in this way attract us at a great distance in time and of which we make a perfectly deliberate selection.

At first sight it might seem as if these two forms of attraction really involved as their conditions precisely the same mental qualities. But if this were so, we should find the people who are most susceptible of the one susceptible of the other in a proportionate degree. Facts, however, do not appear to support this view. Although it is true that very lively and excitable people often unite a high susceptibility to immediate excitement with an eager pursuit of distant excitement, we find many who show the first quality apart from the second, and others who display the latter with but very little of the former. That is to say, there are those who are exceed. ingly weak in presence of an intense en

force in volition. People are supposed to indulge in it, not from deliberate preference, but simply from the overmastering influence of the exciting pleasure. According to this view, which has been advocated by philosophers from Plato downwards, the force of excitement is the power of a present gratification which, by taking full possession of consciousness, excludes all reflection, comparison of ends, and deliberate preference of one end to another. One familiar illustration of this process is the condition of a morally weak and highly sensitive mind in view of an object of sensuous gratification immediately presented to it. And there is little doubt that this is the mode in which most persons are acted upon by the intenser forms of pleasure. We may see abundant illustrations of this weakness in the every-day life of Englishmen. Now it is the workman, who, find-joyment within momentary reach, and who ing himself inpossession of a little store of accumulating wages, cannot resist the temptation of an immediate indulgence in the noisy delights of alcoholic stimulation. At another time it is the wife of a struggling business man, who is transported by the prospect of decking herself in luxurious apparel, and who at the moment of temptation is wholly unrestrained by considerations of a wise economy. The records of our bankruptcy and criminal courts abundantly testify to the overwhelming power of present excitement over the minds of large numbers of the community. But this is not the only way in which exciting pleasures exercise a peculiar attraction on the human mind. Many men and women love excitement in quite another way. They make it an object of conscious preference and of deliberate anticipation. If it is not a paradox, one may say that they seek excitement in a quiet manner by coolly setting themselves to attain it and to prepare themselves for it. Take, for example, the case of a young woman living in a rather dull way in a quiet country town, whose occasional happiness it is to visit London and to see a little of the gaieties of fashionable society. She looks forward to her yearly treat with a fair amount of composure for several months, and seeks in the most practical way to make all her other arrangements fit in with this supreme engagement. If other prospects open up which would conflict with this one, she carefully reflects on the choice presented to her, and, after full deliberation, determines to attain the more exciting form of enjoyment. All of us probably are aware of the existence of certain forms of pleasurable excitement which

yet betray no energy in the pursuit of remote excitements. There are men, for example, who are carried away as with an irresistible arm at the sight of wine, who nevertheless show little or no tendency to go out of their way to indulge themselves in this peculiar gratification; and these are the cases of morbid appetite which it is possible to deal with remedially. On the other hand, there are those who seem very much bent on providing themselves with occasional emotional stimulants, and who yet do not manifest this kind of impotence under the attraction of an immediately present exciting object. For instance, the bon vivant who delights in the stimulus of a good dinner, spiced with the presence of jovial companions, may display an irresistible firmness in the pursuit of occasional gratifications of his taste, and yet be perfect master of himself if suddenly tempted to an immediate indulgence.

It is characteristic of this more moderate pursuit of excitement that it should assume the form of a purpose to indulge in the wished-for enjoyment at certain more or less regular intervals. People who are in this condition of mind consciously resolve to seek a periodical excitement. They make their moments of emotional exaltation an orderly element in their existence. It is probable that English people show this peculiar quality less clearly than foreigners. The French and the Germans are quite as fond of excitement as ourselves, probably a good deal more so, but they compass their end in a much more orderly fashion. A woman in Paris or Berlin who is obliged to think a good deal about the pecuniary cost of her

