Letters of the Right Honourable Lady M--y W--y M--e Part 13

A SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS.

LET. 1. _From Rotterdam_.--Voyage to Helvoetsluys--general view of Rotterdam--remarks on the female dresses there.

LET. II. _From the Hague_.--The pleasure of travelling in Holland--the Hague--the Voorhout there.

LET. III. _From Nimeguen_.--Nimeguen compared to Nottingham--the Belvidera--the bridge--ludicrous service at the French church.

LET. IV. _From Cologn_.--Journey from Nimeguen to Cologn--the Jesuits church--plate--relics--the sculls of the eleven thousand virgins.

LET. V. _From Nuremberg_.--Difference between the free towns, and those under absolute princes--the good effects of sumptuary laws--humorous remarks on relics, and the absurd representations in the churches at Nuremberg.

LET. VI. _From Ratisbon_.--Ridiculous disputes concerning punctilios among the envoys at the Diet--the churches and relics--silver image of the Trinity.

LET. VII. _From Vienna_.--Voyage from Ratisbon down the Danube-- general description of Vienna--the houses--furniture-- entertainments--the Fauxbourg--Count Schoonbourn's villa.

LET. VIII. _Vienna_.--Opera in the garden of the Favorita-- playhouse and representation of the story of Amphitrion.

LET. IX. _Vienna_.--Dress of the ladies--Lady M's reception at court--person of the empress--customs of the drawing-room--the emperor--empress Amelia,--how seated at table--maids of honour, their office and qualifications--dressers--audience of the empress-mother--her extraordinary piety--mourning dress of the ladies at Vienna--audience of the empress Amelia--shooting-match by ladies.

LET. X. _Vienna_.--Vienna a paradise for old women--different acceptation of the word _reputation_ at London and at Vienna--neither coquettes nor prudes at Vienna--every lady possessed both of a nominal and real husband-- gallant overture to lady M. to comply with this custom.

LET. XI. _Vienna_--Phlegmatic disposition of the Austrians-- humorous anecdote of a contest upon a point of ceremony --widows not allowed any rank at Vienna--pride of ancestry--marriage portions limited--different treatment of amba.s.sadors and envoys at Court.

LET. XII. _Vienna_.--Dress and a.s.semblies of the Austrian ladies--gala days--convent of St Lawrence--wooden head of our Saviour--dress of the Nuns--their amus.e.m.e.nts-- particulars concerning a beautiful Nun--reflections on the monastic state, &c.

LET. XIII. _Vienna_.--Description of the emperor's repository.

LET. XIV. _From Prague_.--General state of Bohemia--Prague described with reference to Vienna.

LET. XV. _From Leipzig_.--Dangerous journey from Prague to Leipzig--character of Dresden--the Saxon and Austrian ladies compared--anecdotes of the countess of Cozelle-- Leipzig and its fair described.

LET. XVI. _From Brunswick_.--Brunswick, for what considerable.

LET. XVII. _From Hanover_.--Bad regululations of the post in Germany--character of the young prince (afterwards king George II.)--short account of Hanover--view of the country in travelling through Germany, compared with England.

LET. XVIII. _Hanover_.--Description of the women at Hanover--the traineaus or snow-sledges described--particulars of the empress of Germany.

LET. XIX. _Blankenburg_.--Motive of Lady M's journey to Blankenburg--her reception by the d.u.c.h.ess of Blankenburg--the description of Hanover continued-- perfection to which fruit is brought by means of stoves at Herenhausen--recommendation of chamber-stoves.

LET. XX. _From Vienna_.--Diversions of the carnival--remarks on the music and b.a.l.l.s--the Italian comedy--the air and weather at Vienna--the markets and provisions.

LET. XXI. _Vienna_.--Lady M's audience of leave--absurd taste for dwarfs at the German courts--reflections on this taste --remarks on the inhabitants of Vienna--a word or two concerning prince Eugene, and the young prince of Portugal.

LET. XXII. _Vienna_.--Reflections on her intended journey to Constantinople.

