kinds of Works; and particularly in their [a] artificial Flowers [6] We came hither by the Command, or rather by the Permission of the Emperor. An Officer was affigned to condu&t us; and they made us believe, that he would defray our Expences: But the latter was only in Words; for, in Effect, the Expence was almost wholly out of our own Pockets. Half of the Way we came by Water; and both eat and lodged in our Boats: And what seemed odd enough to us was, that by the Rules of Good-breeding received among them, we were not allowed ever to go afhore, or even to look out of the Windows of our covered boats to obferve the Face of the Country, as we paffed along. We made the latter Part of our Journey in a Sort of Cage, which they were pleased to call a Litter. In this too we were shut up all Day long; and at Night carried into our Inns; (and very wretched Inns they are!) and thus we got to Pekin, with our Curiofity quite unfatisfied, and with feeing but very little more of the Country, than if we had been shut up all the while in our own Chambers. [a] These are chiefly made of Feathers; coloured and formed fo exactly like real Flowers, that one is often apt to forget one's felf, and finell to them. The famous Signora Vannimano, at Rome, (fo many of whofe Works in this kind are continually brought Home by our Gentlemen who travel to that City,) at firft learned her Art from fome which were fent from China, by the Jefuits, as a prefent to the then Pope. [6] Here is a Page or two omitted, as relating only to their private Affairs. Indeed Indeed they fay, that the Country we passed is but a bad Country; and that, though the Jourmey is near 2000 Miles, there is but little to be met with on the Way that might deferve much Attention: Not even any Monuments, or Buildings, except fome Temples for their Idols; and those built of Wood, and but one Story high: The chief Value and Beauty of which feemed to confift in fome bad Paintings, and very indifferent Varnish works. Indeed any one that is just come from seeing the Buildings of France and Italy, is apt to have but little Tafte, or Attention, for. whatever he may meet with in the other Parts of the World. However, I must except, out of this Rule, the Palace of the Emperor of Pekin, and his PleafureHoufes; for in them every thing is truly great and beautiful, both as to the Defign and the Execution; and they ftruck me the more, because I had never seen any thing that bore any manner of Refemblance to them in any Part of the World that I had been in before. I should be very glad, if I could make fuch a Description of these, as would give you any just Idea of them; but that is almost impoffible; because there is nothing in the whole, which has any Likeness to our manner of Building, or our Rules of Architecture. The only way to conceive what they are, is to fee them; and if I can get any Time, I am refolved to draw fome Parts of them as exactly as I can, and fend them into Europe. The The Palace is, at least, as big as [c] Dijon ; which City I choose to name to you, because you are fo well acquainted with it. This Palace confifts of a great Number of different Pieces of Building; detached from one another, but difpofed with a great deal of Symmetry and Beauty. They are separated from one another by vaft Courts, Plantations of Trees, and Flower-Gardens. The principal Front of all these Buildings fhines with Gilding, Varnish-work, and Paintings; and the Infide is furnished and adorned with all the most beautiful and valuable Things that could be got. in China, the Indies, and even from Europe. As for the Pleafure-houses, they are really charming. They ftand in a vaft Compafs of Ground. They have raised Hills from Twenty to Sixty Feet high; which form a great Number of little Valleys between them. The Bottoms of thefe Valleys are watered with clear Streams; which run on till they join together, and form larger Pieces of Water and Lakes: They pass thefe Streams, Lakes, and Rivers, in beautiful and magnificent Boats: I have feen one, in particular, Seventy-eight Feet long, and Twenty-four Feet broad, with a very handfome Houfe raised upon it. In each of thefe Valleys, there are Houses about the Banks of the Water, very well difpofed; with their different Courts, open and clofe Porticos, Parterres, Gardens, and Cafcades; which, when viewed all together, have an admirable Effect upon the Eye. [c] A handfome City in France; and the Capital one in the Province of Burgundy; between Three and Four Miles round. They They go from one of the Valleys to another, not by formal ftrait Walks as in Europe; but by various Turnings and Windings, adorned on the Sides with little Pavilions and charming Grottos; and each of thefe Valleys is diverfified from all the reft, both by their manner of laying out the Ground, and in the Structure and Difpofition of its Buildings. All theRifings and Hills are fprinkled with Trees; and particularly with Flowering Trees, which are here very common. The Sides of the Canals, or leffer Streams, are not faced (as they are with us) with fmooth Stone, and in a ftrait Line; but look rude and ruftic, with different Pieces of Rock, some of which jut out, and others recede inwards; and are placed with fo much Art, that you would take it to be the Work of Nature. In fome Parts the Water is wide, in others narrow; here it ferpentifes, and there fpreads away, as if it was really pushed off by the Hills and Rocks. The Banks are fprinkled with Flowers, which rise up even through the Hollows in the Rock work, as if they had been produced there naturally. They have a great Variety of them, for every Seafon of the Year. Beyond thefe Streams there are always Walks, or rather Paths, paved with fmall Stones; which lead from one Valley to another. Thefe Paths too are irregular; and fometimes wind along the Banks of the Water, and at others run out wide from them. On your Entrance into each Valley, you fee its Buildings before you. All the Front is a Colonnade, with Windows between the Pillars. The Woodwork is gilded, painted, and varnished. The Roofs too are covered with varnished 'Tiles of different Colours; red, yellow, blue, green, and purple; which, by their proper Mixtures, and their Manner of placing them, form an agreeable Variety of Compartments and Defigns. Almost all these Buildings are only one Story high; and their Floors are raised from Two to Eight Feet above the Ground. You go up to them not by regular Stone Steps, but by a rough Sort of Rock-work, formed as if there had been so many Steps produced there by Nature. The Infide of the Apartments answers perfectly to their Magnificence without. Befide their being very well difpofed, the Furniture and Ornaments are very rich, and of an exquifite Tafte. In the Courts and Paffages, you see Vases of Brass, Porcelain, and Marble filled with Flowers; and before some of these Houses, instead of naked Statues, they have feveral of their hieroglyphical Figures of Animals, and Urns with perfumes burning in them, placed upon Pedestals of Marble. Nobleman in Eu- Every Valley, as I told you before, has its Pleasure-house; fmall indeed in Refpect to the whole Inclofure; but yet large enough to be capable of receiving the greatest rope, with all his Retinue. Houses are built of Cedar, which they bring, with great Expence, at the Distance of 1500 Miles from this Place. And now how many of these Palaces do you think there are, in all the Valleys of |