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thought himself of imploring the affiftance of the gods. Prayers, offerings, alms, facrifices-every thing, in fine, was employed to obtain her cure, The Bonzes, whom these gifts enrich, anfwered for her recovery on the faith of an idol, of whofe power they had boasted much. Nevertheless, this daughter died, and the father, enraged and inconfolable, refolved to a venge her death, and to profecute the idol in due form of law. He lodged his complaint, therefore, before the judge of the place. After having ftrongly reprefented in his declaration the treacherous conduct of this unjust divinity, he urged the judge to inflict an exemplary punishment upon him for his breach of faith. If the Spirit, added he, ' were able to cure my daughter, it was an abfolute fraud, to take my money, and suffer her to die, If he had not this power, why did he interfere in it? What right had he to affume the quality of a god? Is it for nothing that we adore him, and that the whole province offer facrifices to him?" In a word, he contended, that confidering the impotence, or the malice of this idol, his temple fhould be demolished, his priests driven ignominiously from it, and he himself undergo fome fevere corporal punishment.

The affair appeared important to the judge, and he referred it to the governor, who, unwilling to have any contest with the gods, requested the viceroy to examine into the merits of the cafe. The latter, after having heard the Bonzes, who appeared much alarmed, called the plaintiff, and advised him to defift from the profecution. "You are not wife,' faid he, to embroil yourself with these Spi rits they are naturally malignant, and, I fear, may play you a fcurvy trick. Be advised by me; accept the propofals of compromife which the Bonzes will make you. They affure me, that the idol, on his part, fhall liften to reafon; provided, on the

other hand, that you do ters to extremity.'

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But this man, who was inconfolable for the death of his daughter, ftill perfifted in declaring, that he would ra ther perish, than recede in the least inftance from his rights: My lord,' anfwered he, my refolution is taken; the idol is perfuaded, that he can commit all manner of injustice with impunity; he imagines that no one will be hardy enough to attack him: but he is mistaken; and we fhall soon see, whether he or I be the most wicked and intractable of the two.'

The viceroy, perceiving that all farther expoftulation would be in vain, permitted the cause to proceed, and fent information of it, in the mean time, to the fovereign council at Pekin, who ordered it to be removed, by appeal, to their tribunal, before which both parties foon appeared. The idol did not fail to find very able pleaders at the bar. The counfel, to whom the Bonzes gave a fee to defend him, were clear that his right was inconteftable, and they fpoke with fuch eloquence on the fubject, that the god in person could not have excelled them. But they had to contend with a much more able man, who had already had the precaution to have his arguments preceded by a round fum of money, in order to give his judges a clearer infight into the merits of the cafe; being perfuaded, that the devil must be very cunning if he could withstand this laft argument. In reality, after many e loquent pleadings, he gained a compleat victory. The idol was con demned, as ufelefs in the empire, to perpetual exile; his temple was de◄ molished; and the Bonzes, that reprefented his perfon, met with exemplary punishment.

The fuperftitious credulity of the Chinese is affiduoufly kept up by these Bonzes; who are vagabonds, brought up from their infancy in effeminacy,

idlenefs,

Remarkable Inftances of Superftition among the Chinese.

idlenefs, and averfion to labour; and the greatest part of whom devote them felves to this profeffion for mere fubfiftence. There is, confequently, no kind of artifice which they do not employ, to extort prefents from the devout worshippers of Fo. Nothing is more common in China than recitals of the artful tricks of thefe pious cheats. The following inftance of this may divert our readers :

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Two of thefe Bonzes, roving about the country, perceived two or three large ducks in the farm-yard of a rich peafant. They inftantly proftrated themselves before the gate, and be gan to groan and weep very bitterly. The farmer's wife, who faw them from her chamber, went out to know the fubject of their grief. We know,' faid they, that the fouls of our fa thers have paffed into the bodies of thofe ducks; and our fears left you fhould kill them, will inevitably make as die ourselves with grief.' It is true,' anfwered the farmer's wife, it was our intention to fell them; but fince they are your fathers, I will give you my word to keep them.' This was not what the Bonzes wifhed for: Ah!' faid they, your husband may not be so charitable; and we shall certainly die if any accident betide them.' In fine, after a long converfation, the good woman was fo affected by their apparent grief, that the committed the ducks to their filial care. They received them with great refpect, after has ving twenty times proftrated themselves before them; but, that very evening, they put their pretended fathers on the fpit, and very handfomely regaled their little community.

