Curiosities of Literature, Vol. II | Page 8

their personal civilities. They
even calculate the number of their reverences. These are the most
remarkable postures. The men move their hands in an affectionate
manner, while they are joined together on the breast, and bow their
head a little. If they respect a person, they raise their hands joined, and
then lower them to the earth in bending the body. If two persons meet
after a long separation, they both fall on their knees and bend the face
to the earth, and this ceremony they repeat two or three times. Surely
we may differ here with the sentiment of Montaigne, and confess this
ceremony to be ridiculous. It arises from their national affectation.

They substitute artificial ceremonies for natural actions.
Their expressions mean as little as their ceremonies. If a Chinese is
asked how he finds himself in health, he answers, Very well; thanks to
your abundant felicity. If they would tell a man that he looks well, they
say, Prosperity is painted on your face: or, Your air announces your
happiness.
If you render them any service, they say, My thanks shall be immortal.
If you praise them, they answer, How shall I dare to persuade myself of
what you say of me? If you dine with them, they tell you at parting, We
have not treated you with sufficient distinction. The various titles they
invent for each other it would be impossible to translate.
It is to be observed that all these answers are prescribed by the Chinese
ritual, or Academy of Compliments. There, are determined the number
of bows: the expressions to be employed; the genuflexions, and the
inclinations which are to be made to the right or left hand; the
salutations of the master before the chair where the stranger is to be
seated, for he salutes it most profoundly, and wipes the dust away with
the skirts of his robe; all these and other things are noticed, even to the
silent gestures by which you are entreated to enter the house. The lower
class of people are equally nice in these punctilios; and ambassadors
pass forty days in practising them before they are enabled to appear at
court. A tribunal of ceremonies has been erected; and every day very
odd decrees are issued, to which the Chinese most religiously submit.
The marks of honour are frequently arbitrary; to be seated with us is a
mark of repose and familiarity; to stand up, that of respect. There are
countries, however, in which princes will only be addressed by persons
who are seated, and it is considered as a favour to be permitted to stand
in their presence. This custom prevails in despotic countries; a despot
cannot suffer without disgust the elevated figure of his subjects; he is
pleased to bend their bodies with their genius; his presence must lay
those who behold him prostrate on the earth; he desires no eagerness,
no attention; he would only inspire terror.

FIRE, AND THE ORIGIN OF FIREWORKS.
In the Memoirs of the French Academy, a little essay on this subject is
sufficiently curious; the following contains the facts:--
FIREWORKS were not known to antiquity.--It is certainly a modern
invention. If ever the ancients employed fires at their festivals, it was
only for religious purposes.
Fire, in primæval ages, was a symbol of respect, or an instrument of
terror. In both these ways God manifested himself to man. In the holy
writings he compares himself sometimes to an ardent fire, to display his
holiness and his purity; sometimes he renders himself visible under the
form of a burning bush, to express himself to be as formidable as a
devouring fire: again, he rains sulphur; and often, before he speaks, he
attracts the attention of the multitude by flashes of lightning.
Fire was worshipped as a divinity by several idolaters: the Platonists
confounded it with the heavens, and considered it as the divine
intelligence. Sometimes it is a symbol of majesty.--God walked (if we
may so express ourselves) with his people, preceded by a pillar of fire;
and the monarchs of Asia, according to Herodotus, commanded that
such ensigns of their majesty should be carried before them. These fires,
according to Quintus Curtius, were considered as holy and eternal, and
were carried at the head of their armies on little altars of silver, in the
midst of the magi who accompanied them and sang their hymns.
Fire was also a symbol of majesty amongst the Romans; and if it was
used by them in their festivals, it was rather employed for the
ceremonies of religion than for a peculiar mark of their rejoicings. Fare
was always held to be most proper and holy for sacrifices; in this the
Pagans imitated the Hebrews. The fire so carefully preserved by the
Vestals was probably