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of my drunken valet; who propped up in bed, with the hard corners of a portmanteau grinding against his back, exhibited a woful example of the pernicious effects of intemperance.

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«I must be off, I exclaimed, springing from my bed. « Will the Signora (said I, apostrophizing the hag Rugorna) 'have the kindness to give me a bowl of coffee, and to order the postilion to prepare for instantaneous departure?'

"His eccellenza will surely tarry for another night's sport.'

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"Sono desesperato!' I replied, 'on some other occasion I shall be enchanted; but pressing business, affairs of importance, compel me now to return forthwith to Rome.'

But his eccellenza's cameriere is in a state of high fever,' expostulated the leech, it is impossible for him to travel.'

To your excellent care do I recommend him,' said I, and pray your acceptance of this trifle for the trouble he may cause you.'

« I made a handsome present to the capitano. Rugorna, delighted beyond all bounds at my liberality to her, overwhelmed me with blessings. I leapt into my carriage. Away it whirled. The Pontine Marshes were past. The gates of Rome are gained! and never shall I forget the sensations of delight that I experienced at finding myself again at my poor lodging in the Piazza di Spagna. »

And what, sir, was the fate of the victim of intemperance?» asked a serious, hard-featured man, arrayed in black, who had listened to this narration with such intensity as to border on the ridiculous.

Oh! he was only a Swiss-so what signifies it? » replied the Attaché, « Uno avulso, non deficit alter. If one scoundrelly Swiss be cut off, a thousand other mercenary vagabonds are waiting to draw on the dead man's boots.

41 The rogue lost them not, however,» said the Frenchman, .but lives and flourishes. Towards the close of the third day after my return from La Grand Chasse, I was reclining in a luxurious fauteuil, enveloped in a short robe-de-chambre, with my slippered feet basking in the genial glow diffused by a blazing pile of beech logs. On a small table the Château Mar

gaux; and to impart zest and flavour to my potations were a serviette of roasted chesnuts, a jar of Guava jelly, and a compotier of West-Indian confitures. My meditations were disturbed by a boisterous knocking at the street-door. A heavy trampling of feet on the staircase shook the house. My sanctum sanctorum was rudely invaded, and my friend the Gran Cacciatore stood before me.

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I inquired to what fortunate circumstance I was indebted for the pleasure of his visit? and also if by any chance my precious valet was still in the land of the living?

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'Tis with him I came, illustrissimo,' was the reply, 'lest he should again fall into the snares of drunkenness. There is no vice so abominable, little Luigi,' said I, as the sly varlet last night topped off a bowl of undeniable punch.

There is

no vice more abominable under the sun,' said I, and none more degrading to the moral character of man than the love of the wine-skin! Ha! I hear even now the footsteps of the merry birboni on the staircase. Lo, they come!'

« In they came, the merry birboni! First, the gigantic Anselmo, with his brawny arm wound around the waist, and supporting the tottering footsteps of my recreant valet; who, with blood-shot eyes, black and blistered lips, and flushed face, resembled a fiend rather than a Christian. He dared not to encounter my severe looks, but staggered, haud passibus æquis, abashed and ashamed, into a corner. Then in strode the herculean Tommaso and the fierce Leopoldo, laden from head to foot with strings of wild-ducks. Proud of their booty, they strewed ducks, here, and there, and every where on the fauteuils, on the ottomans, and on the carpet.

His eccellenza had no idea that his sport had been so productive,' exclaimed the capitano, as with unfeigned astonishment I gazed to the right and to the left, and saw nought but ducks every where. 'And by the immortal soul of Pius Sextus, who, by cutting canals through the Pontine Marshes did more injury than any of his predecessors to the poveri cacciatori, and half ruined them in their honest calling-by the beatified soul of his holiness, one hundred and seventeen wild-ducks is no bad sport!

«‘But I, I, I, never shot all these ducks,' I stammered forth with diffident hesitation.

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By the holy house of Loretto, excellenza did.—But time presses, and I must be off, or old Rugorna will wonder what has become of me. A rivederlo, Illustrissimo! May you live a thousand years.' He shook my hand with an iron gripe, and stalked out of the room, followed by his gigantic satellites.

There I stood, blowing and shaking my fingers in an agony of pain, and with conflicting feelings of wrath against my guilty valet, and confusion at the heaps upon heaps of ducks, which quenched the odours of my esprit de millefleurs; and reflected, that for days to come I should be obliged to have duck for breakfast, duck for luncheon, duck for dinner, duck for supper, duck in every form, and duck in every guise and disguise, to the end of the chapter, in addition to my original ducking.

(SPORTING MAGAZINE.)

RELIGION IN CHINA.

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The Chinese have no generic word for religion. The word Keaou, which means to teach, or the things taught, doctrine or instruction, is indeed applied by them to the religious sects of Taou and Budha, as well as to the ethical sect of Confucius. And they apply this same word also to Mahommedans and Christians. But they do not apply it to the state religion, for that does not consist of doctrines which are to be taught, learned, and believed, but of rites and ceremonies. It is entirely a bodily service, which, however, tacitly implies the belief of some opinions, though to have correct opinions, according to some prescribed rule or article of faith, forms no article of the system. The state religion as practised at the court of Peking, and by the provincial governments, is contained in the code of laws called Ta-tsing-hwyteen, and in the Ta-tsing-leuhle under the head le, rules of propriety and decorum of rites and ceremonies, and in the subordinate division tse-sze, sacrifices and offerings. From these two works we shall briefly specify-first, the persons or things to whom these sacrifices are presented, or the objects of Government worship secondly, the ministers or priests, who offer these sacrifices, and the preparation required of them for the performance of this religious service-thirdly, the sacrifices and offerings, the times of presentig them:

VOL. I.

23

and fourthly, the penalties for informality, or defective per formance of the state religion.

First we are to speak concerning the objects of worship, or things to which sacrifices are offered. These are chiefly things, though persons are included. The state sacrifices are divided in three classes: first the ta-sze or great sacrifices :

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second, the chung-sze, or medium sacrifices :- and third, the seaou-sze, or little sacrifices. These last are also denominated keun-sze, the crowd or herd of sacrifices: the word keun, a flock of sheep, being used as a noun for « multitude. In the following list the first, the second, third and fourth, are the objects or classes of objects to which the greatest sacrifices are offered; from the fifth to the thirteenth are those to which the medium sacrifices are offered; those of the fourteenth and onward, have right only to little sacrifices.

1. Teen, the heavens or sky. This object of worship is otherwise called the azure heavens, and the hwang-kungyu, the imperial concave expanse.

2. Tee, the earth. This, like the heavens, is dignified with the epithet imperial.

3. Tae-meaou, the great temple of ancestors. This title is used to include all the tablets contained therein, dedicated to the manes, or shades of the deceased emperors of the present dynasty. This triad of titles, teen, te, tae meaou, always at the grand sacrifices, are also worshipped apart. The lines or columns of Chinese characters being read from top to bottom, dignity is always expressed by the height of the title; which corresponds in some degree to our use of capital letters. Inferiority of rank or dignity is marked by the title being placed one or more characters lower. Heaven, earth, and ancestors, as objects of worship, and of equal rank and dignity, are placed on a level, and one or more characters higher than other objects, as the sun, moon or stars, &c. An idea of this may be conveyed to the reader, by the position of the words in lines, thus:

Heaven, earth, and ancestors,

Sun, moon, stars, &c.

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