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add the most rigid fasting, frequent watchings, and long prayers before the altars of Fo. The gifts which they cannot obtain by cunning and addrefs, they endeavour to procure by exciting compaffion fof the aufterity of their penances. They may be met with in the moft public streets, dif playing to the eyes of the people a fpectacle of the moft frightful macerations. Some, with difficulty, drag along the streets heavy chains, thirty feet long, faftened to their neck and legs. Others bruife, and cover themfelves with blood, by striking their foreheads with a heavy stone ; and o thers carry burning coals upon their naked head. Thefe felf-tormentors top at the doors of the houses. You fee,' fay they, how much we fuffer to expiate your faults; and can you be fo hard-hearted as to refufe us a fmall pittance?'

One of the most extraordinary kinds of penance was that of which Father le Compte was an eye-witnefs, and which he thus relates: I met, one day, in the midft of a village, a young Bonze, whofe infinuating addrefs, and graceful air, was calculated to obtain the donations of the charitable. He ftood upright in a chair, or kind of fmall pulpit, clofely fhut, and ftuck very thick, in the infide, with long points of nails towards his body, infomuch that it was impoffible for him to recline against any one part, without being wounded. Two hired men carried him very flowly into the houses, where he befought the people to have compaffion upon him: I have caused myfelf,' faid he, to be inclosed in this chair, for the good of your fouls, Thefe Bonzes are acquainted with determined never to leave it till all all the refources of hypocrify. They these nails are bought.' [There were know, to a moment, when to cringe, upwards of 2000 of them.] Each and to affume the most abject humili- nail is worth five pence; but there is ty. They affect a gentleness, com- not one of them which is not a fource plaifance, and modefty, calculated to of benediction in your houses. If you captivate every heart. They may be buy fome of them, you will perform taken for fo many faints, efpecially an act of heroic virtue; and it will be when, to this engaging exterior, they giving alms, not to the Bonzes, to

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whom you can find other ways of being charitable, but to the god Fo, to whofe honour we are building a temple.' I was then paffing the fame way; the Bonze faw me, and faluted me with the fame compliment. I told him, that he was very wretched to torment himself fo ineffectually in this world; and I advised him to leave his prison, and go to the temple of the true God, that he might be instructed in heavenly truths, and fubmit to a lefs rigid, but more falutary penance.'-He anfwered me with great good temper, that he was much obliged to me for my advice; but that he fhould be ftill more thankful, if I would buy a dozen of his nails, which would moft affuredly procure me profperity in my journey. Here,' faid he, turning to one fide, ⚫ take these on the credit of a Bonze; they are the best in the chair, for they torment me more than the others; nevertheless, you fhall have them at the fame price. He uttered these words with an air and an action, that, on any other occafion, would have made me laugh; but, at that moment, his wretched ignorance excited my compaffion; and I was penetrated with grief at the fight of this miferable cap tive of the demon, who fuffered more for perdition, than a Christian is obliged to fuffer to be faved.'

