“No in-door household work is repugnant to a modest and sensible woman. The shuttle and the needle are only the occupation of her leisure; the neatness of her house is the work of her cares; and it is her glory either to nurse the sick, or prepare a repast.” “The pearls and precious stones, the silk and gold with which a coquette so studiously bedecks herself, are a transparent varnish which makes all her defects the more apparent.” It seems difficult to imagine such a thing as coquetry, where there are no opportunities for display. However, the Chinese must be more stupid than women in general, if they are beautiful and cannot contrive some means to let the world know it. Travellers say they have sometimes seen pretty Chinese girls sitting smoking pipes at the doors, but that they always ran away at their approach. Perhaps when they see a young man of their own nation and rank, they take time to knock the ashes from their pipes before they run. Most of the houses in cities have terrace roofs, on which flowers and shrubs are planted; and these form a favorite promenade for the ladies. The Chinese being a sedentary people, their florists, fruit dealers, &c. are obliged to walk about the streets crying their goods; mantuamakers, carrying a basket with the implements of their trade, march round in search of customers, which are not very numerous in a land where the fashions never change; fortune-tellers, mountebanks, and jugglers, squeaking on a wretched flute, likewise go from house to house, and are beckoned to call where their services are required. The wealthy make great rejoicings at the birth of a child, particularly if it be a son. They boil great quantities of eggs hard, prepare rice after a peculiar fashion, and send these, with dainties of various kinds, to their relatives and friends. On the third day the child is washed, and new feasts are given. Hundreds of eggs, called _third-day eggs_, are roasted and painted all manner of colors. Relations and friends in their turn present the same kind of eggs, with all sorts of pastry and sweetmeats. The oldest Chinese writers attribute the first invention of spinning to the wife of their emperor Yao, and the discovery of silk to one of the wives of their emperor Hoang-Ti. From that time, the empresses have been in the habit of breeding, rearing, and feeding silkworms, reeling the cocoons, and working the silk. Until the last dynasty, there was a mulberry grove in the gardens of the palace. Every year, the empress, accompanied by the queens and the other principal ladies of the court, went to this grove with great solemnity and gathered leaves from the branches, which her attendants lowered within her reach. The finest pieces of silk, which were made under her own inspection, and at which she often worked, were destined for the ceremony of the great sacrifice to Chang-Ti.