was no such thing as reading or writing among them, and now they are for teaching their

masters.

SIXTH DIALOGUE.

CU-SU. I shall not repeat to you the common places, which for these five or six thousand years past, have been retailed among us, relating to all the several virtues. Some there are which only concern ourselves, as prudence in the guidance of our soul, temperance in the government of our bodies; but these are rather dictates of policy, and care of health: the real virtues are those which promote the welfare of society, as fidelity, magnanimity, beneficence, toleration, &c. and, thank heaven, these are the first things which every woman, among us, teaches her children; they are the rudiments of the rising generation, both in town and country; but I am sorry to say it, there is a great virtue which is sadly on the decline among us. Kou. Quickly name it, and no endeavour of mine shall be wanting to revive it.

Cu-su. It is hospitality; for since inns have got footing among us, this so social virtue, this sacred tie of mankind, becomes more and more relaxed: that pernicious institution, I am told, we have borrowed from some western savages; who, probably, have no houses to entertain travellers. My heart melts with delight when I have the happiness of entertaining, in the vast city of Lou, in Honcham, that superb square, or my delicious seat of Ki, some generous stranger come from Samarcande, to whom, from that moment, I become sacred, and who, by all laws human and divine, is bound to en

tertain

tertain me, on any call I may have into Tartary, and to be my cordial friend.

The savages I am speaking of do not admit strangers into their huts, filthy as they are, without their paying, and dearly too, for such sordid reception; and yet those wretches, I hear, think themselves above us, and that our morality is nothing in comparison of theirs. Their preachers excel Confutzee himself; in a word, they alone know what true justice is, and a sign of it is, they sell on the roads some sophisticated stuff for wine, and their women, as if mad, rove about the streets, and dance, whilst ours are breeding silk-worms.

Kou. I very much approve of hospitality, and the practice of it gives me pleasure; but I am afraid it will be much abused. Near Thibet dwells a people, who, besides the badness of their habitations, being of a roving disposition, will, on any trifle, go from one end of the world to the other; and, on your having occasion to go to Thibet, so far from returning your hospitality, they have nothing to set before you, nor so much as a bed for you to lie on; this is enough to put one out of conceit with courtesy.

Cu-su. These disappointments may easily be remedied, by entertaining such persons only as come well recommended. Every virtue has its difficulties and dangers, and without them the practice of virtue would want much of its glory and excellence. How wise and holy is our Confutzee? There is not a virtue which he does not inculcate; every sentence of his is pregnant with the happiness of mankind: one, at present, recurs to me, I think it is the fiftythird:

"Kind

"Kindnesses acknowledge with kindness, and never revenge injuries."

What maxim, what law, can the western people bring in competition with such exalted morality? Then in how many places, and how strongly, does he recommend humility? Did this amiable virtue prevail among men, there would be a total end of all quarrels and broils.

Kou. I have read all that Confutzee, and the sages before him, have said about humility; but none of them, I think, have been sufficiently accurate in their definition of it. There may, perhaps, be but little humility in taking on one to censure them; but, with all due humility, I own that they are beyond my comprehension. What is your idea of humility?

Cu-su. Humility I take to be mental modefty; for as to external modefty, it is no more than civility. Humility cannot consist in denying to one's self that superiority vhich we may have acquired above another. An able physician cannot but be sensible that he is possessed of a knowledge infinitely beyond his delirious patient. The teacher of astronomy must necessarily think himself more learned than his scholar; but they must not pride themselves in their superior talents. Humility is not debasement, but a corrective to self-love, as modesty is the temperament to pride,

Kou. Well, it is in the practice of all these virtues, and the worship of one simple and universal God, that I propose to live, far from the chimeras of fophists, and the illusion of false prophets. The love of mankind shall be my virtue, and the love of God my religion. As to

the

the god Fo, and Laotzee, and Vitsnou, who has so often become incarnate among the Indians, and Sammonocodom, who came down from heaven to fly a kite among the Siamese, together with the Camis, who went from the moon to visit Japan; I cannot endure such impious fooleries.

How weak, and at the same time how cruel, is it for a people to conceit that there is no god but with them only! it is downright blafphemy. The light of the fun irradiates all nations, and the light of God shines only in a little insignificant tribe in a corner of this globe. That ever such a thought could enter the mind of man! The Deity fpeaks to the heart of all men of all nations, and they should, from one end of the universe to the other, be linked together in the bonds of charity.

Cu-su. O wise Kou! you have spoke like one inspired by the Chang-ti himself; you will make a worthy prince. From being my pupil you are become my teacher.

THE JAPANESE CATECHISM.

THE INDIAN.

Is it so, that formerly the Japanese knew no

thing of cookery; that they had submitted their kingdom to the great Lama; that this great Lama arbitrarily prescribed what they fhould eat and drink; that he used, at times, to send to you an inferior Lama for receiving the tributes, who, in return, gave you a sign of protection, which he made with his own fore-fingers and thumb ?

THE

THE JAPANESE.

Alas! it is but too true; nay, all the places of the Canusi, or the chief cooks of our island, were disposed of by the Lama, and the love of God was quite out of the question. Farther, every house of our seculars paid annually an ounce of silver to this head-cook of Thibet, whilst all the amends we had was some small plates of RELICS, and these none of the best tasted; and on every new whim of his, as making war against the people of Tangut, we were saddled with fresh subsidies. Our nation frequently complained, but all we got by it was to pay the more for presuming to complain. At length love, which does every thing for the best, freed us from this galling thraldom, One of our emperors quarrelled with the great Lama about a woman; but it must be owned that they who in this affair did us the best turn, were our Canusi, or Pauxcospies; it is to them that, in fact, we owe our deliverance, and it happened in this

manner:

The great Lama, forfooth, insisted on being always in the right; our Dairi and Canusi would have it that sometimes, at least, they might be in the right. This claim the great Lama derided, as an absurdity; on which our gentry, being as stiff as he was haughty, broke with him for

ever.

IND. Well, ever since you have had golden days, I suppose?

JAP. Far from it; for near two hundred years there was nothing but perfecutions, violences, and bloodshed among us. After all our

Canusis