—The great chamber, or saloon, is commonly from 18 to .20 feet in length, and about :20 feet in breadth. The side which looks to the court, is entirely open ; but a screen of canes, which is let down at pleasure, keeps out the rain and the rays the sun. The pavement is composed of pieces of stone ur marble, of several colours. The side walls are with screens, to the height of three or four feet from the ground ; and the upper part is neatly decorated with white, crimson, or gilt paper.
• Instead of paintings, the Chinese hang up large pieces of satin or of paper, set in frames, and painted in imitation of marble u• batnboo, on which are written, in characters of azure Mee, proverbs and distichs of morality, taken from the principal Chinese philosophers. They also sometimes have leaves of white paper, quite smooth, containing large charac ters. traced by some skilful hand, in China ink ; this orna ment is much esteemed. The bottom of the drawing-room is composed of folding-doors, over which is a lattice, covered with painted gauze, for the admission of light into the bed chamber. The doors, which are of wood, are of very neat workmanship, ornamented with different characters and figures, and sometimes richly varnished and painted red, blue, or some other colony.
" hi the middle of the lower part of the chamber, and above a table which contains various ornaments, a very large leaf of thick paper is frequently suspended, covered with ancient Chinese paintings of diffet cut figures, enclosed in squares. The Chinese have a great veneration for these ornaments, under the idea that the painters were inspired ; and the connoisseurs pretend to distinguish the hands of the several masters, and give a very great price for such as pass for originals. I have seen many of these paintings; they usually consist of landscapes or figures, drawn with China ink, on white paper. In general they are touched with spirit, but they are too incorrect, and too little finished, to deserve much attention.
? The furniture of the large room consists of chairs, stools, and tables, made of rosewood, ebony. varnished wood, and sometimes simply of bamboo, which, though cheap, is very neat. When the furniture is of wood, the tops of the stools are often of marble or of porcelain ; and though such seats are very hard. they are very agreeable in a climate where the heat of the summer is excessive. On small tables, or stands, four or five feet high, placed in a corner of the room, are seen dishes of citrons, and other odoriferous fruits, branches of coral in porcelain vases, and glass globes containing gold fishes, m it h a kind of herb something similar to fennel. They
also decorate their tables, which are made only for ornament, o nth small landscapes, composed of shell-work, plants, and a kind of' lily that grows among pebbles covered with water. They have also artificial landscapes, made of ivory, crystal, amber, pearl, and precious stones. 1 have seen some that cost a thousand tads, (more than three hundred guineas), but they are mere toys, and wretched imitations of nature. Besides these landscapes. the tables are ornamented with porcelain vases of different kinds, and small vessels, the latter of which are much esteemed. The forms of these vessels are generally simple and agreeable ; the Chinese say they were made two thousand years ago, by some of their most celebrated artists ; and such as are really antique. (for there are some counterfeits), sell at an excessive price; one of them sometimes costs no less than three hundred pounds. They are kept in small pasteboard boxes, and are only shown on great occasions; nobody touches them but the master, and, to keep them clean, he brushes them from time to time with a hair-pencil, made solely for the purpose.
" Lamps form the most prominent of the cham bers ; there are generally lime of them hanging the ceiling, by cords of silk. They are of various shapes, as square, octagon, &e,, and arc composed of an extremely fine silken stuff; decorated with very neat draw tags of flow birds, and landscapes.
" A partition of fidding-doors separates the large room from the bed-chamber. 1 have already observed, that, in warm weather, these doors are left open all night, for the admission of cool air. The chamber is very small, and has no other furniture than the bed and some varnished clothes trunks. The beds are sometimes extremely magnificent : the bedsteads, or frames, which very much resemble those of Europe, are of rosewood engraved, or of lackeyed wood ; the curtains are of taffety, or gauze, sometimes flowered with gold, and commonly dyed blue or purple. A band of embroidered satin, about a foot in breadth, goes round the whole top of the bed ; the embroidery is in compartments, of various firms, and represents flowers, landscapes, or human figures, accompanied with moral sentences and fables, written with China ink and vermilion.