in spite of the absurd falsity of their customs, must have some tolerably happy families. The innate perception of the eternal fitness of things will cause many couples to arrive at a proper method. The wife, without exactly admitting it, even to herself, submits to her husband; and the husband, without exactly commanding (except in rare instances), feels that he is really the head of the house—and the family gets on pretty smoothly, because living in the natural order. But, in general, the struggle for mastery destroys either the existence of the family, or all attempts at affectionate ways of living. To avoid public scandal, the members do not actually separate; but all harmony and true domestic life are lost—and life is a dismal and disorderly rout.

The exaltation of the sex and the complete freedom allowed to them belong to a state of society, if any such there be, where man is still more excellent. There, indeed, a bright and beautiful ideal is made real, and men and women know how to love and to obey; and love is as true as the respect and the obedience. The Barbarians, full of immorality, of rudeness, of strong passions, of selfishness, controlled by a false conception founded in their Idolatry, act, in respect of their women, as if purity, cultivation, generosity, and the highest morality, everywhere existed! This, so false, is well-nigh fatal to them. Yet, it is only an illustration of the uncultivated and confused state of mind, even in the highest, that so simple a thing as the natural order governing the relation of sex and family is not comprehended; and that their Society is saved from absolute wreck only by the strong and controlling instinct of nature, which, in spite of obstacles, does bring the female into subjection to the male—at least to an extent sufficient to make life possible!

None the less the disorder of households is dreadful. Sons and daughters, as they grow strong, assert themselves [Quan-hang-ho]. They act and speak (and in this follow the wife and mother) as if the sole business of the father was to give the means of selfish, idle indulgence. This would not be so unjust among the High-Caste, but it descends to all grades, and the middle orders are content to see the father toil at his business till overworked, or ruined altogether, in his efforts to supply these daily exactions. No doubt he himself is a victim to the whole vicious falseness—yet the cold-bloodedness of this conduct on the part of children and wives is remarkable. "Obedience," or "gratitude!"—Words sneered at, laughed at!

The daughters, directed by Mamma [na-ni-go], are taught to dress, to look modest, to practise all those arts by which they may attract the male and secure husbands, and are exhibited in public places and in Society accordingly.

The sons are sent off to be taught. In the Halls of Learning they acquire but little of the knowledge paid for in the Lists, but a great deal of that which does not appear there. A youth may have entered, at least, honest, moral, and generous—he still leaves unlearned, but dishonest, corrupt, selfish—he has acquired that knowledge most sought for (even by his parents), a knowledge of the World [Quang]! In truth, the youth instinctively feels that it is better for his success in life to know the World than to know Letters. He acts upon this feeling, which thrives in the demoralised atmosphere which he breathes. Father is called Governor, and is regarded as a sort of creature to be made the most of! The money allowed (perhaps too ample for really useful purposes) is spent in things foolish and hurtful. Money and time are wasted. The latter is valueless, to be sure, to these youths anywhere—but the money may be wrung from relatives, who put themselves on short diet to enable the son or brother (who is defrauding them) to appear well in Society! To perfect himself in the learning which he feels to be effective, he devises new methods of wringing more money from the Governor, who begins to protest. To drink, smoke, lounge about with easy and cool impudence; to stare into the face of women; to bet, gamble; to get in debt, and curse the creditors who presume to ask for pay; to make, or pretend to make, love; and generally to lay broad and deep that moral and cultivated elegance, to take on that exquisite polish [gla-mshi], which shall dazzle society; shall attract the silly butterflies (women) who have influence or money; shall, in fine, shine in the Grand Council, or at the head of armed bands, or to the illumination of the Courts of Law! Noble ambition, based upon manly principles! With the Barbarians to be a moral and wise man is to be a milksop [Kou-bab]; to be a polished man of the World—admirable!

The English Barbarians who are fathers, generally consider it rather a joke to have their sons trick them and poke fun at the "Governor," only it must be marked with some pretence of deference. If the "young fellows" do not positively disgrace the family—that is, marry some poor creature whom they have first debauched; or actually forge, or rob, or descend to improper friendships with inferior Castes—the parents esteem themselves to be fortunate. If he have acquired no knowledge of letters, nor of anything but vices, yet he is a "fine, manly fellow, who will make his mark in the world." That is, he is a tall, strong, active Barbarian—just fit for the armed bands!

