OF ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND SOME WORDS ABOUT SCIENCE. [KRI-OTE].
Until recently the Barbarians had no proper style of Architecture,
unless in Temples, Castles, and Ships. The dwellings, even in cities,
were as ugly and inconvenient as it is possible to conceive.
When the great Roman civilisation disappeared, the barbarous tribes for
many ages so slowly improved, that the aspect of common life remained
savage. The Priests of the Superstition, however, saved some tincture
of Roman learning, and brought from Rome some of the older knowledge.
These, however, directed their minds to the erection of Temples, and
edifices designed for the objects of Priestcraft.
Then arose those structures, truly wonderful, in stone, which exhibit
so clearly the character of the gloomy Superstition: at first like
those of Rome, but in time added to and changed, till at length the
vast Temples, truly gigantic, called _Gothic_, arose.
These are like huge _phantasms_ of carved stone, rising into the sky.
Huge walls, buttresses, turrets, immense clusters of columns, vaulted
and lofty arches, long aisles, lighted by strangely-tinted windows,
carved masses of stone in prodigious strength, leaping, flying
upwards, upwards, in grand confusion, and yet upon a strange, wild
plan!--giving expression to an imagination only known to these dark and
strong Barbarians. Externally, on all sides these Temples are monstrous
idols in stone, stuck most curiously upon corners, high up in niches,
on turrets and battlemented [trit-ti-sy] walls, over the sculptured,
grand portals, everywhere--chiefly _diabolic_, exceeding all the dreams
of a mad and dreadful frenzy, yet borrowed from the Superstition and
illustrating it! Others surmounting these dreadful things, _angelic_
and serene--as if, after all, the human instinct spurned all the low
and horrible intimations of things too foul for expression, and yet so
frightfully _attempted_, in ghastly and grinning stone!
The Roman-Greek types knew nothing of such--how clear and beautiful
these stood out, cheerful and _clean_, in the pure sky!
As art found this sort of expression in the structures devoted to the
Superstition, so in the buildings for the chiefs of tribes the same
spirit directed, though modified by the object. In these art found
pleasure, and the barbaric mind delight, to pile up lofty Castles
of huge stone--dark, menacing--where all was for strength and to
symbolise _Force_, and nothing for refinement, nor even comfort. These
great structures are now, for the most part, crumbling away; not
from change of barbaric spirit in the love of _Force_, but from the
uselessness of the Gothic forms in the presence of big cannons. The
Roman Architecture, somewhat altered, is generally revived in buildings
of importance. Yet the Priests build much as before--dropping off,
however, the more hideous of the grinning idols. In this unconsciously
giving a sign of the decay of the Idolatry itself. For when all its
_horrors_ shall have disappeared, the morality and the simple worship
of the Lord of Heaven may remain. The improving condition has improved
dwellings, particularly of the Higher Castes. The poor still grovel in
huts and hovels, often too offensive for the healthy growth of anything
but pigs. Among the Low-Castes, in great towns, the filth and stench
are quite insupportable.
In ships the English Barbarians pride themselves to be foremost. Upon
this subject we may fairly give an opinion. There are others quite
equal, and those of the _Starry Flag_ often superior.
At present the style is changing, and from wood are becoming iron,
with such massive sides of thick steel, that no shot fired from any
cannon shall be able to break through! So these English think to sail
with these huge iron machines into the waters of any people and force
submission. For the mighty cannon, shooting out vast fiery balls of
steel, are expected to knock to pieces any Castles and utterly burn and
destroy any city. And sheltered in these impregnable, swift, floating
fortresses of steel, these Barbarians expect absolutely to dominate
over all the Seas, and to sink everything which dares to oppose. This
supremacy is already vaunted; and all the taxes which can be got from
the people, from the tea and beer which they drink, from the tobacco
which they smoke, from the letters and papers which they write and use
in affairs, and from a share of their daily toil, are devoted (after
handing a certain portion to the Queen and the High-Castes for their
pleasures) to these big, floating machines of war, to the huge cannons,
and to arm and pay the sailors and soldiers, that this domination be
absolutely assured! Still, so far, none of these terrible vessels have
proved of any use, as they can neither float nor fight; or, if they
float, turn bottom upwards at a small breath of wind, and, if moved
to act in concert, are so unmanageable as to be only terrible to each
other! The sailors, therefore, dread them as unfit for the sea, and as
_Iron Coffins_ to poor Jack, who is forced to go into them!
