chu-sin ating with the; test of the family, and doomed to perpe-
Islands. | I . , , , ,i | 1 f ' . . . tual obseuntyj and the drudgery Of servitude
In forihing conjectures upon the origin of So singular
a fashidh among the Chinese ladies, it % is not very easy
| to cbheeive why this mode should hajte.been suddenly
or forcibly introduced imongst; them ply the other sex.-
1 Had iheti been really berit upon confining .constantly tq
their homes the females of thfeir,faniilii§|§they might
have effected it without cruelly depriving them of tho
physical power of motion. No sueh-Custom is k no Whim
Turkey or Hindustan» where women are kept im*greater
habit§ of retirement than in China. Opinion, indeed,'
ihurc than powCr, gOvernS the general abtions.of the hu-?
man race; and: so, preposterous a practice could bji main^
tained onlydby the example .and persuasion, of thos%Who,
in their own persons, had submitted to it. Men mayh&yq
silently approved, and indirectly encouraged it* as.those,*-
of India are supposed to do that much, more barbarous
custom of widows burning themselves after the^deathfof
their husbands. But it is not violence, or the apprehension
of corporal suffering, but the horror and disgrace in
consequence of omitting, and the-idea of glory arising
from; doing, what is considered tq be an act of duty-, at
the expence o f life, which leads to such a sacrifice?' - In
that instance, ^ges must have past tqripen prej udices productive
of a consequence so dreadful: but the pride of
superiority, and the dread of degradation, have heen frequentlyf
found sufficient toi surmount the common feel?
ings of nature; and to many women a voluntary con- -
ga?aini*ponithe. body and mind is, income degree, har
bitual. They who recolleofothe fashion of slep'der Waists
in ffirigkiidv and. what pains were taken» and sufferings
endungfe to excfeliiri that particular, will he somewhat
less' surprised at 'extraordinary efforts made in other in-
s«ahces. Ddicae^ef limbs^and person h»s»i®ijipafet,
bteen always ‘ coveted ifey‘the fair sex, as it has been the
admiration of tthe>blher.! Yet it-‘oould not he the e'Xr
tra&rdinary instance iof such in any one lady» tho in
the' most- exalted rank, laccordingrdo the popular story
throughout-Chinas,that cbuld indue! t h e r e o f her sex
tp put at once' such violence mpon themselves, in order
to resemble'her irriKat respeuttl' The eipulafiphdtf surpassing
dni any species! of beluty,l'mus.t1 haVe animated
vast numbers of all ranks, and continued' through successive’
af*es ,r,to>Sarry it at- last to an exhess* which, defeats',
i^fact, its iriCenHed^jmf pose. Whatever 18- lady may
ha^bf pined, by the imagined charms of feet decreased
is more than G©usrt®cbalshcpd
by the injury it .does to her ‘Health and to hen figure >
for grace' is not in her steps, a! animation, in her countenance
s' - ^ ^ / ’
' While the party bf Englishmen were engaged in gratifying
thiir.strpng spirit j@§curiosity with regard to all
the suprounding objects, they- themselves, were!. Still more