blood, and not to complete the difgrace of both the fon and the father by an infen fate desertion. The two wives, already feduced by the idea which they had conceived of a liberty without bounds, perfevere in their project. The mother rejects the child The has given birth to, and ftifling in her heart the sweeteft fentiments of nature, recommends it in a tone of raillery to the' faithful cares of Aouana. These two vagabonds, conftantly mocking the two domeftics, take their jewels and clothes which they had already packed up, and quit the house, bidding an adieu to Atay and Aouana, which ferves to complete their diftrefs and defpondency. After having given bitter tears to this fatal event, thefe two valuable fervants, finding it was impoffible to remedy it, mutually encourage each other; and at the inftant when their foul is bowed down with grief, they fwear to confecrate the remainder of their ftrength to labour for the relief of their neceffities, and those of the innocent infant of their worthy mafter, and above all to furnish him with the means of devoting himself to the study of letters. The fecond Act terminates with this laudable design. ACT III. dals finifhed, and fays he is going to fell them, or rather exchange them for fome lamp-oil, by the light of which they were accustomed to labour very far in the night. At the moment in which the old man is about to fet out, arrives young Siou-ye from his college, with books under his arm. He falutes Atay with an affecting and ingenuous air, who careffes him with eulogiums and encouragements. He then goes towards the table where Aouana is at work, and falutes her as if he was his mother. He lays his books on the table, and places himself beside her. Aouana questions him with much affability on what he has learned. She mentions to him the leffons which he has had to recite, and he repeats them with a loud voice. She commends his application, and profits of this moment to fhew him that it is only by this means that he can acquire glory enough to give real fatisfaction to the manès of his father: fhe recommends to him to dread the lofs of time, and to pursue his ftudies without ceafing night and day, in order to arrive at the end of fo many labours. Excited by this difcourfe, the youth takes up his books and reads in them attentively, till at length, fleep weighing down his eye-lids, his head drops on his The Child has arrived at its Thirteenth book. The curtain rifes, and we see old Atay bufily employed in making straw fandals, the only trade which he knows. Aouana is fitting near a table covered with garments, and is fewing very diligently. The old domeftic fings at his labour the melancholy hiftory of his mafter, and' with fo much fenfibility, that at laft his eyes are fuffufed, and tears run down his cheeks. To fhew courage, he wipes his tears, and affects to laugh, as if to reproach his pufillanimity. Aouana then fpeaks to him and obferves how fweet and confoling it is for a virtuous soul ‹ to fulfil its duties, because the gods never withdraw their benefits from thofe who love to execute them. She goes on to exprefs all their happinefs in having fucceeded for fo many years not only in escaping mistry, but in having procured inftruction for their young mafter, who is making fuch progrefs, that he will affuredly become a man of rare merit, and be induced from gratitude to take care of their extreme old age. This difcourfe confoles and re-animates the good Atay. He fhows Aquana his pair of fan In this interval Atay returns with a pot full of oil, fome of which he pours into the lamp; he adjusts it that it might give the better light; afterwards he goes to prepare the fupper. She Aouana, who perceives the young ftudent afleep, awakes him and invites him, after her example, to break off his repofe. He really makes efforts to do so, but yielding at length to a call, imperious at his age, he again falls faft afleep. Aouana remarks him; and in a fong of a touching nature, fhe paints the contraft of the painful fituation of a foul where inquietude has penetrated, and that of an innocent heart where reigns tranquillity which the thought of evil has not fullied. touches laftly on the happiness which is the portion of youth, because it is yet unacquainted with the torments of maturer years. In this last part, fhe has her eyes fixed on the child. A truly maternal tendernefs is in her looks, and the lengthens out her fong by couplets on the lot of this unfortunate. She is now moved to the bottom of her heart. Although the would refpect his repofe, fhe nevertheless