The Genuine Tryal of Dr. Nosmoth, a Physician in Pekin

Part 1

THE GENUINE

TRYAL

Dr. NOSMOTH,

Physician in PEKIN;

FOR

The Murder of the MANDARIN TONWIN, Treasurer to the Army of the Emperor of CHINA, before the great Council of MANDARINES.

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TAKEN In short Hand by the LINGUIST of the English Factory.

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LONDON: Printed for M. COOPER, at the Globe in Pater-noster-Row. 1746.

(Price Six-Pence.)

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THE

INTRODUCTION.

Before we enter upon this remarkable Tryal, it will not be improper to inform the Reader of some Customs amongst the Chinese, which differ from those in other Countries of Europe.

Those People are great Encouragers of all useful Learning; which they endeavour on all Occasions, to turn to the Benefit of the publick in general, and the Ease and Happiness of every individual Subject in that vast Empire.

There are publick Schools in all the Provinces and great Cities of the Empire, for the Education of Youth in the liberal as well as mechanick Arts; where the Genius of the Children are carefully studied and improved in those Arts to which Nature seems to have given them the strongest Bent without consulting the Whim or Pride of the Parents; by this means, it’s no rare thing to see the Son of a Nobleman drudging at the meanest Handicraft; and that of a Peasant shining in the highest Orb of Life.

Birth, Title, or Riches, give amongst these people no Claim to the smallest Preferment; Merit only recommends the Man to Encouragement in that Sphere of Life, to which his natural Genius has fitted him.

When a vacancy in any of the Offices happens, the Candidates are chosen out of the publick Schools; and the Person fittest for the Employment always is chosen, without Respect of Persons.

In this Country, the Physician is a very considerable Office; not only in the Emperor’s Court, but in that of all the Mandarines or great Governors and Officers of State.

Before any Man is preferr’d to the Office of Physician, either to the Sovereign or to any of his great Men, he undergoes a strict and impartial Examination, as to his Knowledge of the Theory and Practice of Physick, as well as of the other Branches of Learning, which are necessary to compleat the wise Physician.

The Examiners are not those of his own Profession; but the Great Council of Mandarines; who are Men who have been found universally qualified in all the Branches of humane Literature, before they were admitted to be of this Council; which is the supream Council of the Empire, and some what resembles our House of Peers, only they seem to be vested with much higher Powers.

When the Person so examin’d is found qualified, he has a Certificate sign’d by the President of the Court, which empowers him to practice, as a Doctor under the Regulations which are prescribed by it; from whence, he must deviate, upon no Account under the Pain of Death.

The Physicians, are held in great Esteem and Veneration; are there modest in their Behaviour; of strict morals, and universal Benevolence, most of them observe as great a Chastity of Manners, as the Clergy; and value themselves upon their Piety and the Veneration of the Gods, whose Worship they think it is the Duty of their Function to propagate, as much as if they were daily at the Altar: They are Men of good Nature and Humanity, and abound in Acts of Benificence and Charity; Opportunities to exercise which, they covet as much as Employment in their Profession: They dare not refuse to attend the meanest Person who calls for their Assistance; and if a Beggar, send for a Physician, before a Mandarin, he must go to the Beggar, tho’ the Mandarin should be in never so much Want of him; and the good natured Man, not only assists his Patient with his Counsel, but supplys his Wants.

When the Physician, attends on a Patient, he enters upon a Book his Case, with every minute Circumstance relating to the Distemper; together with the Medicines administred and their Effects during the whole Process; whether the Patient dies or Lives, this Book, he is obliged to return within a limited Time, to an Office kept for that Purpose. If he upon any Occasion falsifies the Case, or has gone out of the ordinary, Course of Practice, if any Accident happens to the Patient he is surely punished.

