Lady Mary Wortley Montague - Lewis Melville
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"My little commission is hardly worth speaking of; if you have not
already laid out that small sum in St. Cloud ware, I had rather have it
in plain lutestring of any colour," she wrote in June, 1721, to her
sister, Lady Mar, at Paris.
"I would have no black silk, having bought here," she said on another
occasion; and again, "My paper is done, and I will only put you in mind
of my lutestring, which I beg you will send me plain, of what colour you
please." "Dear Sister, adieu," she wrote in 1723. "I have been very free
in this letter, because I think I am sure of its going safe. I wish my
nightgown may do the same: I only choose that as most convenient to you;
but if it was equally so, I had rather the money was laid out in plain
lutestring, if you could send me eight yards at a time of different
colours, designing it for linings; but if this scheme is impracticable,
send me a nightgown _a la mode_."
Apparently Lady Mar was careless or forgetful of the commission, for a
little later Lady Mary was writing pathetically: "I wish you would think
of my lutestring, for I am in terrible want of linings."
The account of the Austrian Court of the day, as given by Lady Mary, is
invaluable, for there is no other available written by an English person
accustomed to another Court.
Lady Mary's descriptions of Viennese society are also delightful, and if
she wrote of the royal circle with respect, she bubbled over with
merriment when writing of folk less highly placed. A letter of hers to
Lady Rich is too delicious to be omitted.
"I have compassion for the mortifications that you tell me befall our
little friend, and I pity her much more, since I know that they are only
owing to the barbarous customs of our country. Upon my word, if she was
here, she would have no other fault but being something too young for
the fashion, and she has nothing to do but to transplant hither about
seven years hence, to be again a young and blooming beauty. I can assure
you that wrinkles, or a small stoop in the shoulders, nay, even grey
hair itself, is no objection to the making new conquests. I know you
cannot easily figure to yourself a young fellow of five-and-twenty
ogling my Lady Suffolk with passion, or pressing to lead the Countess of
Oxford from an opera. But such are the sights I see every day, and I
don't perceive any body surprised at them but myself. A woman, till
five-and-thirty, is only looked upon as a raw girl, and can possibly
make no noise in the world till about forty. I don't know what your
ladyship may think of this matter; but 'tis a considerable comfort to
me, to know there is upon earth such a paradise for old women; and I am
content to be insignificant at present, in the design of returning when
I am fit to appear nowhere else. I cannot help lamenting upon this
occasion, the pitiful case of too many good English ladies, long since
retired to prudery and ratafia, whom if their stars had luckily
conducted hither, would still shine in the first rank of beauties; and
then that perplexing word reputation has quite another meaning here than
what you give it at London; and getting a lover is so far from losing,
that 'tis properly getting reputation; ladies being much more
respected in regard to the rank of their lovers, than that of their
husbands.
"But what you'll think very odd, the two sects that divide our whole
nation of petticoats, are utterly unknown. Here are neither coquettes
nor prudes. No woman dares appear coquette enough to encourage two
lovers at a time. And I have not seen any such prudes as to pretend
fidelity to their husbands, who are certainly the best-natured set of
people in the world, and they look upon their wives' gallants as
favourably as men do upon their deputies, that take the troublesome part
of their business off of their hands; though they have not the less to
do; for they are generally deputies in another place themselves; in one
word, 'tis the established custom for every lady to have two husbands,
one that bears the name, and another that performs the duties. And these
engagements are so well known, that it would be a downright affront, and
publicly resented, if you invited a woman of quality to dinner, without
at the same time inviting her two attendants of lover and husband,
between whom she always sits in state with great gravity. These
sub-marriages generally last twenty years together, and the lady often
commands the poor lover's estate even to the utter ruin of his family;
though they are as seldom begun by any passion as other matches. But a
man makes but an ill figure who is not in some commerce of this nature;
and a woman looks out for a lover as soon as she's married, as part of
her equipage, without which she could not be genteel; and the first
article of the treaty is establishing the pension, which remains to the
lady though the gallant should prove inconstant; and this chargeable
point of honour I look upon as the real foundation of so many wonderful
instances of constancy. I really know several women of the first
quality, whose pensions are as well known as their annual rents, and yet
nobody esteems them the less; on the contrary, their discretion would be
called in question, if they should be suspected to be mistresses for
nothing; and a great part of their emulation consists in trying who
shall get most; and having no intrigue at all is so far a disgrace that,
I'll assure you, a lady, who is very much my friend here, told me but
yesterday, how much I was obliged to her for justifying my conduct in a
conversation on my subject, where it was publicly asserted that I could
not possibly have common sense, that I had been about town above a
fortnight, and had made no steps towards commencing an amour. My friend
pleaded for me that my stay was uncertain; and she believed that was the
cause of my seeming stupidity and this was all she could find to say in
my justification."