judges it indifpenfable to awake him. She wipes her tears, and at last resolves to call her young mafter: But, too profoundly afleep, he cannot hear her. Then he takes a ferule of leather which is on the table, and gives him a flight blow on the cheek. Siou-yé awakes, rifes up in a paffion, and abufes Aouana, asking her what made her fo bold as to dare to ftrike him, fince the well knows the is not his mother, but only a flave of his father. He manifefts in all his gestures a degree of refentment for that action, which he thinks imperti very nent. Aouana, who has confidered Siou-yé with the expreffion which a flight fit of anger infpires, rifes when the perceives the effects of that storm drawing to an end, and comes to place herself before him. The youth is yet letting fall reproaches from his mouth, but it is already easy to remark that he has a fentiment of his fault. At length Aouana addresses him, and tells him in a tone full of tenderness, that the well knows fhe is not his mother. "But" adds the, "where can you now, find her from whom you received life, and by whom you have been so cruelly abandoned in your tender infancy? Since that fatal period, who has taken care of your days? who has provided for all your wants ?— Without doubt, nature has not made me your mother: but has my heart ever ceafed to have the tenderness and folicitudes of one? Have not old Atay and I laboured, day and night, for a great number of years, to fuccour all your neceffities, in order to give you the most useful of all benefits, that education which in time was to make you a valuable man ?-Who can be fure that your true father is yet alive?—Ah! I now feel it cruelly,—I have only taken fo much pains, have only experienced fo much anguish, for an ungrateful wretch! Already I become the object of your contempt and of your haughty humour. It must be fo, fince you force me to it,-I renounce for the future inquietudes which I fee are likely to be fo unavailing.. No, I am not your mother.-I restore you to yourself, and will rigidly abftain for the future from all the duties of a fenfible foul, of a nurfe.-May the gods forget your ingratitude, as I do." Sicu yé, who has heard all this tirade without daring to interrupt her (according to the cuftom of the Chinese children), and. who has liftened to all her expreffions with a painful attention, through which he difcovered from time to time movements which expreffed repentance, throws himfelf at the feet of Aouana when he has done fpeaking. He proftrates himself with his face against the earth. He in vokes her pardon; he fwears that he has no other mother, and promises her, with a thoufand fobs, to have the obedience and refpect for her which that title commands. Aouana is overcome, the raises him, promifes to forget what is paft, and, in mild language, exhorts him to fubdue his paffions, and thus to render himself, by his moderation, worthy to bear the name of his father. [They both retire afterwards into the inte rior of the Houfe, and the Act finishes.] ACT IV. At the moment in which the curtain rifes, we fee the Mandarin Thayé in a veffel which is coming down the river; and he is returning to his dwelling covered with marks of honour and dignities by the emperor, who has raised him to one of the first ranks. Full of thefe delicious thoughts, he perceives, on one of the banks of the river, a that can denote mifery. This woman woman washing linen, furrounded with all raifes her head, looks at the mandarin, thinks fhe fees a spectre, imagines he is going to purfue her, fets up a cry, abandons her linen, and runs away. While the mandarin is himlelf moved at this scene, and his ideas are thrown into confufion by this fingular rencounter, he is fecking for the explication of it; there comes a fecond woman that appears as miferable as the former one, and who, bearing a yoke at which were suspended two buckets, comes to draw water at the river. This woman fees the mandarin, cries out, throws down her buckets, and runs to a distance off. trouble. He reafons on these two cirThe mandarin now experiences a greater cumftances, inexplicable for him, and arrives, full of thought and penfive, at the place which he inhabited. young perfons, in making ready the hall of reception of the house. At a diftance is heard a trumpet, the noife of the gomgom, and fucceffively the found of other inftruments, which announce the arrival of the mandarin, now feen to enter with a part of his fuite. He places himself in a great chair at the upper end of the faloon. Old Atay proftrates himself before his