The introduction of _Steam_ has only rendered the Western Barbarians
more conceited and more miserable. On nothing do they pride themselves
so much as upon the tremendous _Force_, which they have acquired in the
various Arts, by the use of steam. They, in this, as in other similar
inventions, mistake the nature of the thing used and its effect. They
think themselves _wiser_ because they move faster--as if the hare be
necessarily wittier than the ox; and more civilised, because more
powerful--as if the rhinoceros were to be preferred to the horse.
At this moment, the Barbarian tribes of the West are devoting all
their energies to this single notion of Supremacy. FORCE is absolutely
the most coveted thing--to be strong, the only desirable thing. And
the acme of that civilisation of which they boast, glitters only with
polished steel, towering high, bristling with terrible weapons of
destruction!
There are canals not much used, and not commonly of good depth and
width. The High-roads are nearly as good, in some parts, as those in
our Flowery Land; but more frequently quite inferior, being either very
dusty or muddy. They have none of the conveniences for the shelter or
rest of travellers, provided everywhere by our Illustrious; nor are
the signal towers and fine shade trees, which give such beauty to our
roads, to be seen, excepting occasionally, and quite by chance, the
latter.
The Bridges are insignificant, as a rule, owing to the littleness of
the rivers; but they are handsome and strong, built of stone, in the
Roman style. They span the rivers, the canals, and form _viaducts_
[pa-se-gyt] for roads of _Iron_. Upon these roads, passing sometimes
over the dwellings and streets of towns, move rapidly the long chain
of carriages, drawn by steam-engines, conveying many people and much
merchandise. These iron roads are numerous, and the works and buildings
connected with them very great and costly. The Barbarians greatly vaunt
the usefulness of these roads; but the rightfulness of their opinion
is by no means apparent. They break up the quiet and the accustomed
industries of the people; excite agitations, produce restlessness and
expense, accumulate too many _here_, and depopulate and render meagre
_there_. They crowd the cities with the poor, and leave the rural
districts empty; the towns are overburdened and the fields untilled.
They foster the extravagances of the rich and add nothing to the
comfort of the common people. It is said that in the saving of time
is a saving of money. But it is to be considered that this ease and
rapidity of movement is not always usefully directed. It may be, and
it is, largely used only to waste and dissipate money and time. It is
said to save material measured in relation to effect. _This_ is not
clear; for, although a _ton_ be moved far quicker to a given point,
who shall say that the ton moved by usual means would not, all things
estimated, be as economically moved, and with as good result to the
common weal?
The real question is not considered, which is--Have Iron-roads added to
the useful means of the people? Consider the cost, and say whether such
vast expense in other mode or modes of outlay would not have produced
means more beneficial.
How much more numerous and better roads, vehicles, buildings for
the poor, improved culture, tools, larger areas of recovered lands,
new fertilisers, new and numerous schools--innumerable details of
improvement--had the intellect, time and money directed to these
roads been directed to the many needs of a people! The good, then, is
rather the good which activity of brain and outlay of money naturally
effect--possibly that activity and expense have not been most usefully
employed in Iron-roads--indeed, very probably _not_ to the good effect
of a more naturally ordered expenditure. But the English, seeing the
_effect_ of a prodigious activity and employment of money spread
over many years, place it to the credit of a _thing_--STEAM; never
considering at all whether the thing has been necessarily the cause,
or only the accident. To what effect, during the same time, might that
same energy and money have been applied! The new power stimulated
energy, and possibly misled it. It may be said that steam did its
service by giving this stimulus. Probably not so. The question is,
Has Steam after all _misled_--fallen short, in fact, of those effects
which the usual and less novel forces would have produced? This is an
unanswered question.
