HO-FI OF THE YELLOW GIRDLE.*

WITH AN ILLUSTRATION.

FAIRER than rice, more graceful than the bamboo, was So-Sli, the daughter of Poo-Poo. Her foot was no longer than her finger, so that when she walked she tottered elegantly, and required the support of a reed or of a hand-maiden; so light was her form, and so lovely was her face, and so helpless was her air, that when she appeared abroad she attracted the notice of all, as a straw which a juggler of Shanghi balances on the tip of his nose. Her brows were arched like the feathers in the tail of the domestic bird of the river; her eyes were smaller than the kernels of the almond, and were free from the disfigurement of lashes; her hair was like a cobweb of the black spiders of Chen-si; her nose was small, and beautifully flat; her lips were as two large pink caterpillars which the cooks of Pecheli have prepared for the banquet of the Son of Heaven. The fame of her loveliness had spread throughout the province Kiang Si, and many a manly spirit yearned towards her, even on the report of her beauty.

Many were the solicitations made to her father for the hand of the lovely So-Sli, and he might have married her to mandarins both civil and military as many as he pleased; but old Poo-Poo was a sage and a philanthropist, and had devoted himself much to the investigation of the causes of human happiness and misery, and had determined that marriage might be highly conducive to one or to the other, according as it should be, or should not be, conducted upon scientific principles. Of the scientific principles upon which marriage should be conducted he had formed a theory of his own; and it had been a source of the deepest regret to him that he had not devised his theory until after his own marriage. However, as his wife was now dead, that had become a matter of comparatively little importance. He determined that his daughter should have the full benefit to be derived from them; and, for a Chinese, it must be owned that his principles exhibited much liberality of feeling. This was particularly evinced in one of his crotchets, which, however, appeared in the eyes of his countrymen so extraordinary, that it would probably have brought down upon him the heavy displeasure of the government, but for some charitable doubts which were entertained as to his sanity. To us his fancy does not appear so unnatural; but he was the first of some

The following passage from Davis suggested the subject of this story :"The expense to the state of a wâng (imperial relative) of the first rank is about sixty thousand taëls, or 20,000l. annually, and this diminishes through the several grades down to the simple inheritors of the yellow girdle, who receive only three taëls per month, and two sacks of rice. But they are allowed one hundred taëls when they marry, and one hundred and twenty for a funeral: from which, says Serra, they take occasion to maltreat their wives, because when they have killed one they receive the allowance for her interment, as well as the dowry of the new wife, whom they take immediately."-DAVIS's Chinese, vol. i., p. 381.

sixty thousand millions of the celestial people (reckoning but two hundred generations of three hundred millions each) who had ever questioned or doubted the propriety of a marriage between persons who had had no previous acquaintance with each other. He was rash enough to start and maintain this opinion; and furthermore he considered that a certain somewhat of congeniality should subsist between, and be discovered by the parties, before they should proceed to bind themselves indissolubly together. He determined, therefore, not only that his daughter should see her future lord before she became a wife, but such was the peculiar tenderness of his paternal affection, and so far had the heresy of innovation possessed him, that she should not be made over to any person towards whom she manifested a decided dislike; and, indeed, that she should be allowed a certain latitude of choice among the many suitors who were competitors for her hand.

Two great mandarins, Hang and Swing, and a certain rich merchant. Tin, had sent costly presents to her father; and the eloquent Tung, a graduate of the college of Hanlan, had composed ten volumes of moral sentences in praise of the beauty of So-Sli; but though he perused the books, and graciously accepted the presents, Poo-Poo rejected these applicants, who lived too far off to make their addresses in person. It fared no better with many of various rank,―manufacturers, and proprietors of rice-grounds, silk-feeders, barge-owners, and officers civil and military, who, dwelling in the neighbourhood, had opportunities of seeing and of being looked upon by the lovely eyes of So-Sli. She had expressed herself by no means averse to Hang or Swing, Ting or Tung; but these she had never seen; and her father, believing that if she engaged herself under such circumstances, she might repent when she became acquainted with the parties, had withheld his consent. Those whom she saw found no favour in her sight. One was too tall, another was too short, a third was too fat, a fourth too thin; this too gay, and that too serious; Ting-a-ting's voice was too gentle, Ding-Dong's too loud; one was too fond of sweet potato, and sweet potato she disliked; another not suffi ciently partial to dog, and dog was her favourite dish. In fact, So-Sli was by no means easy to please.

Here we may pause to remark, that the multiplicity of presents which for a long time poured in upon Poo-poo was well-nigh procuring converts to his system among old gentlemen who had marriageable daughters; but at last suitors grew chary of their presents, and withheld them till an interview with the young lady should have sealed their fortune.

In the town in which dwelt Poo-Poo and his lovely daughter So-Sli, there resided a young man who boasted his relationship to the imperial family, being in fact a descendant from an Emperor who had occupied the throne about a hundred and fifty years before. The Emperor of China looks with commendable affection upon all his poor relations, of whom he keeps an inventory of about ten thousand; and, according to their several degrees of affinity, he allots to all, by a graduated scale, a certain annual stipend, and permits them to wear some badge by which they may be distinguished as being of his kin. This badge, whether cloak, or shawl, or belt, or cap, is of the imperial colour, yellow; and in the particular instance of Ho

Fi, the young man of whom we speak, was a silken girdle, whence he was known throughout that neighbourhood as Ho-Fi of the Yellow-Girdle. He furthermore enjoyed an allowance of three dollars and two sacks of rice per month.