amusements is accustomed to arrange her of will by which he can either hold down, periodical visits to the theatre with the so to speak, the violent emotional impulses utmost care. The theatre is open every or release them according to the purpose evening, but she is not tempted to rush of the moment. He does not by any off on hearing of some new attraction. means seek to deprive himself of the luxShe looks ahead and skillfully prepares ury of indulging his peculiarly intense for her coveted delight. She does not susceptibilities, he rather aims perhaps live in a daily state of uneasy craving, dis-at cultivating them to the fullest degree. contented with her ordinary surroundings. Only he makes them the conditions of a She throws herself heartily into present rationally pursued enjoyment, the raw Occupations, sustained with the pleasant material out of which he can fashion by visions of the coming holiday. She must well-conceived plan a high style of felicity. have her moments of exalted bliss, but But is it possible, one may ask, to comshe can very well bring herself to wait for bine any considerable degree of excitabilthem. We have heard of German wom-ity with a perfectly rational choice of the en who were so bent on securing this oc- highest happiness attainable? Video casional ecstacy in the theatre or the meliora proboque, deteriora sequor, is opera-house that they willingly stinted supposed to represent the confession of themselves in quality and variety of diet all very excitable people, but, though the in order to compass their object. Yet they passion for excitement in its unrestrained were quite reasonable in respect to the forms necessarily interferes with a just frequency of their pleasures, and did not comparison of the greater and the less in by any means neglect all domestic duties pleasure, it does not follow that, when for the sake of these amusements. held in subjection by a strong will, it is a It is clear that the precise psycholog- disturbing element in one's calculations. ical conditions of this orderly pursuit of A man or a woman with a turn for excitemotional exaltation must differ materially ing amusements may reasonably recognize from those of the disturbing and absorb- and make use of the experience that the ing passion for excitement already spoken rapturous enjoyments of an exalted menof. It may be presumed that, in what- tal condition are incommensurable with ever way they pursue their object, lovers the ordinary pleasures of quiet moments. of excitement resemble one another in a Suppose, for instance, that a man has a certain high degree of nervous sensibility singular emotional susceptibility to music and emotional susceptibility. The En- of a certain order, by virtue of which the glish youth whose desires are instantly delight of the opera or concert-room is inkindled into an overmastering passion at comparably more intense than any other the sight of the cup, and the German stu- known form of enjoyment. If at the same dent who looks forward with a flutter of time he is a person of strong reason and pleasurable anticipation to his weekly ca- will, he may wisely resolve to secure as rouse without intermitting his present much of this delight as possible. Experistudies, both display the same fundamen-ence teaches him that too great frequency tal energy of nervous reaction to alcoholic of indulgence diminishes the zest of enjoystimulation. So, too, the idle English ment, and consequently he sets himself to girl, whose mind is thrown into disorder find, in a rough fashion, the number of by the intrusion of inflaming images of gratifications which affords in the aggretheatrical spectacle, and the practical gate the highest sum of pleasure. With Frenchwoman who looks on eagerly to respect to a comparison of these exciting the next play and is yet perfectly content forms of enjoyment with other varieties, to live in the interval in the ordinary way, when they threaten to interfere with one show the same kind of imaginative activity. another, it is obvious that because of their But in each of these illustrations we see immeasurable nature they cannot become a great difference of mental condition. the elements of exact calculation. But it This difference may perhaps be defined should be remembered that the most conas consisting in the presence or absence sistent pleasure-seeker does not always of a supreme volitional control. The sys- perform an exact calculation of the results tematic seeker after excitement may love of his action. In a good many cases he his object very ardently indeed, and in has to be satisfied with a very rough guess this case he has all the conditions of that as to the direction of the greatest happioverpowering inflammability of feeling ness. And this rude kind of reckoning which we see in the contrasted examples. the lover of excitement is able to perform But, along with this excitability of nerv- too. He will first of all argue that his ous organization he possesses a strength periodic mental intoxication, though very

diseased growth yclept "pigeon English will soon cease to exist.

brief, is so unlike any other mode of pleasure as to be preferable to a long duration of the more commonplace satis- A certain amount of interest must alfactions. He will reason further that the ways attach to any form of speech which anticipation and review of such supreme has acquired even a temporary separate delights, extending through the whole in-existence, and this at least "pigeon Engtervals of their recurrence, may, by remov- lish" can plead for itself. It is too soon ing the dreary sense of ennui and melan- yet to pronounce a funeral oration over it, choly which people often experience amid but as opposing forces proclaim that its the monotonous surroundings of ordinary days are numbered, and as very little is life, so far increase the value of the excit- known in England of the rubbish which ing pleasures as to make it the part of our countrymen are talking in China, it wisdom to secure them, even at the sacri- may not be out of place to glance briefly fice of some amount of daily comfort. In at its origin and characteristics. this way it appears possible to preserve a considerable degree of susceptibility to the more stimulating class of enjoyments, and yet to carry out with a fair amount of consistency a prudential regulation of the various pleasures of life. In other words, a keen relish for excitement, if only restrained by a strong will and directed by a | clear judgment, seems to be perfectly compatible with a resolve to seek the greatest amount of happiness attainable.

From The Pall Mall Gazette. "PIGEON ENGLISH."

To call it English, even when qualified by the word "pigeon" (i.e. "business"), is a misnomer. It is a mixture of English and Portuguese words tortured into Chinese idioms, and when it is added that only a very small percentage of these words are at all correctly pronounced, the outcome may be imagined. Only a few specimens of this lingo have found their way into English literature. The parodies on "Excelsior" and "My name is Norval," which begin, "That nightey time begin chop-chop," and "My name belongey Norval," are, with few exceptions, the only scraps we have on record. But these lines, absurd as they are, are improvements on "pigeon English' pure and simple. This is to be found only in the native vocabularies published for the benefit of compradores and servants entering the service of English masters. We may take one as a specimen of this class of work. It is a little volume of some twelve or fifteen pages, and is entitled "A Vocabulary of Words in common use among the Red-haired People." Its outer cover is adorned with a fulllength portrait of one of the red-haired race dressed in the costume of the Georgian period, in breeches and stockings, and armed with stick and sword.