In the industrial arts the English are not remarkable. They are good in
fire-arms and curious in weapons, as may be expected. They are expert
in making barrels and vessels to hold liquors from wood; _need_, which
they call the mother of invention, made this art a necessity; such is
the prodigious quantity of _beer_ which they consume. In dress-fabrics,
in tools, in furniture, in metals, they show no more skill than our
artisans, and in many articles not so much. We have arts, useful and
beautiful, unknown to the Barbarians; they have things of mere show and
luxury for which we have no use. In what is called _Fine Art_--that is
Painting and Sculpture, particularly--we have but little to compare. By
_Fine Art_ is meant what is impossible to us; it is for the most part
intolerable to us.
Think of the Illustrious of our Flowery Kingdom crowding into Halls,
glittering with gilt and showy colours, to see there, arranged upon the
walls and standing upon marble tables, great pictures of women and of
men, often naked or nearly naked--wholly nude figures, mostly of women,
in all attitudes, carved from marble, or made of a fine baked clay!
Not only so; but the illustrious mothers, wives, daughters, and female
friends, accompanying the men to the spectacle! The young man and the
young woman together gazing upon the nude and flesh-tinted voluptuous
female, glowing in the picture! No; we give no such encouragement
to fine Art! Yet our painters compare favourably with those of the
Barbarians, in such proper use of the Art as is allowed by us.
For the same reason, as Sculpture with us is only permitted where
useful or innocent, it does not reach after such effects as with the
Barbarians; where a naked figure of a young woman, done in marble to
the luxurious taste of a wealthy High-Caste, will command a great sum.
None the less, our Artists can execute with fidelity, as our _Ancestral
Halls_ will show.
Copying from the ancient Romans, in their most wanton and luxurious
period, the kind of painting and sculpture referred to is most highly
esteemed by the Christ-god worshippers! Many of the Roman works have
been discovered, and serve as models; thus the _ancients_ are imitated
in their vicious taste, though condemned as very children of the devil!
With the decay of the darker terrors of the Superstition, the mind,
rebounding from _asceticism_, swung to the other extreme. A rational
morality and worship would have preserved a due medium. But with
ancient letters revived a love for ancient art; and the indecencies
from that source were condoned to the excellency of the work--or
pretended to be. The Priests took no care to repress this outburst of
voluptuousness; in truth, moulded its nude forms to the embellishment
of Temples; and, holding the warm fancies of its devotees, strengthened
their influence by a new device. This zeal for the voluptuous in Art
and reproduction of Roman types, began by the Roman Pope, spread
everywhere. Thus the _Superstition_ itself sanctions this taste, which
to us appears so unseemly and immoral.
In Parks and Gardens the English Barbarians are not surpassed. We
have no equals in horticulture; but in gardens the English are fine
artists, and in parks have caught the true _instinct_ of Nature. When
in these, I have felt conscious of a fine civilisation. The lovely
parterres of blooming shrubs; the grand vases, rich in brilliant
colours of delightful flowers; roses, festooned, trailed in arches over
smooth walks; green spaces, where the sunlight lay warm and cheerful;
noble avenues of lofty trees; sweet arbours, embowered in blossoms
and verdant vines; shady walks, meandering among the trees; groves
of evergreens, musical with cascades, gleaming in marble basins; and
fountains, ornamented and sculptured in shining stone. Little lakes,
where the breezes awoke the sleepy waves and chased them to the shore,
and where the aquatic birds of many forms delighted to sport! The whole
place eloquent and still in beauty! _Here_, no force, nor barbaric
rudeness, nor worship of brutal strength, nor of hideous forms, nor of
lighted altars! _Here_, the English Barbarian was a civilised man, and
here I could love him!
Ah, when shall he, so strong, see his _true_ strength, and know how
to use it! Arm no more--teach the other Barbarians the proper use
of Force! Dreaming no harm to others, fearing no harm to himself,
and using the revenues of his great tribe to render it invincible in
virtue--how then invincible in all!
One day one of the High-Caste took me under his Illustrious protection,
and conveyed me to his grand House, built of hewn stone in the ancient
Roman method. It stood among fine trees, a long and glistening
_façade_ [phr-not] of white and ornamental marble. He presented me
to his illustrious wife, who graciously saved me from the too great
embarrassment of her presence; for, as I shall hereafter explain,
the custom of the Barbarians in this respect shocks all our notions.
