"Employment is the guardian of female innocence: do not allow women time to be idle: let them be the first dressed and the last undressed all the year round.

"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 attend a sick person, or to 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.

"A hopeful reliance a family has on a young girl with carmine lips and painted cheeks! The more she resembles an idol, the less will be the number of her worshippers."

The lady represented in the engraving is of high rank: not only her own and her children's costume are correct, but that of the decoration of her room also. She is seated on a cushion in one of the alcoves where the beds are placed at night: the further end of this kind of recess is hung with tapestry.

In this apartment are two windows opening to a Chinese garden. At one of the windows the head of the oldest daughter is perceived; on a kind of table near the mother, are a tea-pot, cups, and every preparation for getting tea ready: the saloon is ornamented with large looking-glasses and pictures: on the left is a chimney in the Chinese style; the fire place consists of four pillars, with a wide space between each: on the right is one of the porcelain jars: on which the Chinese often sit, instead of chairs.

In summer it is customary to place in the chimney a square vase, in which grows a dwarf tree; in winter they seldom make fires, except in close stoves. They scarcely ever burn wood, but coal, which is brought from the mountains of the province of Canton; before they use it, it is generally prepared, by mixing the coaldust with clay, which they also make into square bricks.

Wood is rather scarce in China: that which they fell in the mountains and neighbouring islands of Tartary is almost entirely employed in building junks and boats.

The history of the tea-tree is not only interesting, from our familiarity with the plant, but it affords an instance of sagacity among the Chinese in selecting their servants, which deserves insertion.

High and dry places are better adapted for the cultivation of the tea-tree than low and damp ground; the consequence is, that it is frequently very difficult to gather; particularly the best kind of it. Men could not keep their hold without great difficulty on perpendicular hills, where the least slip would subject them to serious wounds, and, at any rate, to shake and tear up the young trees. The situations are sometimes so steep that men could not even get up to them.

A very singular expedient has been resorted to for gathering the tea in places so difficult of access; it is the subject of the annexed plate, the original of which was transmitted by the missionaries.

Monkeys are trained to climb these heights, and to strip the leaves from the bushes. The leaves either roll off themselves, or are driven by the wind, from the top to the lower part of the mountain, where the proprietors of the plantations gather them.

It may be imagined that these kinds of assistants are not the most easy to be procured; for the monkeys, in this employment, cannot be guided wholly by artificial instinct. The tea-berries have no attraction for them; and indeed if they had, they could only be used for the autumnal harvest. The fruit of the tea is not only bitter, but somewhat corrosive. The monkeys follow no other impulse than that which they derive from an able instructor. When they come down from the mountain, which they have climbed by means of cords, they are rewarded by something which they are particularly fond of.

Thus it is that man turns the instinct and industry of the animal creation to his own advantage. We train the falcon, dogs, and even, in India, leopards, for the chase; and the Chinese, as will be seen in a subsequent volume, make use of the voracity of the cormorant to procure, from the very depths of lakes and rivers, that fish, which in vain defies both the hook and net.

We select a passage, which explains a particular observed in the conduct of Confucius. He conformed to the general sentiment of his country on an article of propriety.

The Chinese hats, at least those used by the higher classes, are made of a tissue of very fine cane; it is covered with fine light hair, taken from the belly of a particular species of cow; it is coloured of a bright red. In court or family mourning dresses, it is customary to take off the red turf from the hat for twenty-seven days.

That the emperor with his court might be struck with the excellence of the Gobelins tapestry, manufactured on purpose, and sent over as a present, we can readily believe but that in general, the officers of state, as well as the people at large prefer home productions, has been severely felt by many an adventurous Englishman.

Is the following assertion correct?

A singular, and hitherto little known fact as to the taste of the Orientalists for the embroidered works of European manufacture, is this: the cap of state which the Grand Lama of Tibet wears, is made at London, and cost four thousand piastres; a new one is sent every year. The person who undertakes to furnish this is Mr. Beal, an Englishman, settled at Macao, in the quality of Prussian resident, and who is at the head of a considerable commercial house there.

