From the short view that has here been taken of the different people who, at various times, have gained admission into China, and some of them for no other purpose than that of disseminating their religious tenets, it may be concluded, that the primitive worship of the country has experienced many changes and innovations, especially since the mass of the people, from the nature of the language, the maxims of the government, and other circumstances, have always been kept in a state of profound ignorance. Jews, Christians, Indians, and Mahomedans, have severally met with encouragement. The Jesuits had but one obstacle to overcome, the law that directed offerings to be made to deceased relations, and by giving way to this, which they were inclined to do had they not been thwarted by the more rigorous Dominicans, they might have converted the whole nation and Christianity would have become, in all probability, the prevailing religion, instead of that introduced from India. The paraphernalia and almost all the mummeries of the Romish church, the bells, the beads, the altars, the images, the candles, the dress, and the sanctimonious deportment of the priests in the hours of devotion, their chaunting and their incense, were already made familiar to the people in every temple of _Fo_. But, as Lord Macartney has observed, "the prohibition or restriction of sensual gratifications in a despotic country, where there are so few others, is difficult to be relished. Confession is repugnant to the close and suspicious character of the nation, and penance would but aggravate the misery of him whose inheritance is his labour, and poverty his punishment. Against it also is the state of society in China, which excludes women from their proper share of influence and importance. A religion which requires that women should at stated times communicate to priests, in private, their thoughts and actions, must be particularly disgusting to a Chinese husband, who had not himself been suffered to see his wife till the day of his marriage; and who but seldom allows her afterwards to see even her near relations of another sex. A religion like that of Mahomet can only be extended by violence and terror; for the natural stubbornness of men does not readily give way to novel impressions; but the mild spirit of the gospel is alone to be infused through the means of gentleness, persuasion, and imperceptible perseverance. These are the proper instruments of conversion, and peculiarly belong to the fair sex, whose eloquence, on such occasions, gives charms to devotion and ornaments to truth. The earliest stages of Christianity received no small support from female agency and example; and for what shew of religion still appears in _our_ churches, we are surely not a little indebted to the piety and attendance of women." Nothing, in fact, more tended to alarm the Chinese than the imprudent practice of the Romish missionaries of