LET. XXIII. _From Peterwaradin_.--Journey from Vienna hither-- reception at Raab--visit from the bishop of Temeswar, with his character--description of Raab--its revolutions--remarks on the state of Hungary, with the Emperor Leopold's persecution of his protestant Hungarian subjects--description of Buda--its revolutions--the inhabitants of Hungary--Essec described--the Hungarian ladies and their dress.

LET. XXIV. _From Belgrade_.--Character of the Rascian soldiers-- their priests--appearance of the field of Carlowitz, after the late battle between prince Eugene and the Turks--reception at, and account of Belgrade--the murder of the late Ba.s.sa--character of Achmet Beg.

LET. XXV. _From Adrianople_.--Description of the deserts and inhabitants of Servia--Nissa the capital--cruel treatment of the baggage-carriers by the janizaries-- some account of Sophia--Philippopolis--fine country about Adrianople.

LET. XXVI. _Adrianople_.--Entertaining account of the baths at Sophia, and Lady M's reception at them.

LET. XXVII. _Adrianople_.--Why our account of the Turks are so imperfect--oppressed condition of the Servians--teeth money, what--character of the Turkish effendis--farther particulars of Achmet Beg--Mahometism like Christianity, divided into many sectaries--remarks on some of their notions--religion of the Arnounts-- conjectures relating to Trajan's gate--present view of the country.

LET. XXVIII. _From Adrianople_.--Marriage of the grand signior's eldest daughter--the nature of the Turkish government-- grand signior's procession to mosque--his person described--particulars relating to the French amba.s.sador's lady--character and behaviour of the janizaries--the janizaries formidable to the seraglio.

LET. XXIX. _Adrianople_.--Lady M. describes her Turkish dress--the persons and manners of the Turklsh ladies--their dress when they go abroad--their address at intriguing-- possessed of more liberty than is generally imagined-- the plurality of wives allowed by the Koran seldom indulged.

LET. x.x.x. _Adrianople_.--Manner in which the Turks pa.s.s their time --the present pastoral manners of the Easterns, a confirmation of the descriptions in the Grecian poets--give great light into many scripture pa.s.sages--specimen of Turkish poetry--a version given by Lady M. in the English style.

LET. x.x.xI. _Adrianople_.--The plague not so terrible as represented --account of the Turkish method of inoculating the small-pox.

LET. x.x.xII. _Adrianople_.--Description of the camel--their use, and method of managing them--the buffalo--the Turkish horses--their veneration for storks--the Turkish houses--why Europeans so ignorant Of the insides of the Turkish houses--their gardens--their mosques and hanns.

LET. x.x.xIII. _Adrianople_.--Lady M's visit to the grand vizier's lady--her person described, and manner of entertaining her guest--the victuals, &c.--visit to the kahya's lady, the fair Fatima--her person, dress, and engaging behaviour--her waiting-women--the Turkish music.

LET. x.x.xIV. _Adrianople_.--Description of Adrianople--the exchange-- the princ.i.p.al traders Jews--the Turkish camp-- procession of the grand signior going to command his troops in person--the manner by which Turkish lovers shew their affection for their mistresses--description of sultan Selim's mosque--the seraglio--the young princes.

LET. x.x.xV. _From Constantinople_.--Journey from Adrianople--the little seraglio--the Greek church at Selivrea--singular lodging of a hogia or schoolmaster--general view of Pera--Constantinople--their burial places and tombs-- manner of renewing a marriage after a divorce-- unmarried women, why supposed in Turkey to die in a state of reprobation--this notion compared with the catholic veneration for celibacy--the Eastern taste for antiquities.

LET. x.x.xVI. _From Belgrade Village_.--Lady M's agreeable situation there--diary of her way of spending the week, compared with the modish way of spending time.

LET. x.x.xVII. _Belgrade Village_.--Turkish female slaves described-- voyages to the Levant filled with untruths--balm of Mecca, its extraordinary effects on the ladies faces-- Turkish ladies great dealers in magic charms, to command love.

LET. x.x.xVIII._From Pera of Constantinople_.--Barrenness disgraceful among the Turkish ladies--often destroy themselves by quackery on this account--naturally prolific--the Turkish houses why liable to fire--mildness of the winter at Constantinople--Turkish punishment for convicted liars.