The differences of national feeling on certain subjects supposed to be matters of dignity, is a curious article of specula tion, which would well justify the labour of some writer in collecting materials for illustrating it. Among ourselves that village is thought scarcely loyal which has not the sign of "the George," and "the King's Head," in it. No derogation is supposed to attach to his majesty by this publication of his portrait. Not so in China: there the head separate from the figure, is an object of horror: hence there is no effigy of the sovereign on his coin. And further, with a view to conciliate veneration, the Emperor of China keeps himself very much secluded. "Were it known," says a missionary, "that in Europe portraits of kings were suspended before public houses, exposed to dust, wind and rain, and to the witticisms, and, perhaps, the sarcasms of the populace, we should be held in derision." Perhaps the Emperor of China is not so blamable in this self-concealment as the King of England would be for what of popularity or condescension to human affairs can we expect from a supreme ruler, who, besides the titles personal to himself, and marking his attributes, as "Son of Heaven, and Master of Earth," as already mentioned, is proprietor of an army, the divisions of which-six in number-are distinguished and dignified, as " Heaven-Earth-the Clouds-the Winds-Balance of Heaven, and-Pivot of Earth."

Our readers are now able to form their own judgment on the miscellaneous contents of these volumes. They do not admit of regular analysis; although some of the articles contain amusing and interesting information. Those purchasers who find four guineas a convenient price, will have the best bargain in the coloured copy.

SPIRIT OF MAGAZINES.

CHARACTER OF HUME, BY THE EARL OF CHARLEMONT.

"THE celebrated David Hume, whose character is so deservedly high in the literary world, and whose works, both as a philosopher and as an historian, are so wonderfully replete with genius and entertainment, was, when I was at Turin, secretary to Sir John Sinclair, plenipotentiary from the court of Great Britain to his Sardinian majesty. He had then lately published those philosophical essays, which have done so much mischief to mankind, by contributing to loosen the sacred bonds by which alone man can be restrained from rushing to his own destruction, and which are so intimately necessary to our nature, that a propensity to be bound by them was apparently instilled into the human mind by the allwise Creator, as a balance against those passions which, though perhaps necessary as incitements to activity, must, without such control, inevitably have hurried us to our ruin. The world, however, unconscious of its danger, had greedily swallowed the bait; the essays were received with applause, read with delight, and their admired author was already, by public opinion, placed at the head of the dangerous school of skeptic philosophy.

"With this extraordinary man I was intimately acquainted. He had kindly distinguished me from among a number of young men, who were then at the academy; and appeared so warmly attached to me, that it was apparent he not only intended to honour me with his friendship, but to bestow on me what was, in his opinion, the first of all favours and benefits, by making me his convert and disciple.

"Nature, I believe, never formed any man more unlike his real character than David Hume. The powers of physiognomy were baffled by his countenance; neither could the most skilful in that science pretend to discover the smallest trace of the faculties of his mind in the unmeaning features of his visage. His face was broad and fat, his mouth wide, and without any other expression than that of imbecility.

His eyes vacant and spiritless, and the corpulence of his whole person was far better fitted to communicate the idea of a turtle-eating alderman than of a refined philosopher. His speech, in English, was rendered ridiculous by the broadest Scotch accent, and his French was, if possible, still more laughable; so that wisdom, most certainly, never disguised herself before in so uncouth a garb. Though now near fifty years old, he was healthy and strong; but his health and strength, far from being advantageous to his figure, instead of manly comeliness, had only the appearance of rusticity. His wearing a uniform added greatly to his natural awkwardness, for he wore it like a grocer of the trained bands. Sinclair was a lieutenant-general, and was sent to the courts of Vienna and Turin as a military envoy, to see that their quota of troops was furnished by the Austrians and Piedmontese. It was, therefore, thought necessary that his secretary should appear to be an officer, and Hume was accordingly disguised in scarlet.

"Having thus given an account of his exterior, it is but fair that I should state my good opinion of his character. Of all the philosophers of his sect, none, I believe, ever joined more real benevolence to its mischievous principles than my friend Hume. His love to mankind was universal and vehement; and there was no service he would not cheerfully have done to his fellow creatures, excepting only that of suffering them to save their souls in their own way. He was tenderhearted, friendly, and charitable in the extreme, as will appear from a fact, which I have from good authority. When a member of the university of Edinburgh, and in great want of money, having little or no paternal fortune, and the collegiate stipend being very inconsiderable, he had procured, through the interest of some friend, an office in the university, which was worth about forty pounds a year. On the day when he had received this good news, and just when he had got into his possession the patent, or grant, entitling him to his office, he was visited by his friend Blacklock, the poet, who is much better known by his poverty and blindness, than by his genius. This poor man began a long descant on his misery, bewailing his want of sight, his large family of children, and his utter inability to provide for them, or even to procure them the necessaries of life. Hume, unable to bear his complaints, and destitute of money to assist him, ran instantly to his desk, took out the grant, and presented it to his miserable friend, who received it with exultation, and whose name was soon after, by Hume's interest, inserted instead of his own.. After such a relation it is needless that I should say any