Hanging upon the gilded walls were the costly works of painters--among
them naked women, coloured and tinted, in most voluptuous forms,
smiling down upon us--upon sculptured pedestals, stood white statues,
in rich marbles, of exquisite maidens, nude, and attractive in every
graceful attitude and personal charm! All this was surprising, if not
pleasing--but when this Lord [Tchou] took me into the gardens and Park,
there, indeed, all was calm--the agitation of my spirit subsided!
Walking with him, he took me by the arm, and said, "Ah, my dear
_Chin-le_, how little we know of each other; you do not understand
_how_ many things can be with us, nor can we understand many of your
customs; but _here_ we are not unlike--in _this_ art we meet on common
ground." I expressed my grateful sense of his goodness, assented to his
happy reference, and then ventured to observe, "Your illustrious treats
me like a relation--a brother." "In what respect--I do not know." "Ah,
you presented me to the exalted, the _lady_ [da-mtsi]--with us that
is to say, _this is a son, or a brother_." He smiled. "Well, perhaps
you are right. I rather think you are, in respect of women, though
her Ladyship would not assent." I delicately hinted my embarrassment.
"The pictures, the ----." He laughed good-humouredly, and replied,
"Doubtless to eyes unused, such things look dazzling, and so on, but
it is really only a matter of habit." But then, I suggested, "Is not
Art misdirected when so employed." "Well, possibly; but an elegant
thing, a beautiful thing--why not give an expression to that beauty
which is the most interesting, the most charming?" "Does not _that_
imply a purity above experience and above nature?" "I see; you lead
into an ethical maze--look there?" I followed his hand, and the noble
Park extended on all sides; yet, I said to myself, in our Flowery
Kingdom, if a point be _doubtful_ in morals we lean against the doubt.
But is there any doubt as to these _nudities_? However, turning with
admiration to the well-trained flowers, the spreading lawns of soft
verdure, the beautiful vases of brilliant shrubs, the fine trees, with
here and there a modest statue, or a marble fountain, I exclaimed, "How
perfectly satisfactory and pleasing are these effects of an elevated
Art, where nothing is suggested but what calms, cheers, refines, and
makes generous!"
"Ah-Chin, my dear fellow, your enthusiasm is admirable; but we need
more than the serene, the cheerful, and the generous!" As he said this
he smiled at my look of bewilderment--for I was puzzled. Since then
I have understood better. Art among the Barbarians must be suited to
the restless eagerness of their nature, which demands excitement. And
the passions which ought to be severely repressed, Art, in a hundred
ways, finds itself best rewarded to covertly gratify. Thus, all the
strong emotions are most coveted, either as shown on the canvas or in
the marble. Male figures, nude, writhing, wrestling, and in attitudes
of force, or expressing hate, or pain, or fierce contention, or,
if in repose, lapsing into the languor of desire. Female figures,
for the most part, so managed as to stimulate those feelings, or to
suggest those incidents which a wise man likes to ignore; or in such
methods as to suggest emotions of shame, of terror, of suffering, or
of crime--often debasing or evil in tendency, and rarely to any good
purpose. Pictures of bloody fights, of burning cities, of great ships
sinking, or _blowing up_ with all on board; of wretches tearing or
cutting at each other, or struggling in blood and fury amid the waves.
Statues distorted by agony, or paralysed by terror--in such, Barbarian
Art greatly delights. In this, as in the sculpture of the Temples,
showing, in another form, its fierceness and love of strong excitement.
In the cities, there are occasionally statues to men who have been
famous; and, in some of the great Temples, Sculptures of High-Castes
are sometimes set up. They are, as a rule, strange exhibitions. Many
of the great pieces consist of a crowd of figures in marble--an
astonishing jumble. There are figures blowing great horns; other
impossible ones representing huge human birds hovering about; chiefly,
however, naked women, with wings awkwardly fastened behind the
shoulders, transporting the dead; and others (again females) with
rings of leaves held in their hands over the head of the dead or dying
man! All this is done, or attempted to be done, in marble; and involved
in it will be a great ship burning, or great guns being fired, and men
and women being killed by hundreds; or other dreadful scenes wherein
the great man took fearful part! Memorials or huge paintings, in honour
of persons famous in fight and plunder, are thus exhibited in the
Temples and public Halls. They are, in general, very astonishing!
