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Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Page 1 of 8 →
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Review Of New Publications.
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS .
4 n authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of C bina Taken chiefly from the Papers of his Excellency the Earl of Macartney , K . B . His Ma ~ jesty ' s Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of China , & c . By Sir George Staunton , Bart . L . L . D . F . K . S . & c . 2 vols . 4 ( 0 . with Engravings , besides a folio Volume of Plates . 4 / . 4 s . in boards . Nicol . [ CONTINUED FilOM OUH LAST . ]
IN the passage of the Ladrones , which is next related , we meet with no particulars sufficiently interesting to admit of extrafts . We soon , - however , become entertained in the arrival of the Embassy at the Chusan Islands . The Clarence brig was dispatched to the town of that name for a pilot ; and a party from her took an opportunity to visit the city of Ting-hai . Here the sight of the females leads to the following observations : ' Or most of these , even in the middle and inferior classes , the feet were
unnaturally small , or rather truncated . They appeared as if the fore part of the foot had been accidentally cut off , leaving the remainder of the usual size , and bandaged like the stump of an amputated limb . They undergo , indeed , much torment , and cripple themselves in a great measure , in imitation of ladies of the higher rank , among whom it is there the custom to stop , by pressure , the growth of the ancle , as well as foot , froyi the earliest infancy and leaving the great toe in its natural positionfoiciblto bend the
; , y others , and retain them " under the foot , till at length they adhere to , as if buried in the sole , and can no more be separated . Notwithstanding the pliability of the human frame in tender years , its tendency to expansion at that period must , whenever if is counteracted , occasion uneasy sensation . ? toiliose
who are so treated ; and before the ambition of being admitted takes possession of these victims of fashion , it requires the vig ilance of their female parents to deter them from relieving themselves from the firm and tight compresses which bind their feet and ancles . When those compresses are constantly and carefully kept on , the feet are symmetrically small . The young creatures are , indeed , obliged , for a considerable time , to be supported when they attempt to walk ; even afterwards they totter , and always walk upon
their heels . ' This artificial diminutiveness of the feet , though it does not entirely prevent their use , must certainly cramp the general ' growth , and injure ' the constitution of those who have been subjected to it . Seme of the very lowest classes of the Chinese , of a race confined chiefly to the mountains and remote places , have not adopted this unnatural custom . But the females of this class are held by the rest in the utmost degree of contempt , and are employed only in the most menial domestic offices . So inveterate h
the custom , which gives pre-eminence to mutilated before perfeft limbs , that the interpreter averred , and every subsequent information confirmed the assertion , that if , of two sisters , otherwise every way equal , the one had thus been maimed , while nature was suffered to make its usual progress in the other , the latter would be considered as in an abjeS : state , unworthy of associating with the rest of the family , and doomed to perpetual obscurity , and the drudgery of servitude / VOL . ix . it
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS .
4 n authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of C bina Taken chiefly from the Papers of his Excellency the Earl of Macartney , K . B . His Ma ~ jesty ' s Embassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of China , & c . By Sir George Staunton , Bart . L . L . D . F . K . S . & c . 2 vols . 4 ( 0 . with Engravings , besides a folio Volume of Plates . 4 / . 4 s . in boards . Nicol . [ CONTINUED FilOM OUH LAST . ]
IN the passage of the Ladrones , which is next related , we meet with no particulars sufficiently interesting to admit of extrafts . We soon , - however , become entertained in the arrival of the Embassy at the Chusan Islands . The Clarence brig was dispatched to the town of that name for a pilot ; and a party from her took an opportunity to visit the city of Ting-hai . Here the sight of the females leads to the following observations : ' Or most of these , even in the middle and inferior classes , the feet were
unnaturally small , or rather truncated . They appeared as if the fore part of the foot had been accidentally cut off , leaving the remainder of the usual size , and bandaged like the stump of an amputated limb . They undergo , indeed , much torment , and cripple themselves in a great measure , in imitation of ladies of the higher rank , among whom it is there the custom to stop , by pressure , the growth of the ancle , as well as foot , froyi the earliest infancy and leaving the great toe in its natural positionfoiciblto bend the
; , y others , and retain them " under the foot , till at length they adhere to , as if buried in the sole , and can no more be separated . Notwithstanding the pliability of the human frame in tender years , its tendency to expansion at that period must , whenever if is counteracted , occasion uneasy sensation . ? toiliose
who are so treated ; and before the ambition of being admitted takes possession of these victims of fashion , it requires the vig ilance of their female parents to deter them from relieving themselves from the firm and tight compresses which bind their feet and ancles . When those compresses are constantly and carefully kept on , the feet are symmetrically small . The young creatures are , indeed , obliged , for a considerable time , to be supported when they attempt to walk ; even afterwards they totter , and always walk upon
their heels . ' This artificial diminutiveness of the feet , though it does not entirely prevent their use , must certainly cramp the general ' growth , and injure ' the constitution of those who have been subjected to it . Seme of the very lowest classes of the Chinese , of a race confined chiefly to the mountains and remote places , have not adopted this unnatural custom . But the females of this class are held by the rest in the utmost degree of contempt , and are employed only in the most menial domestic offices . So inveterate h
the custom , which gives pre-eminence to mutilated before perfeft limbs , that the interpreter averred , and every subsequent information confirmed the assertion , that if , of two sisters , otherwise every way equal , the one had thus been maimed , while nature was suffered to make its usual progress in the other , the latter would be considered as in an abjeS : state , unworthy of associating with the rest of the family , and doomed to perpetual obscurity , and the drudgery of servitude / VOL . ix . it