Selected quad for the lemma: head_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A51176
|
A new history of China containing a description of the most considerable particulars of that vast empire / written by Gabriel Magaillans, of the Society of Jesus ... ; done out of French.; Doze excelências da China. English
|
Magalhães, Gabriel de, 1609-1677.
|
1688
(1688)
|
Wing M247; ESTC R12530
|
193,751
|
341
|
upon his Crown mutters over him certain prayers according to the usual manner These things being thus premis'd The Third Palace or Temple is call'd Macala Tien For Tien in the Chinese Language signifies a Royal Palace and Macala in the language of the Lama signifies the head of an Ox with the horns on because the Idol which is worship'd in that Temple is the horned head of an Ox. Which shews the blindness of man whom the Chineses call Van Vo Chi Vam or King and Lord of all things and Van Vo Chi Tim or the most understanding of all Creatures which nevertheless adores the work of his own hands Beasts that are created for his service and which seems more incredible the Carcass of the head of an Ox. The Fourth Palace is call'd Lama Tien or the Palace or Temple of the Lama It is seated upon the East side of the Lake of which we have spoken upon a Mountain made with hands like a Sugarloaf environ'd with Rocks which were brought thither in former times from the Sea side though far remote with great labour and expence These Rocks are for the most part full of holes and hollownesses occasion'd by the continual dashing of the waves the Chinsees taking great delight to behold those unpolish'd works of nature And they are so dispos'd as to counterfeit the high out-juttings and steep and rugged Precipices of Rocks so that at a moderate distance the whole seems to represent some craggy wild Mountain the first work of Nature At the top appears a round Tower of twelve stories well proportion'd and of an Extraordinary height Round about the upper Story hang fifty Bells that jangle day and night with the motion of the wind The Temple which is large and magnificent is seated in the middle of the descent on the South side and the Cloisters and Cells of the Lama extend themselves to the East and West The Idol stands upon an Altar within the Temple all naked and in a filthy Posture like the Roman Priapus Neither is it ador'd but by the Lama and the Western Tartars for the Eastern and the Chineses abhor it as an infamous and obscene Monster The deceased King Father of the reigning Emperour erected these two Temples for reasons of State and to please his Mother Daughter of a petty King of the Western Tartars that Princess being greatly devoted to the Lama whom she maintains in Pe kim at vast Expences But there is great probability that so soon as she is dead those abominable Temples will be shut up Moreover between the two Enclosures there are four and twenty beautifull Palaces besides which serve instead of four and twenty Tribunals the Mandarins of which are as it were the Emperour's Stewards and are no way subject to the other Tribunals and Mandarins of the Empire They are the Overseers of the Palace of the Servants of the Cellars Offices Treasuries and the like they punish or reward according to the King's Order such as belong to the Houshold And in the time of the Chinese Emperours all these Tribunals were under the Government of Eunuchs but at present they are govern'd by seventy two Tartar Lords bred up in the Palace Three of these belong to every Tribunal who have under them a great Number of inferiour Officers all employ'd in their several Stations to expedite the business with which they are entrusted And thus we have given an Accompt of the principal Structures of the Emperour's Palace For we should never have done should we undertake a particular description of all those other Places and Buildings which are therein enclos'd as the Houses of Pleasure the Libraries the Magazines the Treasuries the Stables and such like meaner edisices But by what we have already describ'd a Man may readily conjecture what farther remains to be said All the Structures which we have already describ'd are cover'd with large thick Tiles varnish'd with yellow green and blew and fasten'd with Nails to withstand the fury of the Winds which are very high at Pe kim The Ridges which always run from East to West rise above the Roof about the height of a Lance. The Extremities are terminated with the Bodies and Heads of Dragons Tygers Lyons and other Beasts that wind about and extend themselves all the length of the ridges A vast variety of Flowers and Grotesco-work and other