He didn't apparently feel half-inclined

To return-for he never could make up his mind: 'Twas "yes" at one moment, the next it was no; One day it was "stop here," the next it was " go."

He concluded at last he had better stay here,*
Pass the winter in quiet and go back next year;
His departure to Peking was too long delayed,—
He died, and his corse to Tung-ling was conveyed.+

* He was persuaded to stay by his Ministers, who probably dreaded he would be compelled to give audiences to foreigners, and thus become enlightened as to the doings of the mandarins.

One of the family burial places of the reigning family. The other is Hsi-ling. Curiously enough, in this dynasty no Emperor is buried in the same place as his father; consequently, the Emperors are buried at Tungling and Hsi-ling alternately-Thus Hsien-feng was buried at Tung-ling; Tao-kuang at Hsi-ling; Chia-ching at Tungling; Chien-lung at Hsi-ling; Yung-cheng at Tung-ling; Kang-hsi at Hsi-ling; Shun-chih at Tung-ling. The story goes that the effigy only of Shun-chih was buried at Tungling, though he privately retired to Wu-tai-shan, and became a priest. Numbers of Tatars go there annually to worship at the place on that account.

THE STONE LIONS OF LU-KOU

BRIDGE.*

Should the traveller go

To the bridge of Lu-kou

Distant from Peking about thirty li;

When once he gets there

If he 's leisure to spare,

He'll no doubt a wond'rous phenomenon see.

* Lu-kou bridge,, is distant from Peking about 30 li. It lies in a westerly direction from the Chang-i gate, A stone road, made by Liu-chin,

, a eunuch of the Ming dynasty, leads to, and terminates at the bridge, which is much older than the road, having, it is supposed, been built during the Tang dynasty.

It is the general belief that no one has ever succeeded in counting the stone lions on the parapets at the sides of the bridge though it seems a very easy undertaking.

For,-on either hand,

Some stone lions stand

Or squat or recline on the parapets mounted;

The number's not great,

Yet, strange to relate,

No mortal has ever those stone lions counted.

Of the many who've tried,

Some have sickened and died;

Some have gone raving mad in the frantic endeavour— Some count on day by day,

'Till they grow old and grey,—

But no one succeeds should he count on for ever.

Many persons have wondered,

As there seems scarce a hundred

That the task should be one of such very great labour; They may sneer and pooh-pooh it

Let one try to do it—

He'll soon find himself just as bad as his neighbour.

One expert fellow hit on the plan of first pasting a piece of red paper on each side of the stone lions and afterwards counting them, but he is said to have died, leaving his task unfinished. Every one in the neighbourhood of Peking knows the legend, and many attempt to count the lions, but all have given up the task as hopeless.

Down the first row

He will carefully go,

And fancy he 's counted correctly, when, lo!
He's about to cross to the opposite side,
When every lion seems multiplied;
Where he had seen but one lion before,
Now he could easily count up a score.

Stone lions of every shape and size,
With tufted tails and tawny eyes;
Which seem to blink in the rays of the sun,
As if they were real and relished the fun.
Some, complacently licking their jaws-
Others as busily sucking their paws—
Little ones climbing up big one's backs-
Peeping from crannies, nooks and cracks-
Perched on the top of a parent's nose-
Stealthily peeping from 'twixt his toes-
At the top or the bottom, here or there,
Lions seem cropping up everywhere-
Under a belly-perched on an ear—

In the queerest of places the lions appear—
'Neath the tuft of a tail-'mong the hair of a

mane

You may strive to count 'em, but counting's in

vain,

For you never can count the same number again.
No matter how often the victims count-

They may fancy they've got the exact amount-
They'll just run over once more and see,
When they find an alarming discrepancy;

One lion less here-one too many there-
At length they give the task up in despair-
Unless, as, alas! is too often the case,

They must go on counting and not quit the place,
"Till the counter eventually gets deranged,

Or dies, and at last to a lion is changed;
Adding one more

To that terrible score,

And making the counting more hard than before.

Whatever you do, or wherever you go,
Beware of the lions of stone at Lu-kou!
Don't try to count them as sure as you do,
You'll die, become mad, or a stone lion too.