IF we except the unnatural custom of maiming the feet, which swells and distorts the ankles, and wrapping the latter up in bandages, the dress of Chinese ladies in the upper ranks of life is by no means unbecoming. In the head dress, in particular, they sometimes exhibit great taste, and great variety; and the materials of which their garments are made, and especially those parts of them which consist of their own embroidering, are exceedingly beautiful. Confined by education in their mental acquirements, a great part of their time is employed in works of this kind, in looking after and cultivating plants growing in pots which decorate their apartments and inner courtyards, and in attending to birds, which are either kept for singing, or some particular beauty of form or plumage. The buildings in the back ground form part of a view of Pekin, near one of the western gates. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: CHINA—PLATE 44 ] Plate XLIV. A NURSERY MAID AND TWO CHILDREN. THE annexed are portraits of a female servant, and of a male and female child, which will give a tolerably correct idea of the dresses worn by them respectively. That of the maid servant differs in nothing from her mistress, but in the materials; the latter generally wearing silk, and the one in question cotton. A Chinese woman of the meanest condition would feel herself degraded if not allowed to mutilate her feet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: CHINA—PLATE 45 ] Plate XLV. A STAGE PLAYER. BY the military emblem on the breast-plate, the annexed figure of a stage player must be intended to represent a great general or some military hero famous in the annals of China. Noisy music and extravagant gestures are the characteristic features of the Chinese stage, of which it would lead us into too long a detail to convey any intelligible account; and we prefer, therefore, to refer to the curious and interesting descriptions which have been furnished on this subject by Lord Macartney, Sir George Staunton and Mr. Barrow. We have only to add, that the figure was sketched from the life. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: CHINA—PLATE 46 ] Plate XLVI. TRACKERS REGALING.