The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-11-01 00:00:00

Lite raturt.

&Ma HUNDRED : Chsptets cn China and I
the Chine e, by the Hey. A. K. Montt. hii.i,ionlry at
Mingpo, with ii.p: awl Illmtratioi.s: &sly, Jacktion
and Halliday, Pleet-vreet, Loptlon.—Dorchrster in
former days was generally looked 117011 as an out of the
W 57 kind of place, w: i:.11 few people. ex -ent for
business, em.r cared to vi it, ant (rota wh.c., few men
evtr wept forth to rieY any distingWohed p it in the ,
woria'a great disnit, but tbo 'Wog generation &ems
likely to men, our bale town from her ohreurity. One I
an bleu:lit up, bib..., in a Lome of
isrsinng m
e, a in thin t en. is n..ss hel ling on important
• ceili. nin li de ; four or fire of (lies its c one
family as distinguishing ib moires at Oxford and
OamMidge, ccl s Tut to have any p in,. ther ohoo e
ta. k for, within it r aeh ; awl I eL. thringh nit
lemt, sn.. i,os of vile of our toe .1 clergy, b,ve gone
forth as the clin rt Ws pioneers in that most interesting,
but, at the 'awe time, mO4 d Omit fi-)d of missionary
labour. Chin'. If itch h• a been written about that mission
fell, ianorant and prin., cod men, mho evidently
know neither the dl ultite to be overeoree, nor the
lull ci jet of Ch Wien oliasions ; and this b•mk
the,. fore is a most usaul ad tition to missionary haft r.
inat'on. The author his evidently not i:Todopit
from, but in the heart of, Chinese society. Ile knows
lb, ir sesignets and their strength ; their burial peClll-
halides. and their pr. in Item and ie these few *hapset,
wear. intirefloo.oll Into Chita 0 company without tb.
mooessitY of • voyage of some thousands of miles. In
on. chapter Mr. Motile dries a sootiest between the
Apos'olc Missi.p to Cotnith, and the modem Pe.).
Instant Misshape to Chins, which is err, gergestive,
awl ia will sm.rtity of the alt. ntion of some who speak
and write in diaperagtment of all antemp irony Mk-
Aomori aria. We have ale from time to limo the
work ..1 the lt-ruiah missionaries cast in oar teeth, by
those who bane not the le .at idea of the amount of
Temp Hal Power a Isiah is brought to bear in their
beha f. li. dealinc with this aullact Mr. Motile quotes
from the Pall Mall Uo:elta, 0. to asionary mistairts in
Choir.. which thus (lase jt,.a • Popith missionary, with
the • ff..e's of his prommdings

Their agents are men of e cougar: piety and devotion—
their Influence I. deesrvedly great 7' How, then, doe. Mon-
signor Fauns, • sera ant of the meek and lowly Jesus, comport
himself' Ile describes himself as exercising the power oink
and death, of imprisoning and setting free, of making peace
and declaring w .r. Ile moves about the country • ith Use
ceremony of • viceroy. Dodd. cannon ennosinciog the nightly
guanl, each time he left Isla bosun or re-entered, shrec round.
of cannon announced the tact. "I always eat alone." he says;
"the in incipal chiefs Itt full dress, stand round the table to
acne me. while musician, at the doer coalmen., their har-
mony." ?low what do we learn from seek proceedings? We I
learn, first, ihe cause of ir.vernmental and official persecution;
for what can the officials surmise from such arrogance but
that Christianity Is foreign political agency ! and, secondly,
we learn the cause of large numbers of the native, becoming
Roman (*hone+, for surely such potent forebtuers cut protect
from catorUen and succour in lawsuits. Accordingly we And
that thou-ands of s Rimers, noticing Montigner Patine's pomp
and power, seeing, alert, • comet in the sky, prealictirg Use
downfall. (the deymody,coeclodcd that the empire was poring
into the hands of the Chrisilans, and offered themselves ea can-
didatee for haptlen ; whole .111•04, wb." Oat, PretwwWww w"
the tat of their ha% ing learnt to make the sign of the cruet,
came forward to entreat the bushop's Mewing.

Perhsps now there will bee change, similar to that
Inaugurated at Rome, and then, whatever the resultla
Europe. we suspect that In China, the Spiritual power
will follow the Teinpural.
We have a!so souse interesting and emos:ng chapters
OR Chinese beggars, and rurerstitions. The former re-
reeling • state .f thingsnc sh..uld hardly hard expersted
to fled among a people PO shrewd and industrinus as
the Chinese; the latter showing Oast the superstitions
of all nations have much in eninin•m. One tpecimeo we
must quote, showing that the lisp 4111015 of spiritualism
has long been prictised in China, where Ur. Home
would and men quite as cbver in deeeption as himself.

The Om the Chinese adopt le to strew a table with flour or
sand, and either to auspend • writing pencil no that the point
tusy Just touch (be tante, or to Ilx It In the rim of an inverted
wicker eice-haaket, which must be balanced cm the angers of
two persons sitting °polite to each other. In (Alba' cane, alter
quiet waiting, the pencil will begin to mom, and will answer
any questions wbi.t may Le put, by writing on the marled
table.
The Rev. R. H. Cobbold, formerly Archdeacon of Ningpo,
and who bas kindly given me the remit of his own investiga-
Skagen these point., tell. me Mit on one mead ho teacher
consulted the oracle for the Napa= uf filling up OMNI names in
the seceded mister • hid, were wanting. On mking for a
particular name, the oracio wrote, " Inquire of another branch
of the family ;" and on ding ou (ho spirit at once wrote down
the name. Noe the difficulty of denouncing this euperditioe
to pure imposture arises front the apparent impoodbility of
writing Intricate Chinese characters with a pen suspended by •
striny, simply through the munmlar enemy caused by the
united sill of the two mediums. So great is the mystery,
or, if you please, so clever lithe hick, that some of the oldest
and most wide-awake of the miedonaries have been quite on.
able to explain It away, even when performed under their own
eyes and on their own study tabks. This mysterious art goes
by the name of pl-kyl, meaning, I suppose, explanatory
recnrd.
We may add that the work in admirably flealrated,
and very neatly got ar, and we eta recommend It as
eontrinieg much Interesting and mansing infotmation
armored with mash skill, sad rites with gresi
simplicity.