But Lady Mary, though only twenty-seven, and therefore, according to her
own account, much too youthful for the gallants of Vienna, yet had an
experience:
"But one of the pleasantest adventures I ever met in my life was last
night, and which will give you a just idea after what a delicate manner
the _belles passions_ are managed in this country. I was at the assembly
of the Countess of ----, and the young Count of ---- led me down stairs,
and he asked me how long I intended to stay here? I made answer that my
stay depended on the emperor, and it was not in my power to determine
it. Well, madam, (said he), whether your time here is to be long or
short, I think you ought to pass it agreeably, and to that end you must
engage in a little affair of the heart.--My heart (answered I gravely
enough) does not engage very easily, and I have no design of parting
with it. I see, madam, (said he sighing,) by the ill nature of that
answer, that I am not to hope for it, which is a great mortification to
me that am charmed with you. But, however, I am still devoted to your
service; and since I am not worthy of entertaining you myself, do me the
honour of letting me know whom you like best among us, and I'll engage
to manage the affair entirely to your satisfaction.--You may judge in
what manner I should have received this compliment in my own country,
but I was well enough acquainted with the way of this, to know that he
really intended me an obligation, and thanked him with a grave
courtesy for his zeal to serve me, and only assured him that I had no
occasion to make use of it.
"Thus you see, my dear, gallantry and good-breeding are as different, in
different climates, as morality and religion. Who have the rightest
notions of both, we shall never know till the day of judgment, for which
great day of _eclaircissement_, I own there is very little impatience in
your, &c."
Love-making was indeed one of the principal pastimes at Vienna. There
was Count Tarrocco (who was in attendance on the Prince of Portugal),
and, as she told Lady Mar, "just such a Roman Catholic as you." "He
succeeds greatly with the devout beauties here," she went on to say;
"his first overtures in gallantry are disguised under the luscious
strains of spiritual love, that were sung formerly by the sublimely
voluptuous Fenelon and the tender Madam Guion, who turned the spirit of
carnal love to divine objects; thus the Count begins with the spirit and
ends generally with the flesh, when he makes his addresses to holy
virgins." Presently, she teased her sister about this same young man.
"Count Tarrocco is just come in," she wrote. "He is the only person I
have excepted in my general order to receive no company--I think I see
you smile--but I am not so far gone as to stand in need of absolution;
though as my heart is deceitful, and the Count very agreeable, you may
think that even though I should not want an absolution, I would
nevertheless be glad to have an indulgence.--No such thing. However, as
I am a heretic, and you no confessor, I shall make no more declarations
on this head.--The design of the Count's visit is a ball;--more
pleasure--I shall be surfeited."
The "phlegm of the country" surprised Lady Mary, who declared that it
was not from Austria that one could write with vivacity--and by her
letters at once disproved her statement. According to her, amours and
quarrels were carried on calmly and almost good-temperedly. Strong
feelings only came into play when points of ceremony were concerned. A
man not only scorned to marry a woman of family less illustrious than
his own, but even to make love to her--"the pedigree is much more
considered by them than either the complexion or features of their
mistresses. Happy are the shes that can number among their ancestors
Counts of the Empire; they have neither occasion for beauty, money, or
good conduct to get them husbands." How far this passion for rank and
precedence went is indicated by an amusing incident related by Lady
Mary.
"'Tis not long since two coaches, meeting in a narrow street at night,
the ladies in them not being able to adjust the ceremonial of which
should go back, sat there with equal gallantry till two in the morning,
and were both so fully determined to die upon the spot, rather than
yield in a point of that importance, that the street would never have
been cleared till their deaths, if the emperor had not sent his guards
to part them; and even then they refused to stir, till the expedient was
found out of taking them both out in chairs exactly at the same moment;
after which it was with some difficulty the _pas_ was decided between
the two coachmen, no less tenacious of their rank than the ladies."
Lady Mary herself was, of course, unaffected, because, as the wife of an
ambassador, she, by their own customs, had the _pas_ before all other
ladies--to the great envy of the town.
Lady Mary, who had had enough of solitude during her long residence in
Yorkshire, now in Vienna was determined to enjoy herself and flung
herself into all the social gaieties. She went everywhere and met
everyone. She dined at the villa of Count Schoenbrunn, the
Vice-Chancellor; she attended all the assemblies of Madame Rabutin and
the other leaders of society, and all the "gala days"; she danced; she
went to the theatre, and, then, as a contrast, to a nunnery, which left
her unhappy, as, indeed, she put on record:
"I was surprised to find here the only beautiful young woman I have
seen at Vienna, and not only beautiful, but genteel, witty, and
agreeable, of a great family, and who had been the admiration of the
town. I could not forbear shewing my surprise at seeing a nun like her.
She made me a thousand obliging compliments, and desired me to come
often. It will be an infinite pleasure to me, (said she, sighing,) to
see you; but I avoid, with the greatest care, seeing any of my former
acquaintance, and whenever they come to our convent, I lock myself in
my cell. I observed tears come into her eyes, which touched me
extremely, and I began to talk to her in that strain of tender pity she
inspired me with; but she would not own to me that she is not perfectly
happy. I have since endeavoured to learn the real cause of her
retirement, without being able to get any other account, but that every
body was surprised at it, and nobody guessed the reason.