mafter to felicitate him on his return, and fheds tears of joy. His master orders him to rife, and makes his fuite retire. Alone with his faithful fervant, he inquires into the ftate of his houfe; the wives, the child, every thing is the object of his questions. Atay gives him a faithful account; and in his recital informs him, that the two wives, after having quitted the fpoufal houfe, and having fpeut fome years in a kind of life offenfive to good manners, had only reaped fhame and mifery as the fruit of their deviations; and they had been seen reduced to the occupation of fervants to subsist. Thefe details explain to the mandarin the furprise and fear which his prefence caused to the two women whom he found by the river's fide, and who fled at his approach. Atay fpeaks afterwards, but with brevity, of his zeal and his application. He excufes himself for having done fo little, at an age which difenabled him from undertaking more. He extols to the highest degree the cares and the fidelity of Aouana. He relates all her expreffions of tenderness for the infancy of her mafter's fon, and the addrefs which he had dif played to excite his emulation, and encourage him in his ftudies. He praifes her activity, her industrious disposition, which nothing could weary night and day, while The was labouring for them. "The gods," added he, "have loaded us with favour by granting to Aouana an unalterable health." At length the old man comes to what concerns the fou of his mafter. He cannot enough praise bis ardour for frudy, and cites as a proof, that the day before he has been nominated licentiate. The mandarin, after having liftened with the greateft attention, and a lively fenfibility, but without interrupting (a very wife cuftom of the Chinese) the recital of his old fervant, gives him, in his turn, the eulogiums which his attachment merited, and promises to give notice of his conduct to the emperor. He declares that his wives are for the future unworthy of his remembrance, and that he is refolved to elevate Aouana to the dignity of spouse, and to inveft her with all the marks of honour which the emperor had given him for his wife. He confequently orders Atay to go and feek for Aouana. Aouana appears foon after, and, with an embarraffment which the cannot conceal, falutes her mafter, and wishes him all the happiness that his fortunate return promiles, and the honours which he had received. The mandarin rifes from his chair, advances towards her, thanks her for the incomparable cares which she has taken of his fon, and of his houfe. He gives her a thousand applaufes for the fidelity which covers her with glory. Aouana defends herself with a rare modefty, and only fees in her own conduct the fimple accomplishment of the duty which her mafter had impofed on her, The mandarin, touched ftill more at this procedure, affures her that the obligation which he feels from it is fo great, that he thinks he has no other method of acknowledging it, than to take her for his wife. He proclaims her then by this title, and taking her by the hand, he conducts her towards a feat where he places her befide him, that the may thus enjoy a right which only belongs to the lawful fpoule. Aouana, confused in amazement, obeys, makes a reverence, without uttering a word (which is moreover a striking trait of the fubmiffion in which the Chinese manners hold women), and goes to take the place which is prefented to her. A little after arrives Siou-yé, who has juft finifhed the ceremony of his licentiatefhip, the habit of which he has now on. He throws himself at his father's feet, and remains in that fituation until he is ordered to rife. His father teftifies for him all the fatisfaction which his conduct and his progrefs had given him, and particularly the refpectful regard which he had fhewn to Aouana, in whom he had found a true mother. He enjoins him to retain it for her, as the is now really become fo, being the legitimate spouse of his father. At thefe words, Siou-yé, full of joy, proftrates himself before Aouana, and pays her homage. The mandarin afterwards orders fome domestics to bring the habits of ceremony which the emperor had prefented to him for his wife; and he himself decorates Aouana with them, who afterwards repairs with her fpoule to make the falute of honour to the emperor, and thank him for his benefits;-when Aouana is folemnly proclaimed proclaimed as fpoufe of the mandarin, in recompenfe for her perfevering fidelity. In the fequel, the emperor raifes old tay to the rank of mandarin. But this fuccefs, perhaps exaggerated, raifes