Thefe Bonzes are not all penitents: a great number of them renounce these painful methods of procuring alms. To gain the fame end, fome others employ a thousand fecret abominations, and even murder itself. Some years ago,' fays Father le Compte, the governor of a city being on a journey with his ufual attendants, and perceiving a great crowd of people on the high way, had the curiofity to ftop, and to inquire the reason of this concourfe. The Bonzes were celebrating there an extraordinary feftival. They had conftructed a lofty machine upon a vast theatre. At the top of this machine, the head of a young man appeared above a fmall balustrade, that enclofed

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him on every fide. His arms, and the reft of his body, were concealed. He had nothing at liberty but his eyes, which he moved with a degree of wildnefs. Lower down, upon the theatre, appeared an old Bonze, who explained to the people, that this young man had refolved to facrifice his life, by throwing himself into the deep river that flowed by the highway-fide. But,' added he, the young man will not die in confequence of this; for he will be received, at the bottom of the water, by charitable fpirits, who will be eager to give him a friendly welcome. His lot is to be envied! He has ob tained the greatest felicity he could defire. A hundred other persons were candidates for his fituation; but to his fuperior piety, his transcendent virtue, the preference was juftly due.'-The Mandarin, after having heard this harangue, declared that the young man difplayed great courage, but he was surprised that he had not himself explained his motives for this facrifice :

Let him descend,' continued the governor, that we may converse with him a moment.'The old Bonze terrified at this order, expoftulated against it. He protested that all was lost, if the victim only opened his mouth; and that he could not anfwer for the calamities that would confequently be inflicted on the province. The calamities you are apprehenfive of,' re turned the Mandarin, I will take upon myself:' and he inftantly commanded the young man to come down; but the latter made no other answer, than by frightful looks, and an irregular motion of his eyes, which feemed almost starting from his head: Behold thofe looks, that agitation,' faid the Bonze, and judge, by thefe figns, of the violence you do him: he will die with grief.' But the Mandarin was not to be deceived: he ordered his at tendants to afcend the theatre, and to bring the unfortunate man before him. They found him bound and gagged. They unbound him, and the moment

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Remarkable Inftances of Superftition among the Chinese.

he was at liberty to speak, he cried out, Ah! my lord, revenge me on thefe affaffins, who were going to drown me. I am a batchelor, who was repairing to court, to affift at the ufual exami'nations. Thefe Bonzes feized me yesterday by force; and before daybreak, this morning, they tied me, in fpite of my refiftance, to that machine, with a view to throw me this evening into the river, in order to perform their abominable myfteries, at the expence of my life. The moment he had begun to speak, the Bonzes took to flight; but the officers of juftice, who always attend the governor, apprehended fome of them. The principal Bonze was thrown himself into the river, and drowned. The others were conducted to prison, and met, in the fequel, with their merited punish

ment.

A letter of Father Laureati, an Italian Jefuit, affords a fact of a different kind: it will give us an idea of the voluptuous manners, and fecret lafcivious life, of thefe Bonzes. There once existed, near the city of Foutcheou, a famous pagod, in which the molt diftinguished Bonzes of the province refided. The daughter of a Chinese doctor, going to her father's country-house, attended by two maid-fervants, and carried, according to cuftom, in an open chaife, had the curiofity to enter this temple, and fent to request the Bonzes to keep at a distance, while the performed her devotions. The principal Bonze had the curiofity to fee this young lady, and concealed himself behind the altar. He faw her but too well; and he was fo defperately fmitten with her, that his heated imagination, inattentive to every idea of danger, conceived nothing but the facility with which he might carry off a helplefs and ill-attended girl. He loft not a moment in helitation. He ordered

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fome other Bonzes, his confidents, to fecure the two attendants, and he viðlated the young lady, in fpite of all her cries and tears.

