Tue once famous Summer Palace of Yuen Ming Yuen is still the resort of visitors to China, who fee), and perhaps ighily, that to go to Peking and not see n place rich in such historical sociations would be a grave dereliction of duty. The name of the Palace is curious and somewhat pazzling one. Tt menus literally the " Round Bright Garden"; possibly, however, this would be more accurately rendered the " Gar. don of the Round-and-Bright "—to wit, the Moon, The Garden of the Moon sounds pretty and poetical, and there is an intimate connection, as we all know, between the Sovereign of a and the celestial Jnminaries, The Emperor represents the Light which rales the Day, and on one of the ornamental archways which span the thoroughfares of Peking appeara the inscription, in Manchu and Ghinese, H.—" Appronoh to the San." The Moon symbolizes the Consorts and Min. isters of the Sovereign, who, however, with that confusion of metaphor and ambiguity of morals characteristic of Orientals, is stated by the Kuang Shik Lei Fu to call the Sun his elder brother and the Moon his sister. But be our theory true or false—and we put it forward simply as a thoory—it cannot be denied that in former days the summer residence of the Emperors of China was @ very lovely paradise, well deserving the prettiest and most postical name that a Court post could bestow upon it. Its pools of cool, pellucid water, ite miniature mountains, ils rocky hillock around which twined serpentine pathways, ite ornamental kiosks, its rich and varied vegetation, its bridges of solid marble, and Instly, the exquisite marble Palaces with the gorgeous Pagoda whose workmanship can only be compared with the fretwork of the Alhambra, all combined to form a veritable garden of delights, the effect of which was heightened, by qunintness and fantasy of design extremely pleasant to the.eye, It is not strange that so celebrated and once benutifal a place should be angorly visited by strangers from abroad, But
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.