495

Hamilton’s account of the east in'Dies,

I heard a pleafant and true ftory about the famous chunghee, who died in anno 1723,and the chungtock of Fokien , who was alive in anno 1700, which I had from Mr.le Blanc, a French miffionary, as well as from fome eminent China merchants, and ithappened about the year 1690, the chungtock being then chungnae, or deputy-gover-nor of the ifland of Quamoy, that ifland having about 30,000 inhabitants, not reckon-ing women and children; they were all poor, and had their fuftenance by their hardlabour, in manuring the ground and fiffiing.

A great part of the ifland being low and marfhy, by the overflowings of fpring-tides,made travelling very incommodious. The chungcoun being a man of pleafure, couldnot bear living at home in rainy weather or fpring-tides, and in going to hunt, he wasobliged to go a great way about, before he could reach the places where the game was.

One day in council he propofed to take one half of the miferable inhabitants fromtheir daily labour, to bring ftones from fome neighbouring mountains, to build a bridgeor caufey over the morafs, which was above three leagues long, and being the Em-peror ’s work, it inuft be done gratis.

The chungnae oppofed it, laying down the difficulty, if not the impoffib’lity for'thofepoor people to carry on fuch a work, which could not be finilhed in lefs than three years.He laid before the council, .that the inhabitants could hardly live by their labour, whenevery one of them were employed, and how could they fubfift on the labour of one half;that he could forefee the ruin of the whole by taking off the half from their manuringthe land, and fiftiing. However, it was put to the vote, and the chungcoun carried it,on which the chungnae laid down his commiffion, and protefted that he would not be ac-ceffary to the deftruction of fo many innocents, whom he forefaw would be wroughtand ftarved to death, and fo bade the chungcoun, and the reft of the council adieu.

The chungnae having fpent moft of his time in the ftudy of letters and philofophy,had made a good progrefs in both, and having a fmall fortune of ten or twelve fhoulandtayels in money, took a journey to Pecking, to try if he could get into fome convenientpoll in the government there, but found that none was to be got without friends andmoney, fo that he took a refolution to lead a private life on thejntereft of his money,and to follow his ftudies ; and hiring a chamber in a bye-lane of the city, he fell to writinga trad of moral philofophy, being well qualified in writing a good hand, and a goodftyle. He began to write on the imbecility of human nature, when our paffions weremore followed than reafon; of the difmal confequences of tyranny when fupported bypower, and feveral other fuch ufeful and commendable topics, and having carried hiswork pretty well forward, one morning he went to a neighbour’s houfe to drink tea,and forgot to ffiut his chamber door or windows, which being on the lower ftory of thehoufe, and facing the lane, any body that paffed by could fee what was in the room.

The Emperor had gone abroad that morning incognito, to hear what news paft cur-rent in the city, and accidentally came into that lane while the gentleman was at his tea,and looking in at the window faw a book lying open on the table, and the writingfeemed to be extraordinary fine, which made him have the curiofity to enter at the door,and to fit reading till the owner fhould come in, that he might know both the fubjedtwritten on, and the author.

It is the cuftom in China for a ftranger to read on any book that he fees lying on atable. If it be a merchant’s book of accounts, they take that liberty; and the Emperor having read above half an hour, was mightily pleafed with the fine writing, and inge-nious-refle&ions made on each fubjech by the author. At laft the gentleman came in,and was furprifed to find another in his chamber, but the Emperor addreffed him in. fo.

a . obliging