In the street corners are sometimes placed, on pedestals of huge
stone, carved effigies of a King, or of a Queen, or of some High-Caste
man. Of some Brave, who has cut off more heads than usual, or who
has seized more plunder, or carried fire and sword over the lands of
distant tribes. He is sometimes on horse-back; sometimes naked, with
shield and sword, and very terrible; sometimes so far aloft, on top
of a high stone column, that nothing can be descried but a _cocked
hat_ and a pigmy figure under it. Rarely there may be a statue to some
High-Caste, who has been distinguished for wringing more taxes from the
common people, and, by this means, keeping large armed bands at work
abroad--to the glory of the English name! more rarely a statue to the
memory of any one renowned for a life useful to mankind.
As works of Art, these things are not to be criticised. They are works
of _money_--that is, paid for by weight; merely meant to compliment a
_party_ or faction in the State, and not to honour, particularly, the
subject of the Work, or to give a noble expression of human genius or
skill. No purpose, perhaps, in the sordid workman other than to pocket
the large sum for the big show! Nothing wherein a grand imagination,
inspired by a fine enthusiasm and full of a noble conception, glows and
breathes in the stone, and makes it imperishable!
Whether an unconscious _disgust_ leave these public statues and
monuments alone in their ugliness, I know not; but they are totally
neglected, begrimed, covered with filth--often made the roosting-places
of the unwashed street _Arabs_ (beggar boys) and _loafers_ [na-sthi].
Even the statues of living Sovereigns are so totally forgotten and
deserted, that the nose of _Majesty_ may be a small pyramid of dirt,
and the ermine robes more defiled and foul than the rags of the street
mendicant!
The Western Barbarians are very fond of _Science_ [kno-tu-ze]--(this is
the nearest word in our language, though quite defective)--and consider
themselves in _this_ to be far superior to the ancients and to all the
peoples beyond the great Seas. I have never been able to comprehend,
nor do I think the Barbarians themselves comprehend very accurately,
the meaning of the word.
They will say of a man who is almost a fool, "Ah! but he is very
scientific." Of another, constantly blundering, and who has been famous
for prodigies of mistake, "His science is astonishing." A builder of
a great ship, or of a great bridge, sees his ship upset or his bridge
fall down; none the less, he demonstrates to his admiring countrymen
that, upon _scientific_ principles, the ship should have stood upright
and the bridge been as stable as rock!
A doctor kills his patient [vi-zton] scientifically; a dentist cracks
the jaw in extracting a tooth; a surgeon breaks the leg which he
cannot set: _Science_ is satisfied--"all was scientifically done!" A
man spends his life in looking at the stars; he is a man of wonderful
science. Another keeps a List of fair and rainy days during twelve
moons; his scientific attainments are respected and his _observations_
recorded, as if the fate of the harvests were involved.
You will hear of a man of marvellous science, before whom ordinary
scientific men stand uncovered in silence; he has discovered a new kind
of _tadpole_, and added another to the already interminable _terms_ of
natural Science.
I have heard one of these learned _professors_ [pho-phe-sti] say
wisely, "He is a benefactor of the race who makes two blades of grass
to grow where one grew before;" "but," he added, "he is a greater who
teaches mankind how to do this." In this way, wishing to show that an
_idiot_ might chance to find a way to double his growth of grass, but
would be incapable of discovering the _cause_; so that, probably, the
accident would die with the finder. A wise man would, at once, look for
the reason, and finding _that_, be able to secure the benefit for all
time. This knowledge of cause is the kind called _Science_.