this eftimable inan, as it were, out of himself; and he commits faults which prove that education ought to concur with the finest qualities; and that the virtues which render a domeftic worthy of general efteem, do not always fuffice to make a mandarin. The emperor ordains moreover the erection of a triumphal arch of marble, which, even during the life of Aouana, fhall be destined to celebrate her fidelity, and to tranfmit the fame to pofterity as an example for them. Feafts, which laft many days, terminate the drama. For the Monthly Magazine. EXTRACT of a LETTER from M. J. DE GRAMMONT, APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY at PEKIN, on the Subject of the ENGLISH EMBASSY. First published by M. Van Braam, and never before publifbed in this Country. "TN the mean time, to fatisfy your re to the embaffy of England.-Never did an embaffy better deserve fuccefs, both with regard to the experience, intelligence, and amiable qualities of Lord MACARTNEY and of Sir GEORGE STAUNTON the talents, the knowledge, and the circumfpect conduct of all thofe of his fuite, and the rich and curious prefents deftined for the emperor. And, what is fingular and altogether strange, never did embassy fucceed worfe. The defign of the court of London and of the English Company, was to obtain: ift. A refidence at Pekin, by which the refident might be enabled to fuperintend the commerce of his nation. zdly. An establishment at Chufan, a little ifland about eighteen leagues from Ningpo. 3dly. The liberty of commerce in all the ports of China. 4thly. A houfe of commiffioners in Every province of the empire. And sthly. Regulations more fixed and lefs arbitrary in the custom duties of Canton. All thefe articles were propofed at different audiences, both viva voce, and in writing, and they were all answered to and rejected; fome purely and fimply, and others with claules difrefpectful, at least, not to fay infulting. In respect to the prefents for the emperor, Lord MACARTNEY, who wifhed to remain at Pekin till the month of March in the following year, announced that they were not to be offered all at once, but at three different times, and for this purpofe he had arranged them in three claffes. The two first were received and approved of by the emperor. They conliited of English cloths of different colours; twentytwo volumes of felect prints; fome English knives and fciflors; an electrical machine; a pneumatic machine; portative barometers; a burning mirror; two magnificent cryftal luftres, every pendant of which exhibited the colours of the prifm; two berlins; two carriages on fprings, which follow all the movements of the perfons feated; and an excellent celestial planetarium, the work of twenty years. The third clafs was not prefented, as time was not given for it. To the great aftonishment of every one, the minifter charged with the affairs of this embassy, the prefents of his majefty, which, they after having remitted to the ambassador fay, were not magnificent; without having granted him an audience of leave of the emperor, nor indulged him with an opportunity of feeing Pekin, nor even of making us a vifit; this minifter, I fay, back fuite, much in the fame way in which I was difiniffed from Canton: add to this, that all the European miffionaries had already received injunctions not to approach his palace. This is the strange scene which has just been acted on the theatre of Pekin. It will, no doubt, occafion much fpeculation in Europe and elfewhere. You will, perhaps, be curious to know the reason of a reception fo unfavourable and fo extraordinary: I fhall give it you in a few words. Thefe gentlemen, like all other ftrangers who know China only by books, were ignorant of the way of managing matters, of the ufages and the etiquette of that court; and, to increase their misfortune, had brought with them an interpreter ftill lefs informed; which was the reafon, in great part, that they never could obtain leave to have with them an European miffionary to inftruct and direct them. Thence it followed ift.that they came here without bringing any prefent, either for the minifters of the ftate, or the fons of the emperor; 2d. that they were warting in the ceremonial of the country in making their falute to the emperor, and were unable to explain the reafon of it in a fatisfactory manner; 3d. that they were prefented in habits too fimple and too ordinary; 4th. that they did not properly fee the different officers who had had the care of their affairs; and 5th. that their demand was not made according to the ftyle and the policy of the country. Another reafon of their ill fuccefs, and, in my judgment, the principal one, was the intrigues of a certain miflionary, who, being prepoffeffed with the opinion that this embally would be injurious to the commerce of his own country, did not fail to throw out infinuations unfavourable to the English nation.