most casual observer, who, in perambulating their streets, or taking notice of their domestic habits, cannot fail to be struck by the extreme carelessness with which burning paper and lighted sticks of incense are left about their combustible dwellings, or pipes smoked, and bunches of crackers discharged, in temporary edifices constructed entirely of matting. It has been already mentioned that, in the year 1822, the whole of the European factories were laid in ashes by a fire which originated in a small shop, and which, before it had run its course, destroyed a very considerable portion of the city. Some of these fires are doubtless the work of incendiaries, who hope to profit in the confusion; but a large number must also be considered as the results of that stupid belief in fatalism which tends to paralyze effort and to banish caution. Hence the thriving trade that is carried on by fortune-tellers and calculators of destiny.

That the wiser and better portion of the Chinese, however, are occasionally above the influence of this grovelling sentiment, seems proved by the existence of a treatise in their language, wherein it is shown that a man may “lay the foundation of his own destiny; or, in other words, that conduct is fate. The author relates that, being left by the death of his father without a guide at a very early age, he consulted an old man with a long beard, who professed the art of divination. This person told him that in such a year he should attain a scholar's degree at the public examination within his district, and that, in some other year, he should succeed at the higher trial in the provincial capital. It so happened that these events occurred as they had been predicted, and his faith became accordingly confirmed in the skill of the soothsayer, who next informed him, after predicting the various vicissitudes of his remaining life, that he would die at the age of fifty

three, on a particular day, and at a particular hour of the morning. Being confirmed in the belief that his whole course of existence was thus fixed by an immutable decree of fate, he became henceforward quite indifferent to active effort and exertion of every kind. It chanced that he fell in, some time after, with a sage of a very different description, who took him to task for his apathy. "Can a man, then,” inquired our disciple, "escape the allotments of destiny?" To which the other replied, “Fate is of our own making, and happiness the result of our own conduct. The whole field of happiness is contained within the circumference of the heart, which, when once effectually moved, ensures success. Seeking rests with ourselves, and has a great influence upon attainment." Persuaded by this admonition, the reformed believer in destiny first prayed to Fo (for he was a Budhist) that he might be successful in his pursuits, and then vowed to perform three thousand acts of merit that he might deserve success. The sage drew out for him a register of conduct, in one column of which his good deeds were to be inserted, and in the other his errors; the first to be carried to his credit, and the last to be scored out as the former increased.

In the following year an examination was held at Peking of those who had attained the highest degrees in the provinces, and, though the conjurer had predicted that our scholar should rank as only third among the successful candidates, it so happened that he was first on the list, and thus his faith in fortune-telling was completely overturned. When the three thousand acts of merit which he had formerly vowed were, after the lapse of some years, nearly completed, the thought of praying for a son (an essential ingredient in Chinese prosperity) next arose in his mind. He again vowed the performance of three thousand good deeds; and after some time a son was born to him. On

this occasion, however, the registration of acts of merit seemed to be a joint-stock concern, for whatever he did himself he recorded in writing; but his wife, who could not write cut off the end of a goose-quill, and, dipping it in vermilion, impressed a red point, for every good action she performed, in the register. The story says that there would sometimes be many of these in a day.

*

A

By perseverance in a similar course of virtue, our scholar at length attained to the rank and office of governor of a district. He now commenced a new blank register, and vowed to perform no less than ten thousand acts of merit. Somewhat dismayed at the extent of the undertaking, he one night applied for advice and instruction to some spiritual being which presented itself in a vision. The answer was, "Curtail the exactions on the people. This one act will be equal to the performance of the ten thousand." The land-tax of the district was then something more than one-fifth of a taël of silver per mow.' reduction was effected of nearly one-half. The magistrate told his vision to the sage who had put him upon his present course of life. "Doubtless," said the old man, "to perform one single act like this, with perfect integrity of motive, may be equal to the performance of ten thousand minor acts; for by lessening the taxes of a whole district ten thousand people may be benefited."—In a word, our Chinese had employed his ten talents to the best advantage. The fortune-teller had calculated that he would die in his fifty-third year; but he was already arrived at sixty-eight years of age, and was moreover quite well. Thus it was that the three great items of Chinese happiness, namely, "male progeny, official employment, and long life," were

* About the eighth of an English acre, from which it would seem that rather more than ten shillings per acre is considered as a high tax.

all enjoyed in spite of fate. The story seems to have been written for the express purpose of counteracting the general belief in the decrees of immutable destiny, and lessening the credit of astrologers.

The general proneness of the Chinese to superstitious practices (most of which pertain to the Taou sect) could not be more completely proved than by an account of the charms, talismans, and felicitous appendages hung up in houses, or worn about the person, specimens of which were sent home to the Royal Asiatic Society by Mr. J. Morrison, a son of the late Doctor.* It will be sufficient if we describe a few of these. Among the principal are "money-swords," as they are called, consisting of a number of ancient copper coins, each with a square hole in the middle, fastened together over a piece of iron shaped like a sword with a cross hilt. These are suspended at the heads of sleeping-couches and beds, that the supposed guardianship of the sovereigns in whose reigns the coin was issued may keep away ghosts and evil spirits. They are chiefly used in houses or rooms where persons have committed suicide, or suffered a violent death; and sick people sometimes resort to them in the hope of hastening their recovery. Their efficacy is no doubt fully equal to that of a horseshoe nailed over a door, or any of those infallible devices formerly adopted in England against witches and ghosts. The Chinese have commonly a firm belief in, and consequently a great dread of, the wandering spirits of persons who have come to an unfortunate end, and which they denominate kuei. When Europeans first arrived in the country, their red or yellow hair, and high noses, were strongly opposed to the prevailing standard of Chinese comeliness. Mothers and nurses pointed them out as ogres and devils to their chil

* Royal Asiatic Transactions, vol. iii. p. 285.

dren, and hence the present term for any Europeans, fûn-kuei, "foreign ghost, spirit, or devil," with some allusion, perhaps, to their wandering so far from their homes.

In illustration of the Chinese belief in ghosts, and what may be styled "demoniacal possession," may be adduced an occurrence which took place at Canton in 1817. The wife of an officer of government had occasioned the death of two female domestic slaves, from some jealous suspicions, it was supposed, of her husband's conduct towards the girls; and in order to screen herself from the consequences, she suspended the bodies by the neck, with a view to its being construed into an act of suicide. As the parents of the girls appealed to the magistrate for satisfaction, bribes were offered, and with success, to stop the progress of inquiry; but the conscience of the woman tormented her to such a degree that she became insane, and at times personated the victims of her cruelty, or, as the Chinese supposed, the spirits of the murdered girls possessed her, and employed her mouth to declare her own guilt. In her ravings, she tore her clothes and beat her own person with all the fury of madness; after which she would recover her senses for a time, when it was supposed that the demons quitted her; but only to return with greater fury, which took place a short time previous to her death.

and was

But

In her last fit she became worse than ever, confined to a room with an old woman-servant. the avenging demons (according to the Chinese), being incensed at this attempt to conceal guilt, possessed the old woman also, who, either from terror or sympathy, had become affected like her mistress. The latter died, and the affrighted husband endeavoured to quiet the distracted nurse, by telling her she should be maintained in