part of his work, very fevere upon the miffionaries; and from the following paffage it will feem not without reason.

"The fuburbs of Sou tchoo-foo employed us full three hours in paffing before we reached the walls of the city, where a multitude of veffels were lying at anchor. The numerous inhabitants that appeared upon and without the walls of this extenfive city, were bener dreffed and feemed to be more contented and cheerful, than we had yet obferved them in any other place. For the most part they were cloathed in filk. The ladies were here dreffed in petticoats and not in trowfers, as they had hitherto appeared to the northward. The general fashion of the head-drefs was a black fatin cap with a triangular peak, the point defcending to the root of the nofe, in the middle of which, or about the centre of the forehead, was a crystal button. The whole face and neck were washed with a preparation of white lead and the checks highly rouged; and two vermillion fpots, like wafers, were particularly confpicuous, one on the centre of the under lip and the other on the chin. Their feet were univerfally fqueezed down to an unnatural fize. Few females were feen among the immenfe crowds that the novelty of the fight had brought together, but great numbers had affembled in the houfes and particularly on board the pleasure or paffage yachts, with the intention of fatisfying their curiofity. The fuperior ftyle of drefs and the appearance of the women in public at this place, fo different from the general cuftom of the country, could only be explained to us by the writings of the Chriftian miffionaries, who obferve that the concubines of mandarins and men of property are chiefly procured from the cities of Yang-tchoo and of Sou- tchoo, where they are educated in the pleafing arts of finging, mufic, and dancing, and every other accomplishment fuitable to women of fuperior rank, in order to render them the more agreeable and fafcinating. That fuch women are generally purchafed by perfons engaged in the trade, in different parts of the country, and trained in thefe cities, where they are difpofed of to the highest bidder, "this being the prin cipal branch of trade that is carried on in those two cities." How do thefe holy men reconcile fo infamous a traffic among a people whom they have adorned with every virtue? a people whom they have rendered remarkable among nations for their filial piety! Is there on earth a crime more revolting against civilized nature, or more deteftable to civilized fociety, than that of a parent felling his own child and configning her, exprefsly and voluntarily, into a flate of proftitution? Those unfortunate wretches who, in Europe, have by any accident reduced themselves to that degraded and deplorable condition of becoming fubfervient to the pleatures of a man, whom they probably deteft, are generally the objects of pity, however their conduct may be difapproved; but a parent, who fhould be the cause of reducing them to fuch a flate, would be execrated; but the affertion is as abfurd as ridiculous, and the writer must have been very credulous to fuppofe, that the principal trade of one of the largest cities in the world, whofe population cannot be lefs than a million of fouls, fhould confift in buying and felling ladies of pleature. Buying females in the legal way is certainly the greatest branch of trade throughout China, as

every woman there is bought and fold. These reverend gentlemen likewife inform us, with great indifference, that if a man be defirous of having a male child and his wife fhould happen to be barren, he will purchase one of thefe concubines for the fole purpose of getting an heir; and, when this is accomplished, he either provides her with a hufband, or turns her adrift. Such are the moral virtues of the Chinefe, compared with whom all other nations have been accounted barbarous." P. 517.

The concluding remarks in this chapter are thofe of a very vigorous and enlightened mind. Having palled through five of the most populous and moft fertile provinces of this vaft empire, the author paufes to take a retrofpective view of the objects of the greateft relative importance. We have here, perhaps, the best flatistical account of China that has ever yet appeared from any European prefs. Among other conclufions, the author draws the following, as the refult of his perfonal investigation; that the greater the diflance from the capital, the better was the apparent condition of the people; that the high character beflowed on the Chinese for their skill in agriculture, fhould rather be transferred to their industry; on the great fcale of agriculture they are not to be compared with many nations of Europe; that the frequent famines may be in part imputed to the very large fpace of ground which is fuffered to remain without cultivation; that as horticulturifts, they have great merit. The populouínefs of China, a subject fo often investigated, occupies a large fhare of Mr. Barrow's attention. The cenfus of one year, as given to the Ambaffador, amounted to the enormous fum of 333 millions; but as the population affigned to each province was, in this cenfus, given in round millions, its accuracy may fairly be difputed. Still, however, Mr. Barrow thinks, that the population of China is not yet arrived at a level with the means which the country affords. If this be the cafe, how does it happen that the barbarous cuftom of infanticide is allowed or connived at by the government, from the apprehenfion of being over-flocked with people? We are, however, certainly more inclined to place confidence in the affertions of this writer, than in the crude remarks which appeared in a preceding book on the fubject, put together in haile, and without a fimilar opportunity of obtaining authentic intelligence. The remarks of Mr. Barrow, on the populoufnels of China, merit the serious attention of all who have delivered opinions on the fabject.

