Some of the arm-chairs were cunningly wrought out of a single piece of
wood. The seats of others were beautiful marble slabs; of others, again,
fine coloured tiles or porcelain. Articles of European manufacture, such
as handsome mirrors, clocks, vases, and tables of Florentine mosaic or
variegated marble, were plentiful. There was also a remarkable
collection of lamps and lanterns pendent from the ceilings,
consisting--these lamps and lanterns--of glass, transparent horn, and
coloured gauze or paper, ornamented with glass beads, fringe, and
tassels. And as the walls were also largely supplied with lamps, the
apartments, when lighted up, assumed a truly fairy-like character.
[Chinese House and Garden: page77.jpg]
The mandarin's pleasure-garden stretched along the river-side. Its
cultivation was perfect, but no taste was shown in its arrangement.
Wherever the visitor turned, kiosks, summer-houses, and bridges
confronted her. Every path and open spot were lined with large and small
flower-pots, in which grew flowers and liliputian fruit-trees of all
kinds. In the art of dwarfing trees, if such distortion and crippling of
Nature deserves to be called an art, the Chinese are certainly most
accomplished experts; but what can we think of the taste, or want of
taste, which prefers pigmies three feet high to the lofty and
far-shadowing trees which embellish our English parks and gardens? Why
should a civilized people put Nature in fetters, and delight in checking
her growth, in limiting her spontaneous energies?
Here are some particulars about the tea-plant:--In the plantations around
Canton, it is not allowed to grow higher than six feet, and is
consequently cut at intervals.
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