2 THE TITLE-WHY CHOSEN. brought into a small compass. I therefore purpose to point out, and to pick out, for your advantage, what will most amuse you, and what is best deserving of your attention. You cannot but see the reasonableness and seasonableness of my plan, therefore, I say, "Points and Pickings" for ever! Hardly, do I think, that I could have chosen a better title. "Points and Pickings!" It is clear, from the very words that I am not going to put you off with a humdrum account which might send you to sleep. If my book be not full of good information, good feeling, and good temper, it will not be the book I intend to make it. Mine will not be a history of China and of the Chinese people, but a careful, correct, and sprightly selection of such things as will afford young people the most pleasure and the most profit. I see now, that you begin to like my title, "Points and Pickings" almost as well as I do myself. "Points and Pickings" is a is a phrase so capable of general application, that I should not much wonder if it grew into a sort of proverb.-" Have you read Points and Pickings?"" will, I hope, be a question, among young people, almost as common as "What o'clock is it?" Every boy knows the difference between a hat-full of brown shellers, slipped of their husks, and a hat-full, partly made up of husks and leaves. Look at one heap of apples, some of them unripe, some decayed, and NO COUNTRY LIKE OLD ENGLAND. 3 some worm-eaten; and at another heap of sound, red-streaked, cherry-cheekers, all picked with care from the laden boughs of the tree. There is no comparison between the one and the other. The picked hat-full and the picked heap recommend themselves to everybody. "Points and Pickings!" There is something so novel, attractive, and promising, withal, in this title, that those who take up the book will not, I trust, soon lay it down again. It seems to set forth variety, and to say, if one chapter suits you not, try another! I will try to please you, and I hope you will be pleased without trying. The more I tell you of the great empire of China, the more, I trust, you will like Great Britain. Were I called on to decide what people beneath the stars are most worthy of estimation, I should certainly point to my own countrymen; and were I required to choose the best out of all the kingdoms of the earth, you may be sure that I should pick out Old England. Old England! I loved thee in childhood and youth, I will fling thee my blessing, thou loved of my heart! As I wish to give you all the information I can of the Celestial Empire, I shall not take up your 4 CHINA PROPER-ITS SIZE, time with a long story about myself, for it cannot matter to you two straws whether I went out to China as commissioner, or missionary; as ambassador, or secretary; or whether my object was to persuade the Hong merchants to supply us with tea on better terms, or to compel "Reason's Glory," the Emperor, to listen to reason. The better way will be for me to leave these matters to your consideration; and if you should find out, at last, that I am a much greater man than you now suppose, and that my object was much more important and benevolent than you have ever imagined, I hereby promise not to be offended at your discovery. The whole empire of China, or that portion of the globe over which the Emperor of China rules, occupies, by common report, a space of five millions of square miles; and when I tell you, that China Proper alone comprises more than four thousand walled cities, you will hardly expect me to be familiar with all of them. If I have made myself acquainted with one half the number, you will allow that some credit is due to me; and if you will make yourself well acquainted with the other half, I will then admit that some credit is due to you. Think not, because I write with a cheerful spirit and in a lively style, that my descriptions are not to be relied on. You shall have truth at my hands. I will neither represent the tails of the Chinamen to be an inch longer, nor the feet of IMPORTANCE, AND INTEREST. 5 the Chinawomen to be a hair's breadth shorter, than they really are. The palace of Pekin, the Porcelain-tower at Nankin, and the Boat-town near Canton, shall all be represented in their proper places, and neither the height of a mountain, nor the length of a river, shall be wilfully increased or diminished. If you know anything of China, I hope you will admit the correctness of my descriptions; and, if you know nothing of it, I trust that my little volume will, in some degree, supply the deficiency. That China is a wonderful country will not be called in question; nor is it less apparent that late events have rendered it of increasing importance to Great Britain. Some knowledge of it, then, becomes interesting, if not necessary to all; and you would hardly like to be found ignorant of that which other young people know. Let me here make a general remark that you may find particularly useful: China is sometimes spoken of as the Empire of China, which includes China Proper, Chinese Tartary, and Thibet; or, as others describe it, China Proper, Mantchouria, Songaria, Little Bucharia, Mongolia, and Corea; but generally, when China is spoken of, nothing more is meant than China Proper. My "Points and Pickings" will relate to this latter country. China is bounded on two sides by the Pacific Ocean; but this great body of water is so broken into gulfs that it hardly looks like a sea. One of 6 THE PAVILION AT BRIGHTON. these gulfs, the Yellow Sea, is bounded by Tartary and Corea; and another, the Sea of China, is bounded by Formosa, Borneo, and the Philippines; but there is nothing like examining thoroughly the map of any country that you wish well to understand. If you have seen the Pavilion at Brighton, no doubt you have gazed, with all your eyes, on the illuminated staircases; the ceilings on which are painted the flying dragon, enwreathed with serpents, the four bats, and Chinese bird of royalty; the golden dome; the sparkling glass pagoda; the bamboo couches; the splendid canopy; and the stained-glass skylight, where the Chinese mythological God of Thunder is represented in brilliant hues. All these are very fine; but to see things to the best advantage, they must be in their proper places. I like to see the polar bear on an iceberg; the tiger in a jungle; the lion in the desert; and Chinese curiosities at Pekin. But go the shortest way you will, it is a long way to China. I found it so. Take my advice, then, and remain at home till Taou-Kwang, the Celestial Emperor, Imperial Brother to the Sun, and Cousin-german to the Moon, sends you an invitation. This will save you a great deal of time, a great deal of expense, and a great deal of vexation. I have just heard that a Chinese Ambassador, a real, live Mandarin, in the plenitude of authority, is on the eve of exhibiting his red |