delightfull Ornaments issuing as it were out of their Mouths and Ears or else being fasten'd to their Horns And in regard that all that you see of these Palaces is varnish'd over with the Colours before mention'd you would think at a distance when the Sun rises as I have many times observ'd that they were all made or at least cover'd with pure Gold enamel'd with Azure and Green which yields a most delightfull magnificent and majestick Prospect Notes upon the twentieth Chapter Of some other Palaces and certain Temples seated between the two Enclosures K. The first Palace seated to the East between the two Enclosures and upon the South side as it is in the Plane and as F. Couplet places it speaking of the Emperour who caus'd it to be built This Prince was call'd Ym sum or Kim tum and his Brother Kim ti he began his Reign in the year 1436. he was taken by the Tartars in the year 1650. and set at Liberty some time after His Brother Kim ti dy'd in the year 1457. and this Emperour reassum'd the Government the same year and dy'd 1464. The Bridge which our Authour describes is a piece of Workmanship altogether extraordinary and is enough of it self to make us admire the Wit and Industry of the Chineses L. The second Palace seated between the two Enclosures as are the six that immediately follow It is call'd Hien yam tien or the Palace of the Rising Sun. Therein are solemniz'd the Festivals of the first Day of the Moon M. The third Palace call'd Van xeu tien or the Palace of ten thousand Lives It is mark'd near the Lake by our Authour That Emperour Kia cim was otherwise call'd Xi sum He began his Reign 1522. The Holy Francis Xavier arriv'd in China 1522. and dy'd in the Island of Su chuen in the Province of Quam tum the second of December of the same year The Emperour Kia cim or Xi sum reign'd till 1567. his Son Mo sum or Lum kim dy'd 1573 and his Grandchild Van lie or Xin cum dy'd in the year 1620. King Kia cim built this Palace to practice Chymistry and get the Balsom of Immortality N. The fourth Palace call'd Cim hieu tien or the Palace of great Purity I have plac'd it upon a Mountain conformable to our Authour's description Therein the Feast of the fifteenth Day of the Moon is solemniz'd O. The fifth Palace call'd Ym tai tien or the Palace of the flourishing Tower. It stands near the Lake among the Trees as our Authour describes it There the Emperour abides during the excessive Heats P. The sixth Palace Van yeu tien
sixth Order at the Top of their Bonnets wear a Crystal neatly shap'd and at the Bottom a Saphyr â—… Their Girdles being cover'd with pieces of Rhinoâ—…s Horns set in Gold They of the seventh Order have nothing but an Ornament of Gold at the point of their Caps with a Saphyr at the Bottom and their Girdles cover'd with Silver-plates They of the eighth Order carry also an Ornament of Gold but without any Iewâ—… at the Bottom having their Girdles cover'd with thin pieces of Rhinoceros's Horn. The Mandarins of the ninth Order wear a Bonnet of Sattin purfl'd with Silver and pieces ef Bufola's Horns inchas'd in Silver upon their Girdles Besides these nine Orders the Licentiates wear upon the Top of their Heads a Dove of Gold or guilt upon a Bodkin of the same Metal with flat pieces of Rhinoceros's Horns upon their Girdles Lastly the Batchelers of Art wear the same Doves but of Silver onely and Plates of Bufola's Horns upon their Girdles Their Habits also serve to distinguish the various Orders of Mandarins The learned Mandarins of the three first Orders and the Military Mandarins of the four first Orders are distinguish'd from the Inferiour Orders by their Garments enricht with Figures of Dragons They also wear a certain sort of Surcoat variegated with the Figures of Birds and Beasts in Embroidery which serve also to distinguish the various Orders of the Mandarins But in regard they are not bound to wear them regularly especially in the Summer by reason of excessive heats they are no such certain Signs of Distinction between the Orders and Degrees of the Mandarins as those other which we have already mention'd For no man dares to quit them or wear them indifferently as he pleases himself without a breach of the Laws and the same Laws have regulated the places which every one ought to take when they meet in the Palace The letter'd Mandarins stand upon the King 's left hand which in China is the most honourable place the Military Mandarins upon the Right and the King himself always looks toward the South when he sits upon his Throne VII The seventh Apartment call'd the high rais'd Hall with a Court before it VIII The eighth Apartment call'd