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.