The infelicities and disorders of family life, which only prefigure the inevitable confusion and evils of the whole Society, are more intolerable among the Middle Castes. In the Highest, secured revenues enable the wife and the husband each to see as little of each other as they please; and so long as the husband is not stirred up by Mrs. Grundy (who is not severe with this Caste) he cares but little what his wife may do. He goes about his sports and his pleasures as he pleases; and his wife, not wishing to be looked after, does not look after him. On this free-and-easy footing, with no want of money (Mrs. Grundy's decorum being observed), they get on well enough, and may even form quite a friendship for each other. But it is not possible to establish this condition in a family of small income—and here it is that the wretchedness of false principles has full scope. The husband and father, honest and good, finds himself mated to a woman, weak and vain, with children moulded by her. He, misled by false notions and ignorance, took to his heart one whom he fully trusted as simply true and modest; he took her for herself and without money, and flattered himself that she would be a helper and solace. She and her children have made him a miserable slave, who finds no quiet unless he satisfy all their clamorous demands—to shine in Society! If a good man, he tries to obey and live, even under exactions beyond his utmost efforts; for he has learned to see that his wife, though weak, is no worse than the Society which she loves, and which he also cannot escape; he is merely in a false position, and must largely thank himself for having heedlessly entered upon it!

But this kind of man is not universal, and one may judge what follows, where there is a man who will not yield, or yields only because he no longer cares for anything but his personal ease and indulgence—seeking for pleasure, though unlawful, abroad, as the only recompense attainable for the loss of happiness at home!

Such a man feels that life is insupportable, where he makes so wretched an object—to be merely the mute beast of burden for the family, without receiving so much tenderness and consideration as is accorded to the dogs lolling in the lazy laps of the females of the house! He seeks, therefore, abroad for some means of enjoyment, though illicit!

This sort of picture is to be seen everywhere in the Barbarian Literature, and is constantly shown in all its minute and miserable exhibition at the Courts of Divorce.

Adultery, which in our Flowery Land is punished by death, is not so much as a crime among the English Barbarians. And, as it is the chief cause for which the bond of marriage may be wholly severed, one may judge whether the Court do not encourage the immorality. For when parties wish to live apart, here is a way to secure it, lying directly in the path of desire and opportunity. Then, too, the seduction of a maiden, which with us may be punished even to death, receives no sort of reprobation in the Court, and scarcely in Society. If the ruined girl be of low caste, her relatives feel no disgrace if the seducer be a High-Caste—rather an honour; receive from him some paltry sum (not so much as he lavishes upon some favourite dogs), and buy with the money a husband for her from her own Caste!

With us a guilty intrigue is almost unknown; with the Barbarians it is almost a pursuit.

None the less, there is too much vigour in the organism; too much moral, intellectual, and physical strength, to suffer total decay. As is always the case, where the mind is active, even Idolatry itself has intermixed a pure morality, and the Barbarian nature, still unformed, untrained; still rude and stirred by passion and by force; wrestles with the divine instinct, and, unconsciously, often moulds to its light.

Away from the glitter and sham (sometimes in it, but not of it), there are quiet families which live lives of honour. The father works honestly and cheerfully; the wife, in her house, finds the beginning and end of her aims, of her love, and her duty. The husband-father is head; on him rests all responsibility, and to him belong obedience. This is not exacted; it is not questioned. It is founded in love and respect; love and loving obedience spontaneously arising from uncorrupted natures. His whole being responds with unmeasured joy. Whatever is pure, high, tender; all are for these—his wife, his family; so true, so trusting, so helpful, so delightful. He feels no hardship; there can be no sacrifice, for these; all that is done is in harmony with himself. Everywhere he is in accord. The very ills and misfortunes of life touch him not, for he is living in the divine order.

And from such a man, the inside-life being serene, outer ills fall away. He is so clear and simple; so whole that nature smiles for him, even in pain and sorrow; he lives in the presence and calm of the Sovereign Lord.

These families are the Salt which saves. Among the Barbarians they are generally obscure, and as wholly unconscious of the service which they render as are the glittering inanities which ignore them. This should be reversed, and the Inanities sink into obscurity.

I will now say a word or two as to the personal appearance and demeanour of the Barbarians. There is no standard of best-looking, and each tribe will judge from its best type. In general the eyes are too prominent and open; the nose large and irregular; the teeth bad or false; the height indifferent; the figure either too lean or too fat. The hair all colours; red and light most common. The women are so made up, judging from the articles openly exposed for sale, that one cannot speak of them with any certainty. The hair, teeth, complexion, bust, outline of form, are all false or artistically got up. The eyes are too bold and open. The feet long, and hands large. Too tall, and either too meagre or too stout. The youth are sometimes pretty. The women are often brilliant under gaslight (a bright, artificial light). I have spoken of dress, but I may mention that the women, not content with every sort of made-up thing to add to their attractions, pile upon their heads an enormity of false curls, bands of hair, laces, and high sort of head-ornaments; it is truly amazing. Some of these gewgaws are hung upon big pig-tails of false hair, and some are stuck high a-top. Nothing really can be more absurd, unless the false, mincing steps, and protruding back. Some women are beautiful; but to my unaccustomed looks, even the brilliant eyes could not blind me to so immodest an exhibition—or, to me, not modest—so instinctively do we demand that especial quality in the sex, as the crowning grace of true beauty.