Being thus a cousin, though a distant one, of the Son of Heaven, he would have conceived it much beneath his dignity to have followed for his livelihood any profession or trade; and as he had desires and ambition to which his means were quite inadequate, he was driven to curious shifts at times, in the vulgar words of the West, to procure salt for his porridge, or indeed porridge for his salt.

Ho-Fi heard all the tongues in the neighbourhood eloquent in praise of the beauty of So-Sli; but he heard them likewise no less voluble in condemnation of her whimsicality and waywardness. Fresh stories were every day told of her rejection of some meritorious suitor; and as none seemed likely to please her, those who would have been glad to carry off such a prize became shy of advancing their claims. But Ho-Fi, with less intrinsic worth than many, was not of a character to be daunted by the fear of the nego tiation proving unsatisfactory, and he resolved to enlist himself as one of the competitors for the hand of So-Sli.

Ho-Fi, though quite a young man, had already been six times married, and on every occasion had had the misfortune to lose his wife within a few weeks after their union. As seven is accounted a particularly fortunate number, it is not to be wondered at that he was desirous to adventure once more. His six dear wives were all laid in a tomb together, and he wanted one more, in order to make up a set.'

son.

Ho-Fi rejoiced in many advantages, which had already stood him in good stead in many circumstances somewhat similar to those in which he was about to exert his tactics. He was possessed of what his lovely countrywomen were prone to consider a handsome perHis finger-nails, by virtue of well-contrived splints, he managed to maintain an inch and a half in length; he was quite free from whiskers or beard; and his head was always kept cleanly shaven, except the usual tuft at the crown, which, of peculiar blackness and strength, and neatly tied up with silk, depended down his back almost to the bend of his knee. He was particular, moreover, in his dress; and as it was well known that his funds were of the most limited, it was a matter of surprise among his neighbours how he became possessed of so very respectable a wardrobe. And if this was a mystery to them, what wonder though I, a stranger and barbarian, am quite unable to explain it? I leave it to your conjectures, and I feel sure that there are some among my countrymen to whom a solution will be intuitively easy. Person and dress, it will be admitted, serve as two powerful talismans in such adventures as that upon which he was going to set forth; but he was possessed of other advantages incalculably more important. These were, a limitless assurance, and that determined perseverance which, disregarding repulses, returns again and again to the charge, or which, in simpler phrase, will not take no for an answer.' To these may be added an adaptability of disposition, which could fall in with the humours of all parties, and a readiness in discovering the weak points of the enemy, and directing the attack accordingly.

'Tis but venturing,' said Ho-Fi; and if I fail, I will not hang myself up by my pig-tail like a Ni-Ni, nor run myself through with a thumbnail like a Boo-Bee.' Ni-Ni and Boo-Bee were two celebrated Werters of China.

His design thus formed, he set to work systematically to carry it into effect, and began by picking acquaintance with the philosopher PooPoo. Observing that venerable person cheapening the hind-quarter of a prize polecat in the meat-market, with his usual ease and address he managed to fall into conversation with him; and by a little banter, from time to time agreeably directed to the butcher, soon obtained for the philosopher that abatement in the price of the tempting morsel, for which Poo-Poo himself might probably in vain have striven. Having declared his own predilection for polecat, and particularly for the hind-quarter, he led the discourse by easy gradations from polecats to weasels, from weasels to rats, from rats to dogs, from dogs to pigs, from pigs to his fair country women, and so to the celebrated beauty So-Sli, the daughter of the sage Poo-Poo. Of the philosopher himself he expressed great admiration, and regretted that he was not so fortunate as to enjoy his acquaintance, nay, that he did not even so much as know him by sight. Poo-Poo was a lover of wisdom-but what philosopher was ever yet proof against flattery? or would not feel gratified at overhearing his own praises in cases like the present, where they could not be intended as flattery? Ho-Fi had already secured himself a high-place in the philosophical estimation of Poo-Poo.

It will readily be supposed that Poo-Poo was not anxious to turn the conversation out of the channel into which it had thus accidentally flowed, and he sounded his new friend's opinions on the subject of his pet matrimonial theory. This Ho-Fi of course applauded 'to the very echo,' -by which expression is intended that his words were mere mockery, vox et præterea nihil.

'Were you to ask me,' said he, who is the greatest of ancient or modern sages, I should answer, Poo-Poo. Were you to ask me who, of all, has advanced a theory most likely to be extensively beneficial to the human race, I should answer Poo-Poo. Were you to ask me for a word synonymous with philosophy, I should answer Poo-Poo. I doubt not that the days will come when the wisdom of Poo-Poo will be universally admitted, and his name be adduced as a conclusive settlement to all disputed questions; when if any one shall be asked his reason, he will answer Poo-Poo; if he be asked his authority, he will answer Poo-Poo; when criticism will be condensed in those two syllables Poo-Poo; and when those same two syllables, Poo-Poo, will suffice to upset criticism; in short, when he that speaks Poo-Poo the loudest will be the best logician, and when all discussion will be but a matter of Poo-Poo.'

That day Ho-Fi dined with Poo-Poo on the hind quarter of the prize polecat.

The morsel was small, but it was choice. Having so soon and so easily insinuated himself into the good graces of the father, he next sought an opportunity of winning his way into those of the daughter. He boldly expressed his desire to Poo-Poo, and a day was settled upon which he should be formally introduced to her, a ceremony not to be conducted with too great precipitation. In the interval he