The Emperor’s Physicians are always put to Death when he dies; and those of other Persons, are try’d by the Court of Mandarines, upon Application of the Friends of the deceas’d, and put to death or otherwise punish’d according to the Nature of their Crime, from whence we may judge, that it is a very dangerous thing, to be of that Profession in this Country; however there are but few Instances where the Physicians of private Persons have been put to death; as a Pretence to the Knowledge of Physick, rashness or Impudence, will not in this Country, obtain a Diploma, none but Men of Merit are of the Faculty: These are obliged to make Conscience of their Business; and dare not venture to try Experiments; there are no Apothecary’s whose Interest the Doctor has Occasion to consider in the Recipe; he prepares the Medicine himself, and is too much interested in the Success, to give any more than he thinks necessary; the Officinals in their Dispensary, are so few, that you may write them all on a quarter of a Sheet of Paper; and he never makes a Bill for his Druggs? but is paid so much a Visit, whether he gives any Physick or not. Thus he is not under the least Temptation to make an Apothecarys Shop of his Patient’s Belly; but carefully watches Nature; and assists her when she is weak to the best of his Skill; but leaves her to her self, when she is strong enough to bring about her Designs without his Aid.

Before the present Tryal, there had not been one at Pekin, for near twenty Years; which made this make a considerable Noise through the whole Empire: The Patient happened to be the Mandarin TONWIN; a Man of great Authority, much esteemed and trusted by the Emperor; who had made him Treasurer to his Army; by whom he was not less loved than by the People in General; as he did Justice to the first, in their Pay, and promoted the Interest of the last to the utmost of his Power; he was a Friend to Mankind in General, but particularly to the virtuous, and thought that Day Ill-spent wherein he had not given them Proof of his Humanity and Bounty: The Death of this great Man, so universally esteemed, was somewhat sudden; and his Physician was blamed by some, tho’ not by the Mandarines nearest Friends; however, it was wispered about, that he had deviated from the Rules laid down by the great Council of Mandarines; and by the Malice of the Doctor’s Enemies, the Clamour became publick; in so much, that the great Council, ordered the Register of the Case to be inspected; and the Senescal was ordered to draw up an Accusation against the Doctor; with a Copy of which he was served and taken into Custody; and a Time appointed for a solemn Tryal before that High Tribunal.

People were variously affected with the Preparation for the Tryal; some thought the Doctor guilty; others thought him innocent; and this only the Effects of the secret Machinations of his Enemies: Those of his own Profession, for what Reason I am not able to learn, were his most open Enemies; and thought by all to be his secret Accusers; however, the Doctor seem’d not at all dismay’d; but hugg’d himself in reflecting on his own Innocence, which comforted him the more, that he had not the least Suspicion, that the high Tribunal, before which he was to be try’d, would mix any Partiality in their Sentence. I have taken Care to use as few Chinese Terms of Law as possible; and have chose such English Words, as seem’d to come nearest to the Meaning of the Original; and in order to make the whole more comprehensible to an English Reader, I have all along substituted some English Forms, where I could with Propriety, especially where they served to make the Tryal more Intelligible.

Part 2

THE

TRYAL, &c.

On the Day appointed for the Tryal, the great Council of Mandarins assembled in a great Hall, in the second Court of the King’s Palace, the President was seated on a Throne, under the Canopy of State; the Ensigns of his high Office being carried before him, and attended by twenty four Officers with drawn Sabres in their Hands, who stood round the Steps of the Throne; the rest of the Mandarins were ranged on each Hand of him in their Robes of Honour. Silence being commanded in the Name of the Emperor, the Prisoner was brought to the Bar, to which he approached by making three Obeysances, and then lay prostrate on his Face, till the President commanded him to rise; acquainting him, that he had nothing to fear but his own Guilt; for if that was not found in him, the Court would not only acquit him, but load him with new Honours; after a short Speech to this Purpose, Silence was again commanded, and the Mandarin Secretary, was ordered to read his Indictment; which was conceived in Words to this Effect.

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