chastity, but when it is found that they break it, then they are punished in the following manner:

They bore, a hole in his neck with a red hot iron, and thrust a chain through the wound, of about sixty feet in length, and in that deplorable condition, and naked as he was born, lead him all over the city, till he has collected a particular sum of money for the use of the convent to which he belongs. Another monk follows him, and whips him severely, when he attempts to lay hold of the chain to mitigate his pain. They have also nuns in China, but their number is very inconsiderable, in compari-, son with that of the monks; they have their heads shorn quite bare, nor are they suffered ever to go abroad.

The feast of lanterns is one of the most remarkable among the Chinese, and is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month every year. Every person is obliged, on the evening of that day, to set out a lantern before his door, and these are of various sizes and prices according to the different circumstances of those to whom they belong.During this festival, they have all sorts of entertainments, such as plays, balls, assemblies, dancing, music, and the lanterns are filled with a vast number of wax candles, and surrounded with bonfires. During the whole of the festival, it seldom happens that any irregularities take place; for excepting the monks already mentioned, the people are in general very sober, and obedient to their laws.

The Chinese ascribe the origin of this festival to the following melancholy occurrence: One evening, as the daughter of a mandarin was walking by the side of a river, she fell in and was drowned. The disconsolate father in order to recover the body, put out to sea, attended by all the people in the neighbourhood, each carrying lanterns; but, after a fruitless search, they were obliged to return. The mandarin was much beloved by the people, and therefore upon the annual return of the day, when this unhappy circumstance took place, all those who had known the young woman, went with lanterns to the sea side, so that in time it became an established custom.

But there are some others of the Chinese, who ascribe the origin of the festival of lanterns to a quite different cause. They say, that many hundred years ago, one of their emperors proposed to shut himself up along with his wives and concubines, in a most magnificent palace be had erected on purpose, and that he caused every window in the build, ing to be grandly illuminated with wax candles in lanterns, that he might have the pleasure to behold, as it were, a new sky, as a canopy over his head,--This occasioned an insurrection among the people, because the emperor neglected the affairs of govern ment, and they demolished the costly palace. That

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this shameful part of his conduct might never be forgotten, they hung out lanterns all over the town, and the practice has been kept up ever since.

They have another festival, at the time when the fruits of the earth are gathered in, and on that occa-. sion, the most solemn sacrifices are offered. In: every town throughout the empire, the chief magistrate, being crowned with flowers, marches out of the eastern gate attended by musicians, and a vast concourse of people, provided with flambeaux, colours, streamers, and other ensigns of dignity..

Several persons follow him, carrying figures or images, representing the invention and progress of agriculture, and the streets are adorned with trium-,, phal arches, hung with tapestry. The magistrate. advances towards the east, as if he intended to meet the new season, and before him appears the figura of a cow, made of burnt clay, and of such an enor mous size, that forty men are hardly able to bear it... On the back of the cow sits a beautiful boy alive, representing the genius of husbandry, with one leg bare, and the other covered with a thin buskin. The boy lashes the cow, and several peasants march behind, carrying with them the implements used in.. husbandry. All these are emblematical; the lashes the boy gives the cow, points out the necessity of labour in cultivating the fruits of the earth, and his. having one leg bare, and the other covered, is the symbol of hurry and diligence, which scarcely affords, to the industrious, time to dress.

When the procession arrives at the emperor's palace, all the flowers with which the cow is dressed, are taken off, and then her belly is opened, when: several little cows come out, and are distributed, among the people by the ministers of state, in order to remind them of the care and industry attending husbandry, and to admonish his subjects never to let.. any piece of ground lie fallow.

The goddess Quonin presides over all their household affairs, and the fruits of the earth, She is represented with an infant on each side of her, one of whom holds a cup in his hands, and the other has his hands closed one within the other. The goddess i whom the bachelors worship, is, called Chang-ko, and is held in great esteem by their learned men, as Minerva was by the Greeks and Romans..

