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adherence to the rules of perspective are not required, the Chinese are sometimes very successful; but perspective is disregarded, and as for shading, they object to its introduction. "When several portraits," says Mr. Barrow, "intended as pre

sents for the emperor, were exposed to view, the mandarins observing the variety of tints occasioned by the light and shade, asked whether the originals had the right and left sides of the figure of different colours? They considered the shadow of the nose as a great imperfection in the figure, and some supposed it to have been placed there by accident." But though the Chinese disregard the rules of perspective and shading, their drawings by the eye are often tolerably correct. They paint insects, birds, fruits, and flowers very beautifully, and with great vividness of colour. Still their representations of living objects are very stiff-the life, which can only render paintings celebrated, is wanting.. The Chinese, however, are not incapable of producing better things; for some native artists employed at Canton and Macao, by English naturalists, have delineated various specimens in botany and zoology scientifically.

Of the music of the Chinese, Gutzlaff remarks: -"During all our peregrinations, having been present at the celebration of marriages and funerals, and at the review of troops, we have never been able to make out a single air. Musical notes, though known, are not in common use. A band of music consists of the loud gong, large and small drums, cymbals, pipes, various flutes, trumpets like those made for children, horns, which are instruments with many pipes, a guitar

with one or two strings, and a variety of others; amongst which are bells, hung up in a frame, in order to give an harmonious chime. The principle on which a concert is played appears to be which of the musicians shall outdo the other in loudness of sound, in which attempt the beater of the gong generally succeeds to admiration."

The particular names of the Chinese instruments of music, as furnished by Lay, are, the urh-heen, or two-stringed fiddle, the bow of which passes between the strings; the pepa, san-heen, and yue-kin, three different kinds of guitar; the kin, or scholar's lute, on which Confucius and the sages of antiquity played, and which has seven silk strings; the tsang, a kind of lute, with sixteen strings of wire; the yang-kin, a kind of dulcimer, furnished with brass strings, which are struck with two small hammers; the hwang-teih, a keyless flute, made of bamboo; the heang-teih, a species of clarinet, with a bell at the end, which has the same effect upon the sound of the tube as the speaking trumpet,has upon the human voice; the lo, or gong, of which there are two kinds, one large and flat, and a smaller one rounded, with a cylindrical edge; the sang, which Lay denominates Jubal's organ; and a great variety of horns, drums, timbrels, and cymbals. Among instruments of percussion, the great bell is very remarkable, being used for various purposes. It is to be seen in all the principal temples, hung in a large wooden stand, where it is struck with a wooden hammer, at vespers and at other times, when prayers are offered.

The instruments of the Chinese are mostly tuned in unison, and they have little or no idea

"Their gamut," says

of accompaniments. Huttner, who was attached to Macartney's embassy, "is such as Europeans would call imperfect, their keys being inconsistent; that is, wandering from flats to sharps, and inversely, except when directed by a bell, struck to sound the proper notes. In playing, they discover no knowledge of semitones, nor do they seem to have an idea of counterpoint, or parts in music. There is always one melody, however great the number of performers; though, in a few instances, some of the instruments played in the lower octave, while the rest continued in the upper, and thus approached to harmony."

The houses of the Chinese are tent-like edifices; and their bridges, which have been extolled by the Jesuits as something extraordinary, are found, upon examination, to display no scientific principles.

"Something," says Lay, "taught them to connect two banks of a river, by means of stones or bricks laid together, and to leave a hole in the middle to let the water pass through; but there is no evidence to show they ever reflected upon the cause which kept the several parts in their places, or sought any further for it than the mortar or cement by which they were bound together. The architect looked on, displayed his portly form, and plied his fan from time to time, or chatted familiarly with his men, but never ran the risk of a premature wrinkle or look of care, by any speculation about the abstruse doctrines of equilibrium."

The roof of a Chinese building is curved, like the upper part of a tent. This is supported by wooden columns, which are commonly thin in

proportion to their height. In the same manner the ornamental and honorary gateways, in the middle of the Chinese streets, are erected, and the proportions of the whole are weak and flimsy. What with the painting and gilding, however, the Chinese contrive to make these simple constructions look very pretty in the eyes of a foreigner. The outside of the roof is covered with glazed earthen tiles, of a semi-cylindrical form, which are laid on so as to give the surface a variety of ridges and furrows. The inside is composed of a few feet of plain deal timber, a little cheap paint, and mother-of-pearl shells, introduced between the interstices of the laths or rafters. The walls are built of a blue-coloured brick, which, being thin, gives scope for a beautiful inlay of milkwhite seams; while under the eaves, a broad band of white is often painted as the ground for an assortment of landscapes and figures. The wall is withdrawn some distance within the eaves, and is perforated by a large door-way, behind which stands a broad screen, to shelter the inmates from the gaze of the passers-by. Four quadrangular pillars support the eaves, opposite the posts of the door, and are connected with the side-walls by a beam ranging a foot or two below the eaves. The edges of the lateral walls are often elaborately carved, so that the portico looks as if it had six pillars in the façade. After passing through this, there is a hall without a front, in which the host receives his guest, or the tutor instructs the children. In this hall there is a partition, which runs part of the distance transversely, so that the family may pass by each end, and cross another area, towards a hall, of the same

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construction, for more secluded intercourse. each side of the court a building stands for the reception of servants. The sleeping apartments stand in a group by themselves.

In this manner all Chinese edifices are erected. Temples, pagodas, palaces, mansions, summerhouses, cottages, and gateways, all display the same mode of construction. The law forbids the architect to depart from it; whence its naked and primitive simplicity. Sometimes, however, by the excellence of the workmanship, they are made to appear very elegant structures, and especially the garden pavilions and pagodas. The manner in which the stones are fitted together in pagodas, makes it appear as if wrought of one piece; and the winding staircase, with many cornices on the outside, has attracted much admiration.

That the Chinese, however, are capable of producing solid architecture, is proved by the construction, not only of their city walls, but by the great national barrier towards Tartary, and their occasionally detached towers, or castles. These are all built of brick, on a foundation of stone, of such immense solidity, as serves to remind the beholder of the Cyclopian walls of ancient Greece -walls which, though they have withstood the shock of ages, yet remain in a high state of preservation. The hands that reared them have long since mouldered into dust, and the glory of the nation is departed for ever: but they remain, and discourse in silent eloquence, as they slowly decay, of the mutability of all things below the skies.

SCIENCE.

If the civilization of a people is to be measured

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