The explanation is familiar to us. In our Flowery Kingdom, the master
teaches the rules, and the artificer puts them in practice. We call
him an Artisan who has knowledge of an Art: we call him who knows
how things ought to be done, and who examines into things so as to
comprehend the best modes of doing, simply a teacher, or master. We do
not see that his knowledge, without actual performance, makes him a
great man--a man of Science (as the Barbarians have it). Indeed, if a
man do a thing merely mechanically, as a horse turns a mill, no doubt
he is an ignorant artisan. Still, this stupidity does not exalt, in
any degree, the nature of the knowledge of a brighter man: this one is
only an intelligent artisan. On the whole, then, it seemed to me that
the Barbarians, for the most part very ignorant, were easily imposed
upon by those who, having leisure, mastered the multiform _terms_ (or
some of them) used by the teachers of Natural History in its various
departments. These, too, idle and with some ambition to be known,
easily fancied that the dry knowledge of words _was_ knowledge; and
discovering with surprise at first, but soon with great complacency,
how very little one need to know to be ranked with men of _Science_,
at length prided themselves upon the very trivialities which otherwise
would have been unvalued. In fact, finally imposed upon themselves as
they imposed upon others, and really believed those trifles _to be_
important, because confined to those who paraded them as Scientific.
These busy, idle triflers in words become _the men of Science_.
This is very laughable, and shows how mankind, everywhere, constantly
repeat the same follies. In our Illustrious annals men like these
have appeared and disappeared; founded schools, been admired, had
disciples, then passed into oblivion; their works, often voluminous,
never met with; or occasionally dug out of mouldy bins and reproduced
in some parts to show up the pretensions of a _new_ charlatan--to show
how much better the same things were explained, or the same terms used
by an old and forgotten author, 5,000 moons ago!
These men, as with us, constantly overrate the value of their
labours; the world really can get on without them. Getting together
in _Congresses_ [Bed-la-mi], they pay (or affect) great respect to
each other, and put on an _air_ of abstraction; they are supposed to
be pondering upon the care of men and things, and feel the weight of
responsibility. Other men may be trivial; but to those upon whom rests
the due ordering of Nature, Care should be a genius and Dignity a
presence.
In these Meetings, nothing is worthy of debate unless it be
_Scientific_. A plain paper, directed to a simple, useful object,
and stating in ordinary and intelligible language the rules useful
to the end, is not satisfactory. There should be something novel and
obscure, or it is unlikely to come within the desired category. In
truth, high and mighty _principles_ on which man and the gods exist and
move and flourish, or upon a disregard of which decay and dissolution
follow--these are alone the proper objects of philosophers and men of
Science; and involved in the profound investigation of _principles_,
the Congress disappears from the common eye, and is lost even to
itself!
On the whole, the value of these scientific men to the world did not
seem to me to be considerable. I mean as _scientific men_--without
any of the pretension or cant [Bo-zhe] of their class, individuals
may be useful, and would be more useful without the false glamour of
class-vanity. A man of brain and who really thinks and examines, if he
have anything to say will say it, and it will be judged by its merit.
But when men having _time_ and not knowing what to do with themselves,
and having some knowledge of words and but _little brains_, see an
_opening for imbecility_, and are received and praised and dubbed
_Scientific_, because they devote time and waste a large quantity of
paper to give the world _their thoughts_--it is doubtful whether the
more harm or the more good be done. To be sure, the idle and empty
man may be rendered supremely happy in his vanity, and may have been
saved from some personal degradation or vicious inclination--but the
world could have been well spared his _Catalogue of the Parasites_ on
the Lobster, or his _Notes on the Habits of the Barn Swallow_, or his
_Suggestions_ as to the proper use of smoke, or his _Hints_ upon the
hybernation of Eels. No great harm is done, for nobody reads these
things but the men of Science, who are obliged to keep up to the work
of busy idleness, in reading for debate with each other and at the
_Congress_.
This body professes to teach the proper rules for physical improvement,
and its members are natural philosophers. They do not, however, confine
themselves to the investigation of natural phenomena--they range over
the whole broad field of speculation as well, demanding to know the
cause of all things, and the very essence, object, and end. Those who
take upon themselves this wider inquiry, assume a dignity far above the
mere _Scientists_--these deal with mere visible _forms_; but those with
the _laws_ which underlie the forms, and with the source of Law, its
origin, its object, and its end! These are PHILOSOPHERS! and when a man
is a man of Science _and_ a philosopher, then no more is possible to
human exaltation!
I have sufficiently referred to the _works_ of these in another place.
