Tue student of Chinese history who takes the pains to burrow into its out-ofthe-way corners, is perpetually surprised by the discovery of personages and incidents of the most dramatic character. Plots that would make the fortune of the play writer, and: situations that answer all the requirements of the sensationalist, are found in the annals of the ancient Empire; and the network of intrigue is often woven around men and women who are absolute incarnations of fiery passion and those highly strained emotions that belong to the heroes and heroines of tragedy.—Amonggt the most prominent of these was Woo Tsih-teen. This extraordinary woman was of very fumble birth, but ber beauty and proficiency in the accomplishments proper to a Ohinese lady obtained for her a position at the Court of the Emperor Tae'tsung. On the death of this Emperor, she was for a while confined in a nunnery; shortly after the accession of Kaou-tsung to the Throne she was again invited to Court. The Emperor married o lady called Wang-she, of rank and high character, but this princess shared the Emperor's regards with.a rival Queen, by name Seaousub,.A natural jealousy existed between the two, and the intriguanto, Woo Tsib-todn, ros make the ruin of one or both ladies a ladder to climb to power by. She made herself agreeable to the Exapress, and thus had opportunities of seeing the Emperor very often. He was fascinated by her, and the rivals soon found that their best policy was to wake up their jealousies and: differencea, and combine to put the new and formidable claimant for favour out of the way. The solemn masquerade of Court etiquette was of course carried on. The audiences and obeisances, and state receptions and protestations of undying loyalty succeeded each other; but the most murderous passions were on the eve of exploding. The crime of this Chinese woman seems to us unexampled in history. The vices of the criminals of Greek story, Clytemnestra and Medea, are combined in Woo, and the culminating scene of her supreme end monstrous wickedness seems to us to present a tragic climax worthy of the poetry of Zischylus or Hnripides and the scenic genius of Siddons or Ristori. Woo presented the Emperor with a daughter, The Empress, according to etiquette, was compelled to take the child in her arms and fondle it. After going through the ceremony with the best grace she could, Wang-she retired from the room. Suddenly screams and cries for help rang through the private apart. ments. Woo Tsih-teen, after receiving the congratulations of the Empress, had secretly strangled her own child, She then covered up the babe's body. The Emperor next entered in state to pay his visit of ceremony and to seo his infant. It was dead. Wang-she was the lest person who had held it in her arms, and she was at once denounced by the murderess-mother and accused of destroying it in a fit of jealousy. This incident, which belongs to authentic history, is so ghostly that the writer who introduced it in fiction would be scoured of overstepping all bounds of Othe ison of Night " would have Not.even_the author of
conceived that his terrible Lucretia could have been guilty of such a crime. The unhappy Empress was degraded and Woo was raised to the Throne, but as long as her rival lived she know xo rest. Hearing that there was ® chance of her being released from her confinement in a fit of Imperial clemency, she sent orders to her servants, who cut off the hands and feet of the imprisoned Queen. They were brought to her, and she flung them savagely into a jar of wine. Wang-she died almost immediately, of her wounds. The intrigues by which Woo tried to secure the succession to her youngest son, in order that there might be a long regency, become absolutely wearisome to follow out. At last, her husband died, her elder children were set aside, and she reigned alone, There was no want of ability in the terrible Empress, and when at last she had gained her ends she sot to.work to.administer the laws with justice and vigour, and by all accounts her rule was not: an, oppress sive ove. She exhibited skill in grappling with difficulties, A severe famine visited China during her occu poney of the throne, and her measures to alleviate it were efficient. She ronde vigorous efforts to restrain the violence of the banditti who were rendering the public ways unsafe, and when one of those formidable inundations occurred which are the scourge of China, she exhibited humanity to the sufferers, Beneficent and usefal laws are still traced to her reign, She was tolerant, and patronized Buddhists and Taouists alike, caring probably nothing for either of the rival religions. It is frequently the case that historians who delight in gifting their characters with strongly contrasted qualities, exe aggerate the atellectunl powers of men and women palpably wanting in morality; but it is a proof that Woo possessed certain powers in an eminent degree, that she was allowed to reign unmolested for twenty-one years. To all who thwarted her wishes within the palace walls, she was pitiless; but she did not tyrannize over her subjects; indeed she tried to govern well.—At last the end came. The Empress had set aside the provisions of her husband's will, by which Chung-tering was raised to the Throne. The old Imperial party, however, had been too
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.