Directory_and_Chronicle_1845 — Page 410

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have cause to repent." Thus no alternative was left to the poor man. Accordingly he went to court; was there repeatedly promoted, and often extolled by his master. His career, however, was not long. He became sick; obtained leave to retire; went home; soon died; and his remains were buried in Shánghái.

We find no further notice of him, iu history, till the tenth

year of Shunchi, the first monarch of the Mánchú family. In the spring of the year, bands of pirates invested the city. The commander of the Chinese forces was defeated. The people, in great numbers assem- bled, and inveighed against the conduct of the general.

Thereupon the governor of the province came to investigate the matter; and the general whose name was Wángking, turned round and accused the people of being in league with the pirates, fearing that their complaints against him would prove his overthrow. The governor was deceived, and resolved instantly to exterminate the people far and near. The magistrate and his friends tried to interfere in their behalf. But the governor was inexorable. That night; a few hours before the bloody decree was to be executed, a god descended and went to the court of the governor. His heart was agitated. Still at the late hour of midnight he was bent on slaugh- ter when again and again the god appeared before him, shaking his head and admonishing him. This at last had the desired effect. His cruel purpose was given up. The happy effects of that interposi- tion continue to this day, and tradition says, "the god who appeared was Tsin Yüpeh."

An image of this hero-god, with the title above given, also an image of his spouse, with images of their retiuue, are now to be seen in the Ching hwang miáu, and there he is worshiped, not only by multitudes of the common people, but especially on the 1st and 15th of each month, by the chief magistrate and other local officers, who come in state and do homage. This we have seen. The semi-monthly read- ing of the sacred edict usually takes place at the same time.

The temple of the god of the city was originally of small extent. At first the god received his divine honors in, what was called the "Fresh water well temple." Subsequently the magistrate took a temporary pavilion of Hoh kwáng and changed it into a temple, standing in the north-west corner of the city, not very far from the north gate. From that small beginning it has risen and become spa- cious and splendid, so as to be scarcely if at all inferior to any of its kind in all the provinces. In the summer of 1842, it was for a time

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