Year

1803

Text

Type

Publication

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Chronology Entries (3)

#	Year	Text	Linked Data
1	1751-1801	Cambridge, Richard Owen. The works of Richard Owen Cambridge [ID D27062]. Miscellaneous verses (geschrieben 1751-1801). (1) The Monarch, worthy Britain's crown, Sought not in private fields renown : And none by her example, Did castles for their porter rear, A Chinese pagoda for their deer, Or for their horse a temple. (2) Don't you admire the Chinese bridges, That wave in furrows and in ridges? They've finish'd such an one at Hampton: Faith 'twas a plan I never dreamt on— The prettiest thing that e'er was seen— Tis printed in the Magazine. (3) Can't I cajole the female tribe And gain her woman with a bribe? Refused to-day, suck up my sorrow, And take my chance again to-morrow? Is there no shell-work to be seen, Or Chinese chair or Indian screen? Book the fifth Nigh to the borders of the silver flood, Sacred to Plutus, stands a lofty wood, Beneath its shadowing branches, grows a flow'r Whose root the god endues with wondrous pow'r; Not the famed Moly which great Hermes bore To sage Ulysses on th' Aeaean shore; Nor that restorative the Tartar boasts, (137) Nor all the growth of Arab's blissful coasts, Nor balsams which from northern trees transpire, Tho' six successive months th' aetherial fire With constant rays the balmy juice sublime, Can match this offspring of the German clime. Fussnote Line 137 : The Gin-seng ; one of the principal curiosities of China, called also, by the Chinese, the pure spirit of the earth, the plant that gives immorality. By the Tartars, Orhota, the first of plants. The virtues ascribed to this plant are hardly credible. Many volumes have been written by their Physicians, to set them forth. One of the Missionaries witnesses, that being himself so fatigued, that he could hardly sit on the horse, a Mandarin gave him one of these ; upon eating half of it, in an hour's time he was not, in the least, sensible of any weariness. That since, he had often made use of it with the same success. See Du Halde's History of China. Fussnote Bishop Wilkins was much pleased with the contrivance of a sailing carriage. What can be more delightful, says he, or better husbandry, than to make use of the wind (which costs nothing, and eats nothing) instead of horses ? That such chariots are commonly used in the champaigns plains of China, is frequently affirmed by divers credible authors.	Person: Cambridge, Richard Owen
2	1754-1755	1754-1755 Richard Owen Cambridge über China. In : The World. No 1-209 (Jan. 4, 1753-Dec. 30, 1756). (London : Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1753-1756). No 55 (Jan. 17, 1754). And as the Chinese knew gunpowder, the ancients the load-stone, and the moderns electricity, many years before they were applied to the benefit of mankind, it will not appear strange if a noble use be at length found for the Hoop, which has, to be sure, till now, afforded mere matter of speculation No 65 (March 28, 1754). This gentleman, whose Chinese temple had been blown down a few weeks after it was erected, was comforting himself that he had found in Hanway's travels, a model never yet executed in this part of the world, which, from the advantage of its form, must stand against the most violent gusts of wind in the highest mountains. This was, it seems, a pyramid of heads, after a genuine plan of that great improver, Kouli Khan. No 76 (June 13, 1754). And here, as he assures you the grass is short, you are led through all the pleasures of unconnected variety, with this recommendation, that it is a little way from the Palladian portico to the Gothic tower ; from the Lapland to the Chinese-house ; or from the temple of Venus to the hermitage. No 102 (Dec 12, 1754). With the rails and buildings of the Chinese, we adopted also for a while their language. A doll of that country we called a joss, and a flight building a pagoda. No 118 (April 3, 1755). Whatever may have been reported, whether truly or falsely, of the Chinese gardens, it is certain that we are the first of the Europeans who have been so fortunate in the genius of those who have had the direction of some of our finest spots of ground, that we may now boast a success equal to that profusion of expence which has been destined to promote the rapid progress of this happy enthusiasm.	Person: Cambridge, Richard Owen
3	1756	Cambridge, Richard Owen. The fakeer : a tale. (1756). Preface. It ought to be acknowledged, that the plan of the following lines is borrowed from M. Voltaire, who evidently took his hint from a passage in Pere le Comte’s History of China, which it is thought necessary to prefix, in order to support and illustrate the facts on which the tale is founded. An Extract from Le Comte's Memoirs and Remards, &c. Octavo, 1737, Page 335. The Bonzes (1) get a great deal of money by doing acts of penance publicly, which the people esteem them mightily for. I have seen them dragging after them a long chain of iron as thick as one’s arm, about thirty feet long, fastened to their neck, waist, or legs. Thus it is, say they, at every door as they pass, that we expiate your faults, sure this deserves some small alms. Others in public places knock their pates with all their force with large bricks, till they are almost covered with blood. They have several other (2) penitential actions ; but what I was most surprized at was this : One day I met a Bonze in a sort of sedan, very close shut, the inside of which was like an harrow full of nails very thick, with their points sticking out towards the man in the chair, so that he could not bend either one way or the other without wounding himself. Two fellows were hired to carry him from house to house, where he begged the people to have compassion on him. He told them he was shut up in that chair for the good of their souls, and was resolved never to go out from thence, till they had bought all the nails (of which there were above two thousand) at the rate of sixpence a-piece. If you buy any of them, says he, you will do an action of heroic virtue, and your alms are not bestowed on the Bonzes, to whom you may take other opportunities of bestowing your charity, but to the god FO, in whose honour we are going to build a temple. I told him, that he was very unhappy to torment himself thus in this world for no good, and did counsel him therefore to come out of his prison, to go to the temple of the true God, to be instructed in heavenly truths, and submit to penance less severe, but more salutary. He was so far from being in a passion with me, that he answered me calmly and courteously, that he was much obliged to me for my good advice, and would be more obliged to me still, if I would buy a dozen of his nails, which would certainly make me have a good journey. Here hold your hand, says he, turning on one side, take these ; upon the faith of a Bonze, they are the very best in all my sedan, for they prick me the most, yet you shall have them at the same rate at which I sell the others. (1) Bonzes is the general name for a priest. The proper term for the poor begging Dervise is Fakeer ; which both in the Turkish and Indian Language, signifies poor. Those of this sect who retire to desert places, and practise the utmost austerity of fasting and meditation, are called Jauguis ; that is, united with God. They seem for hours together absorbed in extacy, feeling, as they fancy, the divinity in the appearance of a clear and vivid light at the end of their nose, which they endeavour to effect by fixing both their eyes equally to that point, with inflexible constancy. (2) Some keep a fire always burning on their heads : others tie their heels to a tree, and leaning downwards, are continually supplying a fire with wood, that the flame may rise to their breasts.	Person: Cambridge, Richard Owen

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#	Year	Bibliographical Data	Type / Abbreviation	Linked Data
1	2007-	Worldcat/OCLC	Web / WC