The first day of the new year is celebrated with great pomp and splendour. There is a total cessation from business, the courts of justice are shut up, and the ports are stopped. Every one then makes merry, and partakes of the general joy. Solemn sacrifices are offered throughout the empire, and their gods are brought out and placed before their doors. It must, however, be observed, that, these. are household gods, and not, such as are placed in their temples, for the latter cannot be brought out, without leave of the emperor.

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consideration, we shall find much to commend and much to blame. The Deists have represented the Chinese religion as the most perfect in the universe, but upon a strict inquiry, it appears to be a systemof barbarism and heathenism. That they are well acquainted with some of the fine arts cannot be denied; but their religion is of such a nature, that unless some reformation takes place in their system, they will remain as they have hitherto done, a people secluded from the rest of the world; and indeed out of the way of improvement. To deduce any other inferences is altogether unnecessary; for those who know the value of the blessings they enjoy under the gospel, where life and immortality are brought to light, will look with an eye of pity on the highly reputed natives of China, and wish those people to share with them in happiness.

Before we dismiss this article concerning China, it may not be improper to say something concerning burying-grounds, especially as the right understanding of that subject will serve to remove some prejudices which too many labour under.

The ancient Greeks never suffered a dead body to be buried within the walls of their cities: they had fields appropriated for that purpose, at a considerable distance, and at the public expense.

The primitive Christians could not bury their dead within towns or cities, for they, being subjects of the Roman emperors, were obliged to comply with all their edicts, in things of a civil nature; it therefore remains for us to inquire at what time, and for what reason this practice first took place? So far as ecclesiastical history will direct us, it seems to have been towards the middle of the fifth century, owing to the veneration the Christians had for the remains of the martyrs. Those they picked up and piled round their churches; and others, who were professing Christians, desired to have their bo-dies-interred near the remains of those who had laid down their lives for the truth. Superstition was then beginning to gain ground in the Christian church, and the less than non-essentials of religion were considered as of a greater importance than the articles of faith and duty, upon which man's salvation depends. Corrupt priests found it conduced towards promoting the dignity of their characters, and considerable emoluments arose from it, in consequence of the fees that were paid. This practice has continued ever since in the church of Rome; and we have several instances in the reign of Henry the Eighth, of people having been committed to prison, where they died miserably for no other reason but that of refusing to pay money for the funeral rites.

Some of the greatest men, both in the last and the present age, have earnestly wished, that fees for the burying of the dead had been long sing abo

lished, especially in Protestant churches; but we wish for reformation long before it takes place.However, with respect to things of a religious nature, they are not what we have at present in view; instead of them we look towards utility, and the promoting of public safety.

Whatever may be the consequences of burying bodies in church-yards, certainly the practice of interring them in churches must be of a very pernicious nature. In Italy, the smell arising from the corrupted bodies, often interrupts the devotions; nor need we be much surprised if the plague, or some such epidemical distemper, was to break out in the country. In the original judgment pronounced upon our first parents, we find the words, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return;" but such is the vanity, such the pride of mortals, that they cannot bear the thoughts of their near relations being consigned to the silent grave. Like the Egyptians of old, they would have them kept above the ground; but alas! they cannot preserve them from corruption. Nay, it will, and frequently does happen, that the churches in which they are buried, fall to the ground, and the author of this work has seen whole cart loads of dead bodies taken in their coffins from vaults, and thrown down in a promiscuous heap in the fields.

Would it not, therefore, be much better to have a field purchased at the public expense, near every town and city, to deposit the dead bodies of our dearest relations? Surely it would; but here we must state a particular objection:

Those who stand up in defence of the burying of dead bodies in church-yards, being fairly beaten out of all the assistance they vainly imagined to procure from the Greek and Roman historians, have had recourse to what they call a natural principle. They tell us, that men desired to have their remains deposited near the spot where they offered up their prayers and praises to the Divine Being. In proof of this, they produce the practice of the ancient Druids, who buried their relations near the confines of their temples. Plausible as this objection may seem, yet it will not require much force of argument to overthrow it.

