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Show & T ¥ . e ATHANASIV KIRCHE \_ - Chriftian Faith by the forefai Paul Riccins, a man of a moft-quick and clea judgment, who as hewas a great Colaus of the Empire2 .and of great Authorit among(t the Chinefes, {o both by his Preaching and Wiriting he very much Illu firated the Chriftian Religion : But{eeing that the Hiftorians of Chinahave fufficiently defciibed their Lives and the Grandeur of their Aions, I thought it no requifice to repeat them ; wherefore it fhall {uffice hereto fet down both thei Pi&tureins the Chinefzan Habit Now the Emperour of the Chinefes before the irruption of the Tartars, whe he went unto the Tribunal, wasaccuftomed to prefent himfelf unto view, like petty Deity from a lofty place at a window; he bore in his hand a skreen o Ivory to cover his face, and another half a Cubit broad and a Cubit long ove his Royal Diadem, from which, Pretious Stones of ineftimable price were fo inferted on threads that they hung down, and by their luftre masked his prefence by a certain affeQtated {ort of Divinity, from the eyes of the beholders As for the Women, the Chinefes have this cuftom, the Plebeians and Poore {fort buy their Wives, and as often as they will they fell them again; for the Emperour and the Royal Lineage in their Matritmonial* Contra&s have regard onl unto the Beauty of the Body, neither do the Noble Perfonages alpire unto fuc Marriages, both by reafon that the Queens and Empreffes have little command and being confined in their Palace are for ever deprived the fight of their Rela tions ; and a'{o becaufe in the eleCiion that is made by the Magiftrates that loo after the concernments of Marriage, very few of an innumerable company ar advanced to the dignity of the Royal Bed The Emperour hath one primar Wife, befides which he and: the Heir to the Crown marrieth nine others fome what inferiour5 and laftly thirty fix others, all which enjoy the Conjugal title Unto thefe are added a far greater number of Concubines, which are neithe termed Queens, Emprefles, or Wives, relerved for collateral pleafure; the primary Wife only fitteth at Table with her Husband, all the reft, efpecially thof that are not of the Royal Kindred, are Sérvants to the Prince, and Ladies of Honour unto the Emprefs, who in the prefence are not permitted to fit ; neithe do their Sons call them Mother, but the primary Wife : It can hardly be exprel{ed how firictly the Women are kept throughout the whole Empire, not onl thofe of quality, but the common fort, who are obliged by an 1nviolable Law { ftritly, that not only thofe perfonsthat are not allyed unto them by any affinity but alfo thofe that are near untothem by blood, yea, their very Children com not at them; for the Womens Apartments are fo contrived, that they can neithe {ce or be feen by others; from whence they very feldom have liberty granted t go abroad, whichif on urgent occafion they obtain, they are fo clofed up i Sedans,that there is not fo much as a chink or cranie left open to (hew themfelves '_ i - The Chinefes efteem their Beauty chiefly to confift in fmall ftature and little feet ' fo that what may feem unto us unbecoming, they efteem as miracles of Beauty whence from their very Infancy their feet are fo clofely fwathed , which continuethall their life, that they can hardly go without great pain ; if you deman a realon of them, they an{wer, that they have kept this cuftom derived unto the about 2800. years, by the example of Tachiz the Wife of the Emperour Chei which Emprefs for her incredible Beauty they {uppofe to be placed amongft th Gods, and therefore the is citcemed by them for the Chinefian Venns3 and the feign the Beauty of this Perfonage to have arofe from nothing elfe but the {traigh binding of her feet, which confequently caufed the fimallnefs of them: Others fa that this cearcitation was enalted by a Law of the wife Men, that Women ma learnto fit ac home, whichif they do not voluntarily, they are by this means compelled Their habit is modeft and full of gravity, being vailed fo, that no par o \ |