solid, like our old-fashioned seats of former times, they are not easily removed. In Chinese apartments there is placed a broad couch, in size approaching to a bed, called a kâng. On the middle of this is planted a little table about a foot in height, intended to rest the arm, or place tea-cups upon. On either side of this little table, on the couch, sit the two principal persons, fronting the entrance; and from the ends of the couch, at right angles to it, descend two rows of arm-chairs for the other guests, who sit nearest to the couch, according to their rank.

When any one proceeds in his chair to pay a visit, his attendants present his ticket at the gate, consisting of his name and titles written down the middle of a folded sheet of red paper, ornamented with gold leaf; and there is sometimes enough paper in these, when opened out like a screen, to extend across a room. If the visitor is in mourning, his ticket is white, with blue letters. According to the relative rank of the parties, the person visited comes out a greater or less distance to receive his guest, and, when they meet, their genuflexions, and endeavours to prevent the same, are also according to rule. These matters are all so well understood by those who are bred up to them, that they occasion no embarrassment whatever to the Chinese. The ordinary salutation among equals is to join the closed hands, and lift them two or three times towards the head, saying, Haou— tsing, tsing; that is, Are you well?-Hail, hail "" Hence is derived, we believe, the Canton jargon of chin-chin.

Soon after being seated, the attendants invariably enter with porcelain cups furnished with covers, in each of which, on removing the little saucer by which it is surmounted, appears a small quantity of fine tea-leaves, on which boiling water has been poured; and thus it is that they drink the infusion, without

the addition of either sugar or milk. The delicate aroma of fine tea is no doubt more clearly distinguished in this mode of taking it, and a little habit leads many Europeans in China to relish the custom. Though the infusion is generally made in the cup, they occasionally use teapots of antique and tasteful shapes, which are not unfrequently made of tutenague externally, covering earthenware on the inside. At visits,

a circular japanned tray is frequently brought in, having numerous compartments radiating from the centre, in which are a variety of sweetmeats or dried fruits. These are taken up with a small two-pronged fork of silver. On the conclusion of a visit, the host conducts his guest, if he wishes to do him high honour, even to his sedan, and there remains until he is carried off; but on ordinary occasions it is deemed sufficient to go as far as the top of the stone steps, if there are any, or merely to the door of the apartment.

Only mandarins, or official persons, can be carried by four bearers, or accompanied by a train of attendants: these are marshalled in two files before the chair. One pair of the myrmidons carry gongs, on

which they strike at regular intervals; another pair utter, likewise at intervals, a long drawn shout, or rather yell, to denote the approach of the great man; a third pair carry chains, which they jingle in concert, being in fact gaolers or executioners, with high caps of iron wire, in which is stuck a grey feather. Then come two fellows with the usual bamboo, or bastinade ; and the cortège is made up by the servants and other followers, some of whom carry red umbrellas of dignity, others large red boards, on which are inscribed in gilt characters the officer's titles. The populace who meet such a procession are not to denote their respect in any other way than by standing aside, with their arms hanging close to their sides, and their eyes on the ground. It is only when called, or taken, before a tribunal, that they are obliged to kneel; and these are occasions which most Chinese are not very willing to seek.

English residents at Canton have occasionally had opportunities of taking a part in the formal dinners of the Chinese; but few have witnessed a solemn feast conferred by the Emperor, which may be described from an unpublished journal of the last embassy. "The ambassador informed the gentlemen of his suite, that he was going to perform the same salutation of respect, before the yellow screen, that he was accustomed to make to the vacant throne of his Sovereign in the House of Lords. We were directed to keep our eyes on him, and do exactly as he did. A low, solemn hymn of not unpleasing melody now commenced, and at the voice of a crier, the two imperial legates fell prostrate three times, and each time thrice struck the floor with their foreheads; a cranio-verberative sound being audible amidst the deep silence which prevailed around. The ambassador and his suite, standing up in the mean while, made nine profound bows. Thus far we had got

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very well over the ground, without doing that which no representative of Chinese majesty ever condescended to do to a foreigner, until Genghis Khân first made them. They here conceded to us the point on which they broke off with Count Golovkin, the Russian ambassador, though they yielded it to Lord Macartney.

The

"When the ceremony was over, the feast was brought in, and the theatrical entertainments commenced. The legates sat to the left, on an elevation of one step; and the ambassador and two commissioners on the same elevation to the right. The other Chinese grandees sat on the left, a little below the legates; and the gentlemen of the embassy to the right, below his lordship and the commissioners. The two lines thus faced each other down the room. As no chairs can be used where the Emperor is present, or supposed to be so, the whole party sat cross-legged on cushions, with sartorial precision; but the mandarins, being bred to the trade, of course had the advantage of us. tables were low in proportion, and, when we were all seated, a number of attendants placed or each table, holding only two guests, a large tray which fitted it, and contained a complete course, of which four in all were served. The first consisted of a rich soup; the second of sixteen round and narrow dishes containing salted meats and other relishes; the third of eight basins of birds'-nests, sharks'-fins, deer-sinews, and other viands supposed to be highly nourishing; the fourth of twelve bowls of stews immersed in a rich soup. The guests helped themselves with chopsticks, small spoons of porcelain fashioned like a child's pap-boat, and four-pronged forks of silver, small and straight; and when they drank to each other, the warm wine was poured into little cups by the attendants, who at the same time bent one knee.

"At the other end of the hall where we sat, so as to

The whole is crowned by a course of fruits and sweetmeats, very much in the manner of our dessert.

The greater portion of cups, bowls, and saucers (for they have no flat plates of their own), which constitute the dinner service, consist of fine porcelain; but occasionally a few particular meats are served in silver or tutenague covers, under which is a spiritlamp to keep them hot. The wine-cups, too, are sometimes of silver gilt, and of rather elegant vaselike shapes. The extreme smallness of these cups, joined to the weakness of the wine, which is always drank warm, enables them to take a great number without being in the least affected, or at all exceeding the bounds of sobriety. On some occasions of peculiar ceremony, the feast is closed by a great cup scooped from the horn of the rhinoceros, which animal is said to exist in the forests of Yunnan and Kuâng-sy. We find in the works of Arabian writers that the same substance has often been used for the drinking-cups of Asiatic potentates, being supposed to sweat on the approach of poison, and therefore to be a safeguard against it. When the Mongols conquered the empire, they probably introduced its use into China.

The following description of a Chinese dinner, from the pen of our friend Captain Laplace of the French navy, although, rather a long extract, is given with so much of the characteristic vivacity of his countrymen, and so well conveys the first impression of a scene not often witnessed by Europeans, that it is introduced without further apology. "The first course was laid out in a great number of saucers of painted porcelain, and consisted of various relishes in a cold state, as salted earthworms, prepared and dried, but so cut up, that I fortunately did not know what they were until I had swallowed them; salted