The final chapter conveys the narrative of the journey through the province of Canton, with various circumftances and anecdotes explanatory of the Chincfe character and country. As they approached the fpot where the English name

and

and manners were familiar, they were, it feems, treated with lefs refpect, indeed with infolence and contempt. Some ftories of Chinese artifice and cunning, will excite fometimes a fmile, and at others indignation. We felect the two following, from many others.

"This contempt of foreigners is not confined to the upper ranks, or men in office, but pervades the very lowest class who, whilft they make no fcruple of entering into the fervice of foreign merchants refiding in the country, and accepting the moft menial employments under them, performing the duties of their feveral offices with dili gence, punctuality, and fidelity, affect, at the fame time, to defpife Their employers, and to confider them as placed, in the fcale of human beings, many degrees below them. Having one day obferved my Chinele fervant bufily employed in drying a quantity of tea-leaves, that had already been used for breakfast, and of which he had collected feveral pounds, I inquired what he meant to do with them: he replied, to mix them with other tea and fell them. "And is that the way", faid I," in which you cheat your own countrymen?" "No", replied he, "my own countrymen are too wife to be fo easily cheated, but your's are ftupid enough to let us ferve you fuch like tricks; and indeed", continued he, with the greatest fans froid imaginable," any thing you get from us is quite good enough for you." Affecting to be angry with him, he said, " he meant for the fecond fort of Englishmen", which is a distinction they give to the Americans." P. 592.

"With fuch fentiments one cannot be furprized that foreign mer chants fhould be received with indifference, if not handled with rudenefs, and that the fair trader fhould be liable to extortions. This is till more likely to happen from the complete monopoly of all foreign Trade being configned to a limited number of merchants, feldom, I believe, exceeding eight, who are fanctioned by government. The cargoes of tin, lead, cotton, opium, and large fums of Spanifh dollars, fent to Canton from Europe, India, and America, all pass through the hands of thefe Hong merchants, who alfo furnish the return cargoes. As the capital employed is far beyond any thing of the kind we can conceive in Europe by fo few individuals, their profits must be proportionally great, or they could not be able to bear the expence of the numerous and magnificent prefents which they are expected to make to the fuperior officers of government at Canton, who, in their turn, find it expedient to divide thefe with the Emperor and his ministers in the capital. The various toys, automatons, moving and mufical figures from Coxe's museum, the mathematical and astronomical inftruments, clocks, watches, machinery, jewellery, all made in London, and now in the different palaces of the Emperor of China, are faid to be valued at no lefs a fum than two millions fterling, all prefents from Canton. The principal officers of this government are invariably fent down from Pekin; they arrive poor and, in the courfe of three years, return with immenfe riches. How much of the enormous wealth of Hotchung-tang came from the fame quarter it is difficult to fay, but the great influence he poffefled over the Emperor, and his intimacy with