LET. x.x.xIX. _Pera of Constantinople_.--Lady M. brought to bed-- visits the sultana Hafiten--anecdotes of that lady--her dress--entertainment--story of the sultan's throwing a handkerchief contradicted--amus.e.m.e.nts of the seraglio-- the sultana Hafiten's gardens, bed chamber, and slaves--the Arabian tales, a true representation of Eastern manners--magnificence of the Turkish harams-- visit to the fair Fatima--the characters of the sultana Hafiten and Fatima compared--story of Fatima-- magnificence of her habitation.

LET. XL. _Pera_.--Turkish love-letter, with a translation--the confusion of tongues spoke at Pera--Lady M. in danger of losing her English.

LET. XLI. --Suburbs of Constantinople--Turkish water-man-- Constantinople, why not easy to be seen by Europeans-- pleasure of rowing down the Bosphorus--view of Constantinople from the water--the seraglio--Sancta Sophia--the mosque Of sultan Solyman--of sultana Valida--the atlerdan--the brazen serpentine column--the exchange--the bisisten--humanity of the Turks towards their slaves--the historical pillar fallen down--the dervises--their devotion and dancing.

LET. XLII. --Mr Hill's account of the sweating pillar, and of the Turkish ladies, contradicted--manner of living of the Turkish wives--ceremony of receiving a Turkish bride at the bagnio--no public cognizance taken of murder-- generally compounded for by money--story of a Christian lady taken prisoner by a Turkish admiral, who chose to continue with and marry her ravisher--the Turks great venerators of truth--the Eastrn manner of adopting children--account of the Armenians--their strict observance of fasts--summary view of their religion-- ceremonies at an Armenian marriage.

LET. XLIII. _From Constantinople_.--Observations on the accounts given by Sir Paul Rycaut and Gemelli--the ca.n.a.l between Constantinople and Calcedon--the precarious nature of human grandeur in Turky (sic)--description of the house of the grand vizier who was killed at Peterwaradin-- moral reflections on the difference between the taste of the Europeans and the Easterns.

LET. XLIV. _From Tunis_.--Vovage from Constantinople--the h.e.l.lespont, and castles of Sestos and Abydos-- reflections on the story of Hero and Leander--the burial-places of Hecuba and Achilles--antiquities-- habits of the Greek peasants--conjectures as to the ruins of a large city--remarks on the face of the country ill.u.s.trated by reference to pa.s.sages from Homer--Troy, no remains of it existing--ruins of old Constantinople--Latin inscriptions, and remains of antiquity--isle of Tenedos--Mytilene--Lesbos--Scio, and its inhabitants--promontory of Lunium the present Cape Colonna--temple of Theseus, how destroyed present condition of the Morea, the ancient Peloponnesus-- Candia--reflections on the contrast between ancient and modern Greece--Trinacria--Malta--arrival at Tunis--face of the country--manner of celebrating the Mahometan ramadan or Lent--the natives--ruins of the aqueduct of Carthage--description and chronological anecdotes of the city of Tunis--ruins of Carthage.

LET. XLV. _From Genoa_.--Description of Genoa and its inhabitants --Cizisbeis, the nature of their employment, and occasion of their inst.i.tution--the government--palaces --paintings--remark on their fondness for the representation of crucifixes--church of St Lawrence, and the famous emerald plate--their churches not to be compared with the Sancta Sophia at Constantinople.

LET. XLVI. _From Turin_.--Character of Turin, its palaces and churches--Lady M. waits on the queen--persons of the king and prince of Piedmont described.

LET. XLVII. _From Lyons_.--Journey from Turin to Lyons--pa.s.sage over mount Cenis--the frontier towns between Savoy and France.

LET. XLVIII. _From Lyons_.--Reflections on the insipidity of female visits--the inscriptions on bra.s.s tables on each side of the town-house at Lyons--remains of antiquity-- cathedral of St John--critique on the statue of Louis XIV.

LET. XLIX. _From Paris_.--Miserable condition of the French peasants--palace of Fontainbleau--fair of St Lawrence--opera house--general character of the French actors--comparison between the French and English ladies.