s reforming the calendar and teaching geography and science
in general, he made a fierce attack upon Buddhism, at the same time
wisely leaving Confucianism alone. He was the first to become aware
of the presence in China of a Jewish colony, which had been founded
in 1163. It was from his writings that truer notions of Chinese
civilization than had hitherto prevailed, began to spread in the West.
"Mat. Riccius the Jesuite," says Burton in his _Anatomy of Melancholy_
(1651), "and some others, relate of the industry of the Chinaes most
populous countreys, not a beggar, or an idle person to be seen, and how
by that means they prosper and flourish."

In 1625 an important find was made. A large tablet, with a long
inscription in Chinese and a shorter one in Syraic, was discovered in
central China. The inscription, in an excellent state of preservation,
showed that the tablet had been set up in A.D. 781 by Nestorian
missionaries, and gave a general idea of the object and scope of the
Christian religion. The genuineness of this tablet was for many years in
dispute--Voltaire, Renan, and others of lesser fame, regarding it as
a pious fraud--but has now been established beyond any possibility
of doubt; its value indeed is so great that an attempt was made quite
recently to carry it off to America. Nestorian Christianity is mentioned
by Marco Polo, but disappears altogether after the thirteenth century,
without leaving any trace in Chinese literature of its once flourishing
condition.

The last emperor of the Ming dynasty meant well, but succumbed to the
stress of circumstances. Eunuchs and over-taxation brought about the
stereotyped consequence--rebellion; rebellion, too, headed by an able
commander, whose successive victories soon enabled him to assume the
Imperial title. In the capital all was confusion. The treasury was
empty; the garrison were too few to man the walls; and the ministers
were anxious to secure each his own safety. On April 9, 1644, Peking
fell. During the previous night the emperor, who had refused to flee,
slew the eldest princess, commanded the empress to commit suicide, and
sent his three sons into hiding. At dawn the bell was struck for the
court to assemble; but no one came. His Majesty then ascended the Coal
Hill in the palace grounds, and wrote a last decree on the lapel of his
robe: "WE, poor in virtue and of contemptible personality, have incurred
the wrath of God on high. My ministers have deceived m