the Supream Middle Hall. IX The ninth Apartment call'd the Hall of Sovereign Concord To this Hall are joy'nd two others one upon the West and the other upon the East side In this Hall it is that the Emperour sits in Counsel Morning and Afternoon with his Colao's or Counsellers of State and the Mandarins of the six Supream Tribunals Upon the East side of this Apartment stands the Palace of the Supream Councel compos'd of Colao's and above three hunder'd Mandarins X. The tenth Apartment call'd the Portal of Heaven clear and without blemish It has sive Gates like the rest and you ascend to the middlemost by three pair of stairs each pair of above forty steps a piece XI The ' leventh Apartment call'd the Mansion of Heaven clear and without blemish is the most beautifull of all as you may see by the Relation of our Authour I have observ'd in the Draught the Towers of Brass and the great Chafers which he speaks of In this Apartment the Emperour resides with his three Queens and his Concubines The Chineses will have this Apartment to be no more than the ninth for that they never reckon'd the first which is without the outward Enclosure to be one and besides they make but one Apartment of this of that before it and the next that follows it which serves to explain the meaning of the Chineses when they say that the King sleeps within nine Walls which some Relations misunderstanding have ill explain'd the sense of the Words XII The twelfth Apartment call'd the fair and beautifull Middle-House the King 's second Logding XIII The thirteenth Apartment and the King 's third Lodging call'd the House which entertains Heaven XIV The fourteenth Apartment which cousists in a great Garden several Courts and other void Spaces which the Authour does not particularly describe and which the smallness of the Plate would not have permitted me to distinguish though they had been describ'd XV. The fifteenth Apartment call'd the Portal of mysterious Valour and the last of the innermost Enclosure After that you cross the Mote over a fair Marble Bridge and after that a Street which runs from East to West XVI The sixteenth Apartment call'd the high rais'd Portal of the South Which has three Gates and a Court where the King manages his great Horses 30 Fathom broad and 230 in length XVII The seventeenth Apartment call'd the Portal of ten thousand Years Which has five Gates and leads into a magnificent Park full of wild Beasts Hills and Woods Other Relations say that the Hills were made of the Earth digg'd out of the Lake when it was first made XVIII The eighteenth consists of three beautifull Summer-Houses and is call'd the Royal Palace of long Life XIX The nineteenth Apartment is call'd the high rais'd Portal of the North and leads into a large and long Street XX. The twentieth Apartment seated beyond that street in the outtermost Enclosure which has but three Gates and is call'd the Portal of the Repose of the North. Here I must inform the Reader that the five last Apartments do not seem to be sufficiently distinguish'd especially the nineteenth and the great Street which is next to it But I could do no better notwithstanding all the pains that I took For I found that the Ground between the two Enclosures was too narrow for so many Apartments for a place to ride the great Horse a spacious Park and Streets c. Now some Relations say that the Emperour's Palace extends to the Wall of the City on the North side which would have afforded me space enough and to spare But I durst not vary from my Authour who clearly seems to say the contrary and who would not have fail'd to have mark'd the place where these Apartments had crossed the exteriour Enclosure which he never sets down till at last So that we must be forc'd to stay for a new Relation to unfold these Difficulties CHAP. XIX A Description of twenty particular Palaces contain'd in the inner Enclosure of the Emperour's Palace BEsides the Palace design'd for the Emperour's Person there are erected on the other side several particular Palaces many of which for their Beauty Splendour and Largeness might well serve for the Mansions of great Princes But for the better apprehending of their Situation it is to be observ'd that the Space which the inner Wall encloses is divided into three distinct Parts by two great and high Walls that run from the South to the North. These Walls have no Battlements but are cover'd with Tiles varnish'd over with yellow and the Top is rais'd and trimm'd with a thousand Designs and Figures all of the same Materials and the same Colour The Eves of this little Roof end in Dragons in Demy-Relief which