“I was here convinced of the truth of a reflection I had often made, that if it was the fashion to go naked, the face would be hardly observed.  I perceived that the ladies with the finest skins and most delicate shapes had the greatest share of my admiration, though their faces were sometimes less beautiful than those of their companions.  To tell you the truth, I had wickedness enough to wish secretly that Mr. Jervas[3] could have been there invisible.  I fancy it would have very much improved his art, to see so many fine women naked, in different postures, some in conversation, some working, others drinking coffee or sherbet, and many negligently lying on their cushions, while their slaves (generally pretty girls of seventeen or eighteen) were employed in braiding their hair in several pretty fancies.  In short, it is the women’s coffee-house, where all the news of the town is told, scandal invented, &c.—­They generally take this diversion once a-week, and stay there at least four or five hours without getting cold by immediate coming out of the hot bath into the cold room, which was very surprising to me.  The lady that seemed the most considerable among them, entreated me to sit by her, and would fain have undressed me for the bath.  I excused myself with some difficulty.  They being all so earnest in persuading me, I was at last forced to open my shirt, and shew them my stays; which satisfied them very well, for, I 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.’”