They cannot be wholly useless, if there really be a _brain_, honest
and strong, at work. For to such patiently, humbly, earnestly, full
of grateful recognition and conscious of the limitations of knowledge
and of inquiry; seeking and looking out, with sad eyes, upon the vast
world; to such, some new evidence of the grand order, some new and
brilliant ray of divine illumination may come--_not_ to show _cause_
nor purpose, but to delight and tranquillise, to give new assurance of
the Beneficent and Infinite Wisdom!
The English Barbarians have true men of Science. They are those to
whom the people are indebted for nearly all of the useful discoveries
and inventions. Men, who, engaged in some pursuit, apply a patient
investigation and thoughtful experiments to see if they cannot
_improve_ the existing _means to ends_. In these investigations, they
discover a new source or a new _way_ of power; and, in the experiments,
new applications and uses of it. When these men fall into the hands
of the _Scientists_ and Philosophers, and, leaving their work-shops,
_shine with the gods_, at the Congresses--they usually end in that
_glamour_--their light is no longer an illumination!
Of the musical Art, some things may be said. There is a wonderful
variety of instruments--not many at all like ours.
Some of the stringed are similar to our _Che_. There is one, so
enormous a structure, as to equal a house in size. It is made by a
wonderful combination of hollow, metal pipes, ranging in size from a
flute to a big cannon; and in height from a span to the lower mast of a
ship. Its sounds are many, single in melody, or astonishing in a wild,
clanging harmony (the Barbarians think); but to me, discord. All the
combined noises are terrific; and surpass what the effect would be of
our _Che_, _Yuhnien_, and _Pieu-king_ all sounding at once!
In Singing, the men often roar like bulls, and the women scream, making
hideous contortions. A handsome woman does not like to sing.
There is a Theatre--play--where all the parts, men and women, are sung.
The passions of love, hate, jealousy, and so on, are sung and screamed
at each other by the players in the most absurd manner. The woman will
sing and shriek out the most astonishing _gymnasts_ of voice, the
man shouting and bellowing back, and then both together bellow and
scream; the woman, at last, falls into the arms of the man, or the man
throws himself in a passion at the feet of the woman--both singing and
screaming all the while--and the curtain drops! Then arise the noisy
plaudits of the spectators--demanding a repetition!
The barbaric music is, for the most part, like themselves, rude and
noisy. There are some exceptions--and in simple melody often sweet and
tender. The _flute_ and the _horn_ are pleasing--the former is much
like our _Cheng_.
Occasionally, one or two thousand singers, and as many performers on
instruments come together, and give a grand _Musical Treat_. Judge what
this must be, when you add to this vast combination also the prodigious
_House of Noise_ (called Organ)!
Oratory is an Art much admired among the Western tribes, and the
English think themselves to be prëeminent. I can hardly judge; one
needs to be a perfect master of a tongue to follow a speaker as he
ought to be followed. Barbarous races commonly produce effective
Orators; the imagination is vivid, the passions strong, and there is
enough culture to make the forms of speech at least tolerable.
In the Law-making _Houses_ speeches (orations) are often delivered.
For the most part dull in manner, insignificant in thought, poor in
illustration, very ineffective. The members go to sleep, or withdraw,
or rudely interrupt--sometimes _coughing_ down the speaker. Very rarely
are to be seen any flashes of eloquence, to be felt any thrill of its
power. Unfortunately the same conceit, here as elsewhere, leads many to
believe themselves to be Orators to whom the ability to speak properly
is denied by nature. Yet these insist upon "airing their eloquence"
(as it is styled) on every occasion possible. Generally these men have
some subject, nick-named by the other members as a Hobby, which must
be spoken to whether the House will hear or not. Then occurs one
of those scenes so characteristic. The Hobby-man rises and tries to
speak. He waxes eloquent (at least, he intends to be) on his favourite
topic--perhaps the Pope at Rome; or the _rights of women_; or the
_purification_ of mud-streams; or the poor man's _beer_; no matter
what, when the other members determined to drown the speaker, break
through all the rules of the House, the orders of the Head officer,
and more, all the ordinary decencies, and _caterwaul_, and _cough_ and
_howl_, till, from mere impossibility of hearing his own voice, the
poor, _squelched_ orator sinks into his seat.
