LOO A-LEE ESCORTED INTO THE CITY.

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been the case if she had gone there when the Emperor fled. But from the secret and sudden manner in which her Majesty took her departure, with only one confidential maid of honour, all of us who were left behind are of opinion that she did not accompany her husband, but remains in seclusion in the imperial palace at Peking, to aid Prince Kung, her brother-in-law, in managing affairs of state during the Emperor's absence, She is a woman of great intelligence, and better able to govern the nation than her husband. I know that she counselled him to make peaceful terms with your great men, and not to torture the prisoners at Yuen-ming-yuen. But he was inexorable, and the consequences, alas! are that he had to fly for safety, while the palaces have been destroyed where I have spent so many happy years of my life."

Saying this she became sad, and mourned over the past. "Cheer up, Loo A-Lee," I said in the best Chinese I could command; "it is all for our good. The day may not be far distant when both you and I shall rejoice over the circumstances that have brought us together."

In encouraging conversation of this kind, I soon restored her to a happier frame of mind, until we reached the British lines before the northern walls of Peking, when I deemed it judicious to close the blinds of the sedan chair, so that the prying eyes of my comrades might not see my fair companion within. As it was, the idlers about the camp chaffed me considerably, for they conjectured that the inmate of the chair was a female. When we reached the An-ting gate the sentry challenged our party, but when I exhibited my pass we were allowed to enter the city.

As we passed along the main street, it was so densely crowded that I got jostled on the way as I walked on the

right side of the chair. But this I found was a common practice of the Chinese, as I had often to make my way along the thoroughfare by holding up a stick in front of the passengers' faces, to make them keep to one side. However, as I was doing a delicate duty, and not wishing to get into trouble, I walked behind the chair with my sword over the left arm, and revolver handy to the right side.

From the gates of Peking we passed along a wide street that leads through the Tartar district of the city, having other streets equally wide crossing it at right angles. The houses were all one-storied, and not in good order. There were shops of all sorts, with open fronts, or windows of close lattice, covered with thin white paper on the inside; from butchers, who dealt in raw meat, as at home, in carcases, chiefly mutton and pork, to "chow-chow" shops, where meat pies were made and dressed. Then came hat shops, grocers' shops, ready-made clothes' shops, druggists, and the hundred-and-one trades that go to supply the necessities of a large city. Numerous customers were buying, and the hum and bustle reminded me of the busy streets in the east end of London.

The whole of the central causeway was occupied by a dense moving mass, composed of operatives in every department of active life. Tinkers, cobblers, blacksmiths, barbers, were there with their locomotive shops; and booths and tents were erected on the kerb of the footway for the sale of tea, fruit, rice, and vegetables, so that little space remained for foot-passengers. There were public officers with their retinues bearing canopies, lanterns, flags, and numerous insignia of rank and station; coffins attended by mourners clad in white; and brides conveyed in glittering palanquins, the cries of sorrow from one procession being occasionally

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drowned by the shouts of exultation and peals of music that ascended from the other. Mixed with these were troops of camels or dromedaries led by their drivers from the country, laden with produce; besides wheelbarrows, and hand-carts, and an immense concourse, literally struggling for liberty to go in pursuit of their ways or their wants.

After passing through this great thoroughfare the chairbearers turned into a comparatively quiet street, where there

dwellings was visible from the road, as they were mostly surrounded by high brick walls. It was only when abreast of the entrance gates that a glimpse of the buildings within could be obtained.

At length we stopped at one of these gates of ornamental trellis-work, and the front chair-bearer knocked for admit

tance. A doorkeeper seated inside, smoking his longstemmed brass pipe, undid the bars, and the sedan-chair was carried into the vestibule. As I was about to follow, the porter was going to close the gates in my face, but a sweet voice from the chair ordered him to forbear. He recognised his young mistress's voice, and with a smile and a bow allowed me to enter.

From the vestibule we went through an intricate dark passage, which led to an open court, or rather garden, with ornamental rockwork, water, and flowers. Around were the apartments appropriated exclusively to the accomodation of the family. Here the sedan-chair was set down, and Loo A-Lee stepped out, ordering the chair-bearers to proceed to the kitchen for some refreshment.

"Welcome, noble stranger," she then said, “to my father's house! When he knows how bravely you have rescued me from the doomed palace of Yuen-ming-yuen, he will be more profound in thanks than I, but he cannot feel so grateful as I do for your protection and kindness. And now I must go and see if my father is at home. I am afraid he is not, for he should have made his appearance by this time. Indeed, I fear there is something wrong in the house, for it seems so deserted. Wait here until I return," and with that she entered one of the apartments.

I sat down on a porcelain seat in the garden,before a table of the same ware, and did not wait long before Loo A-Lee returned with an old duenna, stating that her father and friends were in great tribulation as to her safety, and had that day gone out to search for her, but had not yet come back. After obtaining some refreshments I bade her adieu, and hastened back to the camp, passing the city gates just before they were closed.

Antiquity of Chinese Architecture.-Charming appearance of the Mandarin's Daughter in her own home. My reception by her father and relations.-Interesting conversation on social life in China. -An entertainment as among the upper classes.-Dinner with theatrical performance.

A

CCORDING to promise, I paid a visit next day to the Mandarin's house. On that occasion I had an opportunity of examining more minutely its internal arrangements, as affording a most satisfactory idea of the mode of living prevalent in China. I was struck with the remarkable resemblance between the plan of the building, and the domestic architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans as illustrated in the exhumed houses of Pompeii. That the Chinese did not import their notions from Europe may be unhesitatingly admitted; whence it follows, there exists at the present day in China, in all its primitive truthfulness, the same description of dwelling, and probably nearly similar habits of life, which are regarded with so much wonder in the crumbling fragments of the buried city. Not only is this the case with the styles of building, but there is a similarity in their furnishings, ornaments and culinary utensils, which is also remarkable. And when it is remembered that this mode of building and style of living is as ancient as those in the