-Add to all this, the emperor is old and partial; and artful cabals are to be found in all countries; and that all his grandees and favourites are greedy of presents and money." For the Monthly Magazine. MR. EDITOR. I N your laft Magazine, Mr. WAKEFIELD with laudable zeal has endeavoured to rescue from difgrace and calumny the character of Milton-I commend bis efforts, but I think them needless upon this trivial occafion. Suppofing the fact proved, that Milton had repeatedly undergone the difcipline of flagellation; I centend, that no more ftigma attaches to him on that account, than to one who has paffed through the common formulæ of an Eton education; where the birch is efteemed as neceffary an article towards acquiring claffical rudiments; as the grammar, or dictionary. This mode of correction may appear very ridiculous to a modern Cantab; I have no doubt, how-, ever, but that it was frequent in Milton's time, in order to enforce scholastic authority. Granting that Milton was flogged at the Buttery-hatch of Chrift's College, what obloquy can any rational man fix apon him, after reading a statute (Decret. Pref. Acad. Cant. 1607) in which it is decreed, "That under graduates found guilty of taking tobacco in taverns, fhops, &c. fhall be punished in the public schools by the rod ? This ftatute was, without doubt, made at the fuggeftion of that bright ornament of literature, King James. Suppofing that Milton was not flogged for this grievous crime; by another he might have been turned up, even for the obfervance of rules which decency and cleanlinefs dictate. (Decret. Præf. 1971) "For many and weighty reafons ordered, decreed and ftatuted, that if any fcholar, &c. go into any river or pool, or any other water within the county of Cambridge, to fwim or wash; for the first offence, he fhall be harply and feverely chaftifed and punished; firit at home in his college, openly and publicly in the common-hall, in the prefence of all the fellows, fcholars, and thofe who live in the college: and the next day, he is alfo to be fharply and feverely punished, and chaftifed with fripes, in the public fchools, &c.!!!"Mr. Wakefield will immediately perceive the futility of his drawing any conclufions whatever from Gardiner's Letters, which were dated 1542, when he has feen the dates of thofe ftatutes which I have quoted. I could recite twenty more parallel ftatutes which fufficiently exculpate Milton from that, which nothing but ignorance or illiberality would call difgruce. Mr. Wakefield has mifunderfood the phrafe "Domi apud fuos caftigari curato." The ftatutes of the different Colleges ordain both a public and private flagellation within their own fociety: therefore no one could poffibly infer with propriety, that domi, &c. implied a pri vate correction. Εικονοκλάστης. To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, HA AVING lately met with a small work in English, written by Dr. Meric Cafaubon, fon of the learned Ifaac Cafaubon, entitled, "A Treatife proving "Witches, Spirits, and Supernatural Ope"rations, by pregnant Inftances and Evi"dences, together with other things of "note," and printed at London, in 1672, in finall 4to. with an Imprimatur from a chaplain of Gilbert, archbishop of Canterbury, dated at Lambeth, July 9, 1668, my curiofity was much excited by a paffage, where the author, after examining fundry wonderful contrivances of the ancients, as for inftance, their fhips of prodigious fize and shape, remarks as follows: "Whereas one of the fhips made by Phila pator, king of Egypt, is reported to have "contained forty feveral ranks or rows of 66 " rowers, one above another; which (fince "that ships of eight, or ten, or twelve rows, "fome have thought, could hardly be made to be ferviceable) will be thought by many not poffible, and therefore incredi "ble. All that I can fay to it (which I am fure I can) is, that, had my father's Com❝mentaries upon Polybius, upon which "he bestowed a great part of his life, "been finished and printed, he would "have made it clear how it might be, and anfwered all objections."-Thus far Dr. Meric Cafaubon. This point, Mr. Editor, of the arrangement of the rowers and oars in the thips of the ancients, having been a ftumbling block |