great importance, and celebrated for its manufacture of arms and all kinds of military accoutrements.

In another chapter the Venetian says, "Marco, on his part, perceiving that the Grand Khan took a pleasure in hearing accounts of whatever was new to him respecting the customs and manners of people, and the peculiar circumstances of distant countries, endeavored, whereever he went, to obtain correct information on these subjects, and made notes of all he saw and heard, in order to gratify the curiosity of his master. In short, during seventeen years that he continued in his service, he rendered himself so useful that he was employed in confidential missions to every part of the empire and its dependencies; and sometimes also he traveled on his own private account, but always with the consent and sanctioned by the authority of the Great Khan. Under such circumstances it was that Marco Polo had the opportunity of acquiring a knowledge, either by his own. observation or by what he collected from others, of so many things, until his time unknown, respecting the eastern parts of the world, and which he diligently and regularly committed to writing, as in the sequel will appear."

CHAPTER IX.

THE LAST NATIVE DYNASTY-THE MING.

S soon as Tai-tsu was firmly seated on the throne,

ambassadors were sent by the kings of Corea and other tributary princes to congratulate him on his elevation, and express their satisfaction that the country was once more under the dominion of a native ruler. The success of Tai-tsu and his excellent government are attributed in great measure to the prudent counsels of his wife. The new emperor chose Nanking for his capital, and erected Peking into a principality, which he bestowed on one of his sons, Yung-lo, who, when he became emperor, again removed the court from Nanking to Peking, the latter city being better situated for keeping in check the Tartars, who were constantly at war with the Chinese after the fall of the Mongol dynasty. Tai-tsu began his reign by restoring those institutions which had been disregarded since the time of Kublai Khan, whose successors had broken in upon one of the most important usages of the Chinese government, by placing military men in all the chief offices of state, which under Kublai had been filled by the learned. This was one of the innovations which had led to the revolution, and was among the first grievances redressed by the new emperor, who restored the literary mandarins to

their former rank and influence, and granted great privileges to the Han-lin College. He made several new regulations intended to promote the happiness of the people, and, among others, that women should not devote themselves as priestesses to the religion of Buddha, and that no man should enter a monastery till he was forty years of for Tai-tsu knew by experience that young people sometimes were induced to adopt this life of seclusion before they were old enough to judge whether it was exactly suited to their dispositions, and were thereby doomed to many years of misery and regret.

age;

Tai-tsu reigned thirty-one years, and, having lost his favorite son, appointed his grandson, a boy of thirteen, under the imperial name of Kien-wan, to succeed him, which gave great offence to one of his sons, Yung-lo, who raised an army at Peking, and placing himself at its head, marched toward Nanking to demand from his nephew the surrender of the throne. He was opposed by the imperial troops, and a battle ensued, in which many were killed on both sides, but the cause was still undecided when the gates of the city were opened by a traitor. The assailants instantly rushed into the town, put many of the inhabitants to the sword and set the palace on fire. The youthful emperor perished in the flames, and Yung-lo took possession of the vacant throne. Some of the ministers were condemned to death, others killed themselves, while many of the mandarins, who expected to be punished for their adherence to the cause of the late unfortunate prince, shaved their heads and assumed the sackcloth habit of the bonzes, and, thus disguised, were not recognized.

Although the new emperor had obtained the throne

by cruelty and violence, he was not a bad sovereign, but on the contrary exhibited great moderation and justice in many acts of his government. He removed the court to Peking, as has been before remarked, which has been the imperial residence ever since; but he established separate tribunals at Nanking, which city was occupied and governed by his eldest son.

It was in this reign that the great Tartar chief Timour, or Tamerlane, as he is more generally called, whose conquests almost equaled those of Zingis Khan, being ambitious of adding China to the vast dominions he had already acquired by a long and successful course of warfare, set out with the intention of invading that empire; but, happily for the Chinese, he died on the way (A.D. 1405), and the expedition was abandoned. From time to time, however, the Tartars renewed their invasions in the hope of recovering the empire, and were a terrible scourge to those provinces which bordered on Tartary. When there happened to be a powerful prince at the head of the state, they were kept in check, but whenever the government was weak, they did not fail to turn that advantage to account; so that the Chinese were never entirely at peace during the whole period of the Ming dynasty, which lasted three centuries.

It was in the reign of this race that the rapid progress of navigation which followed the discovery of America first brought the ships of Europe to the shores of China. The Portuguese, who were the great naviga

Those who love to trace the simultaneous tread of the great events which mark the eras of the advance of our race will observe that this new link was formed between the most distant West and the most distant East, between the most immobile and the most progressive parts of the world, at the hour when

tors of the age, having made several voyages to India by the newly-discovered passage round the Cape of Good Hope, ventured still farther eastward in the year 1516, and were the first Europeans who reached the Canton river. Their vessels, despatched by Alfonso Albuquerque, the captain-general of Malacca, were under the command of a bold and adventurous Portuguese named Perestrello, who, however, did not pass the islands at the mouth of the river. His name will be memorable as that of the first person who ever conducted a ship to China under a European flag. On his return to Malacca, Perestrello reported favorably of the country and its commerce. The very next year he was followed by a squadron of eight vessels, under the command of Perez de Andrade, who passed the islands and sailed up the river. Some alarm was experienced at Canton on the appearance of strange vessels, of a form altogether new to the Chinese, who very naturally supposed an invasion was intended; consequently, the squadron was presently surrounded by war-junks, and it was with difficulty that Perez de Andrade obtained permission to proceed up the river to Canton with two of his ships. The viceroy granted an audience; but while successfully negotiating for a trade, the Portuguese captain received accounts that the rest of his squadron, left near the mouth of the river, had been attacked by pirates. Some of his vessels returned with cargoes to Malacca; the remainder sailed, in company with some junks belonging to the Loo-Choo islands, for the east coast of China, and succeeded in

Martin Luther was preparing the ninety-five theses, the nailing of which on the door of the cathedral at Wittemberg waked up the slumbering conscience of Europe, and was one of the first public acts of the Great Reformation.