Now, the House prides itself upon the _liberty_ of speech and of
debate; it is _one_ of the palladia of English Freedom; and this is
a forcible illustration _of the liberty_. Anything obnoxious to the
majority, or even to a noisy minority, may be silenced--such is the
freedom of debate!
The English Barbarians especially boast that the Great Council
(Law-Houses) is not only the foremost of all national councils, whether
ancient or modern, in character and in wisdom, but also in dignity, and
the extreme care with which is guarded that most inestimable of all
_Institutions_, the Sacred _liberty of Speech_!
There is a kind of oratory, sometimes contemptuously called
Pulpit-oratory by the English, which may be referred to, because it
forms a considerable part of the literary entertainment. Once a week,
on the _Holy_ day, ten thousand speeches or more are uttered by the
Bonzes from a high place (called _Pulpit_) within the Temples. From
the place of delivery the name mentioned is given to this kind of
speech-making. The speech is known by one name--_Sermon_. These sermons
form a part of the _rites_ in the Temples, and are therefore numberless
and never ceasing. As ought to be expected, they are as dull as such
a formal thing must be. Some Bonze, new to his office, may attempt to
give a little life to the performance. But the High-Caste do not like
to be disturbed by any novelties; they prefer comfortably to sleep in
the soft seats with high-backed supports, where their fathers have
slept, Holy-day after Holy-day, for generations before them. They will
not have the Bonze, therefore, thunder the terrors of Jah in _their_
ears, nor affright _their_ wives and children by painting Hell and
the Devil. Eloquence, therefore, in the Temples, if it exist, must be
content to glide softly over "green pastures," murmuring drowsily with
"meandering streams."
The _lower-sects_ are not so disposed to neglect their duty. With these
the Bonze is expected to be "instant, in season and out of season," in
the work of Jah. His _terrors_ and the awful Hell; the wiles of Satan;
the agony of the damned; the danger of neglecting repentance; the need
of Salvation; the glorious Gospel; the blessedness of the redeemed; the
worthlessness of good works; the absolute loss, here and hereafter,
_of failing to Believe_; all these _canons_ are vomited forth from the
pulpit with an energy, and, sometimes, when directed to _unbelievers_,
with a vindictive ferocity, startling and overpowering. The hearers do
not sleep; even the boldest tremble, and the timid and weak sometimes
go into convulsions of fear.
There are itinerant Orators, who go about the country making speeches
(and trying to make money) upon all sorts of subjects. They are
rarely effective, though occasionally, when they happen to seize
upon a popular fancy, or to stir up some popular feeling, they gain
a certain attention from the Lower-Castes. Whenever effective, it
is by blending some of the strong points of the Idolatry with the
prevailing agitation. If there be some matter concerning which the
populace presume to have any opinion, then the itinerant speaker has
his chance; and he is doubly influential if he mix in his discourse
a good proportion of matter taken from the _Sacred Writings_ and
the _Canons_--this he distributes, to damn opposers and to reward
adherents, with a combined Priestly and Lay vivacity and force!
We have, and have always had, ample specimens of these self-elected
teachers and speakers; and they receive with us, in general, about the
same neglectful consideration accorded to them by the Barbarians.
On a review, it must be admitted that the Western tribes are ingenious
in domestic arts, and not wanting in invention. In the fine Arts they
are sometimes effective, though immoral--merely imitating the ancient
Roman-Greeks, whom they call _Masters_. Their architecture, when
worth attention, is Roman. But they have produced one novelty, _the
Gothic_--a wonderful outgrowth of the Barbaric mind, formed by its
great Superstition. In painting, when confined to natural scenery and
objects, they are sometimes very pleasing and correct. But in this
department, where they are not immoral, they are often repulsive,
seeking for startling effects, caught from the strongest passions.
True Art elevates, refines, and pleases. It never lends itself to
_deformity_, to the bad passions, to baseness. And it cannot sully
_itself_ by tampering with impure things. It recognises the twofold
nature of man, and addresses itself to his _moral instinct_ and love of
divine beauty.