precautions are dispensed with. The streets and roads were now crowded with countless multitudes desirous of beholding their sovereign. He rode on horseback, wearing a robe covered with dragons, magnificently embroidered in gold, and having five claws, the five-clawed dragon being exclusively worn by the imperial family.'

One feature of the day's pageantry was peculiar, and, to our minds, more interesting than all the glitter and parade which were so profusely exhibited: it contained a moral, and was probably, in its origin, designed to inculcate it.

'A vast number of aged but healthy men had been sent to Peking from all the provinces. They were in companies, bearing the banner of their respective provinces. They also carried various other symbols and trophies, and being symmetrically drawn up along the streets through which the Emperor was to pass, they presented a very beautiful and uncommon appearance. Every one of these old men brought a present of some kind to the Emperor, which generally consisted of vases and other articles in bronze. His Majesty gave to each of them twelve silver tahel, a coin worth about five shillings, together with a gown of yellow silk, which is the imperial colour. They afterwards assembled all together in a place where the Emperor went to see them; and it was found that this venerable company amounted to four thousand in number. His Majesty was highly gratified with this spectacle; he inquired the age of many, and treated them all with the greatest affability and condescension. He even invited them all to a banquet, at which he made them sit in his presence, and commanded his sons and grandsons to serve them with drink. After this, with his own hand, he presented every one of them with something; to one who was the most aged of the whole assembly, being nearly a hundred and eleven years old, he gave mandarin's suit complete, together with a staff, an inkstand, and other things. p. 86.

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Our author gives a low account of the Greek priests resident in Peking, at which we are not surprised, since their attainments and character were equally unworthy of respect. The abbot, who could scarcely make himself understood in Latin, informed Father Ripa that the number of his sect in Peking did not exceed fifty, and were descendants of Russian prisoners of war. 'I asked him,' says the narrator, whether it was true that he had baptized a great number of Chinese? To this he replied that his christenings had been limited to the families of the Russian prisoners; that he did not attend to the Chinese, because he was ignorant of their language, and the abandoned state of his own congregation required all his attention.'

These two bodies, the Greek and the Jesuit-the latter for the most part stealthfully-continued for a time to disseminate

their principles without interruption. This was not, however, of long continuance: the suspicions of the Chinese were aroused, and a memorial having been presented against the Christians, the Kieu-king, or Supreme Board, resolved that Canton should be closed against foreigners, the christian religion be prohibited, its professors imprisoned, and their places of worship be razed to the ground. By the intervention of the Emperor, Canton was re-opened to foreign merchants, and the suppression of the christian faith was suspended. A sufficient intimation, however, was thus given of the feeling of the authorities, and the subsequent attempts which were made to enforce the persecuting edict, precluded the hope of a permanent settlement in China. The number of converts made by the Jesuits was not inconsiderable, though we fear that the character of their conversion was far from being satisfactory. No information is given on this point, and we are left therefore to infer their views, and the extent of their religious change, from what is known of the proceedings of the Jesuits in other quarters. The fact of many Chinese having professed the christian religion is sufficiently indicated in the following passage, which cannot be read without awakening mournful reflections in the thoughtful reader. The presence of a purer form of christianity sustained in its operation to the present day, might have done much towards evangelizing this vast and almost unapproachable empire:

'In the month of June of the subsequent year, while following the Emperor to Je-hol as usual, I met, in the neighbourhood of Lowkwo-tien, several Christians, who had come to ask me to administer the holy sacrament to a woman who was dying in Koo-pa-kew, a place five miles distant, and close to the great wall. Koo-pa-kew contained about two hundred and fifty Christians, who deserved the praise and affection of the missionaries for their fervent attachment to our religion. Accordingly I went to confess the dying woman, after which I gave her the sacrament and the extreme unction. Yielding to the pressing entreaties of several persons, I devoted the remainder of the day to receiving their confessions; and when evening came, as the chapel continued to be full of people who awaited their turn, after taking a slight refreshment I resumed my work, and carried it on throughout the night without once closing my eyes; but as most of these deserted Christians had not been able to confess for a long time, their confessions were generally so long that I could not listen to more than seventy-two. In consequence of this, the next morning, immediately after mass, I again betook myself to the confessional with unabated zeal, so that during a stay of three days I confessed one hundred and ninety-nine persons, administered the sacrament to one hundred and sixty-seven, and christened fifty-four. 'Among those whom I baptized at Koo-pa-kew was the uncle of

the sovereign of Mong-quo-pah, a state situated in the province of Kwey-chau, but almost independent of the Emperor of China, as is shewn by a blank in the map of the empire which I engraved. This neophyte told me that, throughout his nephew's dominions, no idols, images, or deities were worshipped, and that consequently there were no temples nor bonzes, nor any other sort of priests. He asked for a good number of religious books to distribute among his fellowcountrymen, and prayed that a missionary might be sent to teach them the Holy Word.'-pp. 93, 94.

Our narrator was present on the arrival of Count Ismailof as envoy from Peter the Great, in November, 1720, and gives an interesting account of his dignified bearing, and of the honourable reception ultimately vouchsafed to him. In diplomacy the Russian ambassador was quite a match for the Chinese mandarins, and by his straightforward and determined course compelled them to forego their usual ceremonial.