The doctor was long ignorant of the caufe of his daughter's abfence: he knew that she had entered the pagod, and had difappeared there. He demanded her: the Bonzes answered to all his requifitions, that it was very true fhe had entered the pagod, but that she had left it when fhe had finished her devotions. The doctor, who had been brought up in great contempt for the Bonzes, às are all the men of letters in China, wrote to the General of the Tartars of this province, and demanded juftice of him on the violators of his daughter. The Bonzes, who thought they fhould find an implicit confidence in these two men, informed them, in a mysterious manner, that the god F, having fallen in love with the _young lady, had carried her off. The Bonze, the principal in this intrigue, attempt ed next, by a pathetic harangue, to make the doctor comprehend what honour Fo had done to his whole family, in deeming his daughter worthy of his tenderness and fociety. But the Tartarian General was not to be fatisfied with these fictions. Proceeding to explore the moft concealed receffes of the pagod, he heard fome confufed cries iffue from the bottom of a hollow rock. He went to this place, and perceived an iron door, which closed the entrance of a cave. Having burft it open, he defcended into a fubterraneous place, where he found the doctor's daughter, and more than thirty other women, who had been imprisoned there. They left their prifon and the pagod; and, immediately after, the General fet fire to the four corners of this edifice, and burnt the temple, the altars, the gods, and their deteftable ministers *.

*Univerf. Mag.

The

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The Heetopades of Veefhnoo-Sarma. Translated from the Sanfkreet language, By Charles Wilkins.

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This work, fays Mr Wilkins, is the Sanskreet original of those celebrated fables, which, after paffing through most of the Oriental languages, ancient and modern, with various alterations to ac commodate them to the taste and genius of thofe for whose benefit or amusement they were defigned, and under different appellations, at length were introduced to the knowledge of the European world with a title importing them to have been originally written by Pilpay, or Bidpai, an ancient Brahman ; two names of which, as far as my quiries have extended, the Brahmans of the prefent times are totally ignorant. Sir William Jones, whofe furprising talents are ever employed in feeking frah fources of knowledge, and promoting their cultivation, in an elegant difcourfe, delivered by him the 26th of February 1786, fince my return from India, at a meeting of the Society for inquiring into the History, civil and natural, the Antiquities, Arts, Sciences, and Literature of Afia, ex preffes his fentiments upon this fubject in the following words :

"Their (the Hindoos) Neetee"Sastra, or System of Ethicks, is yet

"preferved, and the fables of Veefh "noo-Serma, whom we ridiculously "called Pilpay, are the most beauti "ful, if not the most ancient, collec"tion of the Apologues in the world : "They were firft tranflated from the "Sanskreet in the fixth century, by "Buzerchumihr, or Bright as the Sun, "the chief physician, and afterwards "the Vizeer of the great Anushirwan, "and are extant under various names "in more than twenty languages t "but their original title is Hitopadefa, "or Amicable Instruction; and as the very existence of Æfop, whom the "Arabs believed to have been an Abyflinian, appears rather doubtful, I

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am not difinclined to fuppofe, that the "first moral fables which appeared in Europe were of Indian or Ethiopian "origin."

connected fables, arranged under the The Heetopades is a collection of four following heads: The Acquifition of a Friend: The Separation of a Favourite: Of Difputing: And, Of Ma king Peace. As a fpecimen, we fubmit to our readers, a part of the introduc tion, and two or three of the fables.

INTRODUCTION.

"The Rajah Soodorfhana, having refpectfully delivered his fons into the charge of Veefhnoo-Sarma ‡, that learned Pandeet, foon after, feized the opportunity, when they were for amufement fitting together upon the

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*See Edin. Mag. Vol. II. p. 244. In the year 1709, the Perfian verfion of the Heetopades, made in the 515th year of the Hegira, was tranflated into French, with the title of Les Confeils et les Maximes de Pilpay Philofophe Indien fur les divers Etats de la vie. This edition refembles the Heetopades more than any other I have feen, and is evidently the immediate original of the English Inftructive and entertaining Fables of Pilpay, an ancient Indian Philofopher, which, in 1775, had gone through five editions. Tran

A great Pandeet, by name Veefbnoo-Sarma. Pandeet is an honorary title, given to learned Brahmans. A doctor of the Hindoo laws. A Hindoo philofopher It is not eafy to determine whether Verfbnoo-Sarma was really the author, or only the compiler of thefe Fables; but it is worthy of obfervation, that the Brahmans themselves know nothing of Pilpay, to whom, we are told, the Perfians attribute them.

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