The temples of the Druids were piles of stones, set up in a circular form, far from towns and cities, and the bodies being buried deep in the earth, no evil consequences could arise from a noxious smell, but many of our burying grounds are in the most conspicuous parts of our cities, and thousands of coffins, with their mortal contents, are left above ground, to the disgrace of humanity and civil polity. But allowing the argument to hold good, let it be granted that the Druids did so, what has Christians to do with it? Life and immortality being now brought to light by the gospel, we have an

assurance, that our bodies will be raised at the general resurrection, and then what does it signify to us where they were deposited. It is nothing to the Christian whether his body is cast into the sea, or laid up in a monument of Parian marble, whether it is trodden under the feet of men, who are a disgrace to humanity, or enshrined behind the altar of a cathedral church. That respect should be shewn to the ashes of the dead, is certainly consistent with all those grand ideas we form of the divine benevolence, because man is the image of his divine maker; but that it should be exercised at the expence of the living, is contrary to moral justice and common

sense. From the whole, we may draw the following conclusions. First, that it is our duty to deposit the dead bodies of our fellow-creatures in a decent manuer. Secondly, that to lay their dead bodies in vaults above ground, is contrary to the original order of God. Thirdly, that the having buryinggrounds in towns and cities, may be attended with very dangerous consequences; and lastly, that it is the duty of the state to have common buryinggrounds in every part of the nation, and that no fees should be exacted from those who are unable to pay.

THESE ancient nations, of which history is in many respects silent, worship the same gods, though under different forms, as those adored by the Bramins: and, in general, their religion is called Banian, and the people Banians. This is not a term of reproach, but a word that signifies gravity, reverence, or strictness, in allusion to the great austerities they observe, both in their temples and in their private lives. And first, of their hermits, for they are much esteemed in those parts. This sect was first founded by Rhevan, whom the god Ram deposed, to revenge the indignities offered to his wife Sita, and be, became their patriarch. These hermits are called Faquirs, which signify holy recluses, or such as have denied to live in human society. They live retired in woods and caves, feeding on roots, herbs, fruits, &c. and sometimes the shepherds bring them a piece of bread, for they must not, on any account, whatever, eat flesh,

They are in such repute for their sanctity, that devotees will sometimes travel two or three days to ask them questions; and so far are many of the women divested of shame, that they will even kiss their privy parts. A gentleman who visited these parts about ten years ago, actually saw this done by a lady, after she had travelled above three days to inquire of the hermit whether she should have children. Strange and incredible as this may appear, yet there are many persons alive who can witness the truth of it; nay, and many things more extravagant, ridiculous, and abominable in their nature.

Their pagods, or altars, where they worship their idols, are, for the most part, built under tall trees, and the name o one of them is Mamnaniva, shaped

in a monstrous form. To this idol, the votaries bring their free-will offerings of rice, millet, and several sorts of fruit, and whoever comes to offer up their sacrifices before their god Mamaniva, are marked by the hermit on the head with vermillion. The moment they receive this tincture, they imagine that the devil can have no power over them, and that all manner of temptations will be rendered ineffectual.

In the same grove, and at a small distance, stands another pagod, or altar, dedicated to the god Ram, whose image is represented under the figure of a cow. At all these places, the hermits receive gifts from the people, who come in great numbers to worship. Some of these hermits, or faquirs, retire one after another into the most gloomy caverns, where no light can come but through a small crevice, and there they stand in one posture, from day to day, during a whole week, without tasting any sort of refreshment. Others spend whole years together, without so much as reposing themselves on the ground; for when sleep overpowers them, they: lean against a cord, fixed by each end to the branches of a tree. Some of them do penance, by standing ten or twelve hours a day, with one foot extended, and their eyes stedfastly fixed on the sun. At the same time they hold a censer in their hands, filled with burning incense; and others sit squatting on their posteriors, with their legs under them, and their arms wreathed over their heads in a variety of frantic postures.

It has been generally allowed, that these Indian devotees would sink under the force of such penances, were it not for some assistance from art, for unless