The subjoined extract discloses a scene not often unveiled to European eyes, which are rarely permitted to glance within the habitations of the Celestial Empire, much less to penetrate into the mysteries of their sleeping apartments:

'During the stay of the Russian embassy in Peking, Dr. Volta, a Milanese priest and physician, arrived at Chan-choon-yuen, and I was summoned to accompany him when he was introduced to the Emperor. After asking him a few questions, his Majesty commanded him to feel his pulse. Dr. Volta immediately obeyed, but remarked that, in order to form a correct opinion of the state of his Majesty's health, he must feel his pulse on that evening and the next morning. This being therefore repeated when the Emperor went to bed, and then again before he arose, the physician pronounced him to be in an excellent state of health. I observed on this occasion that his Majesty's bed was wide enough to contain five or six persons, and had no sheets. The upper part of the mattress, as well as the under part of the quilt, was lined with lambs'-skin, and the Emperor slept between these without wearing any night clothes. As it seldom happens that an Emperor is seen in bed by strangers, he said to us, 'You are foreigners, and yet you see me in bed.' We replied that we had that honour because his Majesty treated us as his sons; whereupon he added, 'I consider you as members of my own house, and very near relatives.'-p. 114.

Father Ripa at this time occupied one of the royal apartments, whence he had an opportunity of observing the habits of the Emperor, some of which will probably surprise our readers. The usual characteristics of an effeminate and sensual life are visible in his description, with some touches of mirthfulness which would scarcely be expected. We need not wonder that such a mode of life should stultify the intellect and banish from the heart all large and generous thoughts:

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'On the other side of the lake there was a cottage opposite to our own, whither his Majesty often retired to study, accompanied by some of his concubines. As the windows in China are as high and broad as the rooms themselves, and in summer are kept wide on account of the heat, through the holes in ours, which were framed with paper, I saw the Emperor employed in reading or writing, while these wretched women remained sitting upon cushions, as silent as novices. Through these holes I also observed the eunuchs while they were engaged in various ways of fishing. His Majesty would then sit in a superb little boat, with five or six concubines at his feet, some Tartar, and others Chinese; all dressed in their national costumes. The boat was always followed by many others, all loaded with ladies.

"When the Emperor's presence was required in the outer palace on some business, he generally went by water; and, as he necessarily passed under my window, I also saw him. He always came in a boat with some concubines, and with a train of other boats loaded with ladies. On reaching the spot where, by a secret door, he entered the room in which he gave audience, he left the concubines bebind, in charge of the eunuchs. I saw him several times about the garden, but never on foot. He was always carried in a sedanchair, surrounded by a crowd of concubines, all walking and smiling. Sometimes he sat upon a high seat, in the form of a throne, with a number of eunuchs standing around him; and, watching a favourable moment, he suddenly threw among his ladies, grouped before him on carpets of felt, artificial snakes, toads, and other loathsome animals, in order to enjoy the pleasure of seeing them scamper away with their crippled feet. At other times he sent some of his ladies to gather filberts and other fruits upon a neighbouring hill, and pretending to be craving for some, he urged on the poor lame creatures with noisy exclamations until some of them fell to the ground, when he indulged in a loud and hearty laugh. Such were frequently the recreations of his Imperial Majesty, and particularly in the cool of the summer evenings. Whether he was in the country, or at Peking, he saw no other company but his ladies and eunuchs; a manner of life which, in my opinion, is one of the most wretched, though the worldly consider it as the height of happiness.—pp. 115, 116.

As our author's health was now much impaired, he resolved on returning to Europe, which he accomplished with considerable difficulty. We pass over the account of his voyage, which contains some interesting incidents, and hasten to conclude by again assuring our readers that the small volume we have had under notice will amply repay them for its cost and the time occupied in its perusal.

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Art. IV. 1. Justin Martyr: his Life, Writings, and Opinions. By the Rev. Charles Semisch, of Trebnitz, Silesia. Translated from the German, with the Author's concurrence, by J. E. Ryland. Clarke's Biblical Cabinet, vols. xli. and xlii. Edinburgh. 1843. pp. 348 and 387. 2. S. Justini Philosophi et Martyris Opera. Recensuit J. C. T. Otto

Jenensis. 2 tom. Jena, 1842-1844. 8vo. pp. 315 and 636. OUR business in the present article will be chiefly to furnish an analysis and character of the former of the two publications whose titles are prefixed to it, since that is in itself a review of the contents of the other; and of the latter we shall briefly take notice, before we close, as the latest edition, and a very excellent one, of the writings of that father of the church who claims our special attention as the first literary phenomenon in its history. And certainly not in that respect alone, but also because of his moral worth, and more particularly as the faithful representative of the opinions, and the spiritual and intellectual character of the christians of his time, Justin the Martyr well deserves to be studied as closely, and delineated as completely and impartially, as our Silesian author has done in the work that is before us.

The motives which led Mr. Semisch to engage in those labours, the result of which has made us his debtors, are fully explained in the preface to the first volume. We mention them here, because they are suggestive of important practical considerations, which shew that this kind of study is on no account to be viewed as a secluded by-path, reserved for the footsteps of a few fond explorers of antiquated learning and useless theology, but as a road by which we may rejoin the communion of our brethren in a distant and perilous age, and derive from them at once most needful warning by their errors, and not less needful incitement by their sincerity and zeal. The author's mind, weary of the theological divisions and disputes by which Germany, even more than this country, is agitated, sought to take refuge in the haven of bygone times, when the inspiration of faith and love existed in youthful vigour;' and in doing so, he was led to prize more highly the primitive truths of christianity, unimpoverished and unperverted by modern philosophical refinement, and to entertain them with a truly catholic love, even when presented in a form and in connexions that would rouse the intolerance of those to whom their own systematic modes are everything. He thought also that such instruction might be supplied by the character and circumstances of the church in the ante-Nicene period, as would meet the necessities of the present crisis; and in this, particularly with reference to our own country, we agree with him. For the inspired volume being assumed as sole umpire, from whose decisions there is to be no ppeal,-to what quarter should we so naturally look for the means

ghtly understanding the nature and points of the present con