66

IT is quite possible that before very long the shout "You wan-che one pe-sze boat?" which greets the ears of every visitor to Hong Kong as the anchor drops into the still waters which lie at the base of Victoria peak will be no more heard. At last English merchants are beginning to be ashamed of making use of a jargon which would never have existed but for their strange unwillingness to acquire even a smattering of the language spoken by the people among whom they were destined to live. Grammars, dictionaries, and vocabularies in the local dialects are now beginning to find their. way into houses The author begins with the English nuinto which they have never hitherto been merals, and gets over " and " one "two admitted, and some masters and mistresses very creditably, but "te-le" is his nearest have set an example which it is to be approach to "three". the letter r is an hoped will be followed-of communicat- insuperable difficulty to a Chinaman ing with their servants in Chinese, even "sik-sze" to "six," and "sam" to "sevthough they speak it imperfectly, to the en." "Ten" he pronounces, as though exclusion of the gibberish which up to he had been tutored in the Emerald Isle, this time has been their solitary means of "tin;" "lim" stands for "eleven," "tuiintercommunication. On the other hand, lip" for "twelve," "toon-te for "twena generation of Chinaman is growing up ty," "one huntoon" for "a hundred," which has learned to speak English gram66 one taou-shan" for "a thousand." In matically in the schools established at Chinese there is always inserted between Hong Kong and at the treaty ports. the numeral and the substantive to which There is therefore some prospect that, it applies a word which it is customary what between English-speaking Chinamen to call a classifier, since it points to the and Chinese-speaking Englishmen, that kind of object represented by the sub

66

stantive. For example, instead of saying To enable him to converse with his "two knives," a Chinaman would say future English master the would-be serv66 two to-be-held-in-the-hand knives;" or, ant should make himself acquainted with instead of "a table," he would say 66 one such common phrases as “ting-ke" length table." These various classifiers (thank you), "how mut-che ka-she" (how the authors of pigeon English have melted much cash), "ko aou sai" (to go out), "ko down into one word, "piece." The writer sit-te" (to go into the city), or "ko hom" therefore translates the Chinese equiva- (to return home); and he is given to underlent of our indefinite article as one stand that when his master says to him, pe-sze," and a knife he would render by "I ko she-lip," that he is going to sleep; "one pe-sze nai-fo." The use in Chinese or that if he receive the order, "No szeof the verb "to have,” which is to be pro- pik-ke," he is not to speak. The Portunounced "hap," has given rise to strange guese element in the jargon is noticeable confusions. "No hap" is the orthodox in words such as "man-te-lin " (mandarin), expression for "not at home," and a death" pa-te-le" (for padre, priest), and “sa-pe' is announced by "hap tai " (has died). In (saber, to know). the same way "hap fa-sze" (fashion); "to be busy," "hap pigeon;" and "to be at leisure," "hap tim."

"fashionable" becomes The above specimens are sufficient to show the grotesque absurdity of "pigeon English." But its absurdity is not its worst feature. Its general use among forExpressions relating to sailors are, as eigners at the ports has tended to create would naturally be expected, of frequent an impassable gulf between them and their occurrence in the vocabulary. "A young Chinese neighbours. It has entirely preofficer "is a "mit-chi-man" (midshipman), vented the one from gaining any intelligent "a second mate" is a "sik-kan mit," "6. a information about the other. "Belong sailor" is a "say-le man," and "ready aou-lo custom," or "Belong joss pigeon, money" is "nip-te ka-she" (liberty cash). is the sum-total of the explanation which About military rank less is known. "Sho- the Chinese in foreign employ are able to che man" (soldier man) is the only equiva- give of any ancient oriental rite or any lent of a military officer, and is held to strange local custom; and the same words include all ranks from the general down-are all that their masters have at their wards, the only other distinction recog- command to convey to an inquiring emnized in this service being the "kan-a ployé the meaning of any of our English man," or "artillery man." It is descrip- usages. Thus it has been the means of tive of the state of foreign society in China stereotyping blunders and of perpetuating to find that " a wealthy man "is translated misunderstandings; and it does not say into a "ma-chin" (merchant). The rela- much for the enterprising intelligence of tions of life bear strange and unusual British merchants in China that they guises in "pigeon English." A wife should have been content to accept this speaks of her spouse as her "ha-sze man,' ," wretched jargon as their vernacular for and he of her as his "wai-fo." A friend more than a quarter of a century, without is a "fo-lin" here the r is again a puz-making an effort either to learn Chinese zle; and an uncle is a "yeung-ke." or to teach their servants English.

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