the

the viceroy of Canton, who was fuperfeded in 1793, leave no doubt, that a very confiderable part of it was drawn from this port. The large pearl, which forms one of the charges preferred again't him, was a prefent from Canton, of which I have been told a curious hiftory by a gentleman who was on the fpot at the time it happened. An Armenian merchant brought this pearl to Canton, in the expectation of making his fortune. Its fize and beauty foon became known, and attracted the attention of the officers and the merchants, who paid their daily vifits to the Armenian, offering him prices far inadequate to its value. At length, however, after minute and repeated examinations, a price was agreed upon and a depofit made, but the Armenian was 10 keep poffeffion of the pearl till the remaining part of the purchasemoney fhould be ready; and in order to obviate any poflibility of trick, the box in which it was kept was fealed with the purchafer's feal. Several days elapfed without his hearing any thing further from the Chinefe; and, at length, the time approached when all foreign merchants are ordered down to Macao. The Armenian, in vain, endeavoured to find out the people who had purchased his pearl, but he contented himself with the reflection that, although he had been difappointed in the main object of his journey, he itill had his property, and that the depofit was more than fufficient to defray his expences. On reaching his home, he had no longer any fcruple in breaking open the feal; but his mortification may eafily be fuppofed, on difcovering that his real pearl had been exchanged for an artificial one, fo very like as not to be detected but by the most critical examination. The daily vifits of these people, it feems, were for no other purpose than to enable them to forge an accurate imitation, which they had dexterously fubftituted for the real one, when they propofed the cunning expedient of fealing the box in which it was inclofed. The Armenians, however, were determined not to be outdone by the Chinese. A noted character, of the name of Baboom, equally well known in Bengal and Madras as in Canton, juft before his failure in about half a million fterling, depofited a valuable casket of pearls, as he represented them, in the hands of one of the Hong merchants, as a pledge for a large fum of money, which, when opened, instead of pearls was found to he a casket of peas." P. 610.

We did not fcruple to affert of Mr. Barrow's publication on the Cape of Good Hope, that it would be confidered as a ftandard book, and hereafter be referred to as of adequate authority in matters of occafional doubt or perplexity. The fame may be faid with truth of the Travels in China; and perhaps we have not any other production, which so well enables us to afcertain the precife rank which the Chinese empire and people may be confidered to hold in the scale of nations. From the whole it evidently appears, that the embaffy in which the author bore fo honourable a part, has laid an admirable foundation for a more familiar and intimate course with China, from which the most important advantages may be ultimately expected to the fcience, arts, and commerce of our country.

The

The volume has a few coloured plates, from drawings of Mr. Alexander; but it would have been rendered far more valuable by a well-executed map, than by the portrait of Van-ta-gin, or by drawings of clumfy artillery, and mufical inftruments.

ART. II. Remarks on a Charge delivered by the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Lincoln to the Clergy of that Diocefe, at the triennial Vifitation in May and June, 1803; with particular Reference to his Lordship's Animadverfions on evangelical Preachers. In a Letter to his Lordfhip. By an old Member of Parliament. 8vo. 91 pp. 35. Prow, London. 1804.

THE excellent Charge which gave rife to these Remarks obtained from us a fmall portion of that praife, which it may jufly claim, very foon after it was published, at the particular request of the clergy of the diocefe of Lincoln. That particular requeft we forefaw would co-operate with the clear, conclufive, and manly reafoning of the author, to excite the indignation of the novel fect of true churchmen; but the moderation of fentiments, which we found in the Charge, did not permit us to look for any remarks on it fo coarse and uncandid as are thofe of the OLD MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT. We must therefore flare here, more particularly than we have flated elfewhere, the Bishop's precife object in his addrefs to the clergy; and flate it in his own words, because to these words we fhall have occafion to call the attention of our readers, as well as of the old Member of Parliament.

"At our last meeting", fays his Lordfhip", I endeavoured to warn you of the danger which threatened the genetal courfe of Chriftianity, by the alarming growth of infidelity an 1 atheifm. At prefent I with to call your attention to a fubject which relates more particularly to the fafety of our own established church. Upon that occafion, indeed, I briefly mentioned the milchievous effects of what is milcalled evangelical preaching; but the late progrefs of the opinions which it profefies to inculcate, and the recent attempts of its advocates, feem to demand more full and immediate notice, It is now not only maintained, that the doctrines of Calvinifm are founded in fcripture; but it is alfo afferted, that they only who held those doctrines have any claim to be confidered as true members of the Church of England. The regular clergy, who explain fcripture in another fenfe, or who fupport a different interpretation of our Liturgy and Articles, are reprefented as

* Brit. Crit, vol. xxii. p. 124, &c.

not