saw, they believed I was
so locked up in that machine, that it was not in my own power to open
it, which contrivance they attributed to my husband."

[Footnote 3: Charles Jervas (1675?-1739), portrait painter and
translator of _Don Quixote_, the friend of Pope.]

Lady Mary was much amused by this last, and referred to the incident in
conversation with Joseph Spence. "One of the highest entertainments in
Turkey," she told him, "is having you to their baths, and when I was
introduced the lady of the house came to undress me, which is another
high compliment that they pay to strangers. After she had slipped off my
gown and seen my stays she was much struck at the sight of them and
cried out to the other ladies in the bath 'Come hither and see how
cruelly the poor English ladies are used by their husbands. You need
boast indeed of the superior liberties allowed you, when they lock you
up in a box!'"

Lady Mary had a Turkish dress made for her, which she frequently wore,
when she found that the English costume made her unpleasantly
conspicuous. "The ladies at Constantinople used to be extremely
surprised to see me go always with my bosom uncovered," she noted. "It
was in vain that I told them that everybody did the same thing among us,
and alleged everything I could in defence of it. They could never be
reconciled to so immodest a custom, as they thought it; and one of them,
after I had been defending it to my utmost, said: 'Oh, my Sultana, you
can never defend the manners of your country, even with all your wit;
but I see that you are in pain for them, and shall, therefore, press it
no further.'"

Lady Mary was proud of her appearance in her Turkish clothes, and has
given a minute description of them:

"The first piece of my dress is a pair of drawers, very full, that reach
to my shoes, and conceal the legs more modestly than your petticoats.
They are of a thin rose-coloured damask, brocaded with silver flowers,
my shoes are of white kid leather, embroidered with gold. Over this
hangs my smock, of a fine white silk gauze, edged with embroidery. This
smock has wide sleeves, hanging half way down the arm, and is closed at
the neck with a diamond button; but the shape and colour of the bosom
very well to be distinguished through it. The _antery_ is a waistcoat,
made close to the shape, of white and gold damask, with very long
sleeves falling back, and fringed with deep gold fringe, and should have
diamond or pearl bu