"I have been several times to see her; but it gives me too much
melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried alive, and I am
not surprised that nuns have so often inspired violent passions; the
pity one naturally feels for them, when they seem worthy of another
destiny, making an easy way for yet more tender sentiments; and I never
in my life had so little charity for the Roman-catholic religion as
since I see the misery it occasions; so many poor unhappy women! and the
gross superstition of the common people, who are, some or other of them,
day and night offering bits of candle to the wooden figures that are set
up almost in every street. The processions I see very often, are a
pageantry as offensive, and apparently contradictory to all common
sense, as the pagodas of China. God knows whether it be the womanly
spirit of contradiction that works in me; but there never before was so
much zeal against popery in the heart of,
"Dear madam, &c."
In November the Montagus interrupted their stay at Vienna to visit some
of the German Courts. They went to Prague, where the attire of the
ladies amused Lady Mary. "I have been visited by some of the most
considerable ladies, whose relations I know at Vienna," she wrote to
Lady Mar. "They are dressed after the fashions there, as people at
Exeter imitate those of London; that is, the imitation is more excessive
than the original; 'tis not easy to describe what extraordinary figures
they make. The person is so much lost between head-dress and petticoat,
they have as much occasion to write upon their backs 'This is a woman,'
for the information of travellers, as ever sign-post painter had to
write, 'This is a bear.'" From Prague to Dresden, travelling thither by
a most alarming route:
"You may imagine how heartily I was tired with twenty-four hours'
post-travelling [to Dresden], without sleep or refreshment (for I can
never sleep in a coach, however fatigued). We passed by moonshine the
frightful precipices that divide Bohemia from Saxony, at the bottom of
which runs the river Elbe; but I cannot say that I had reason to fear
drowning in it, being perfectly convinced that, in case of a tumble, it
was utterly impossible to come alive to the bottom. In many places the
road is so narrow, that I could not discern an inch of space between the
wheels and the precipice. Yet I was so good a wife not to wake Mr.
Wortley, who was fast asleep by my side, to make him share in my fears,
since the danger was unavoidable, till I perceived by the bright light
of the moon, our postilions nodding on horseback, while the horses were
on a full gallop, and I thought it very convenient to call out to desire
them to look where they were going. My calling waked Mr. Wortley, and he
was much more surprised than myself at the situation we were in, and
assured me that he had passed the Alps five times in different places,
without ever having gone a road so dangerous. I have been told since it
is common to find the bodies of travellers in the Elbe; but, thank God,
that was not our destiny; and we came safe to Dresden, so much tired
with fear and fatigue, it was not possible for me to compose myself to
write."
From Dresden the travellers visited Leipzig, and then went to Brunswick,
and afterwards to Hanover, where they paid their respects to George I.
It was there that Lady Mary first made the acquaintance of the eldest
son of the Prince of Wales, Frederick Louis, himself presently Prince
of Wales and father of George III. He was then nine years of age.
"I am extremely pleased that I can tell you, without either flattery or
partiality, that our young Prince has all the accomplishments that it is
possible to have at his age, with an air of sprightliness and
understanding, and something so very engaging and easy in his behaviour,
that he needs not the advantage of his rank to appear charming. I had
the honour of a long conversation with him last night, before the King
came in. His governor retired on purpose (as he told me afterwards) that
I might make some judgment of his genius, by hearing him speak without
constraint; and I was surprised at the quickness and politeness that
appeared in every thing he said; joined to a person perfectly agreeable,
and the fine fair hair of the Princess."
Amazed as Lady Mary was at the size of the Palace at Hanover which, she
said, was capable of holding a greater court than that of St. James's,
and the opera-house which was larger than that at Vienna, what
principally amazed her was the orangery at Herrenhausen and what
principally delighted her was the use of stoves, then unknown in
England.
"I was very sorry that the ill weather did not permit me to see
Herrenhausen in all its beauty; but, in spite of the snow, I thought the
gardens very fine" (she wrote with enthusiasm to Lady Mar). "I was
particularly surprised at the vast number of orange trees, much larger
than I have ever seen in England, though this climate is certainly
colder. But I had more reason to wonder that night at the King's table.
There was brought to him from a gentleman of this country, two large
baskets full of ripe oranges and lemons of different sorts, many of
which were quite new to me; and, what I thought worth all the rest, two
ripe bananas, which, to my taste, are a fruit perfectly delicious. You
know they are naturally the growth of Brazil, and I could not imagine
how they could come there but by enchantment. Upon enquiry, I learnt
that they have brought their stoves to such perfection, they lengthen
the summer as long as they please, giving to every plant the degree of
heat it would receive from the sun in its native soil. The effect is
very near the same; I am surprised we do not practise in England so
useful an invention.
"This reflection naturally leads me to consider our obstinacy in shaking
with cold six months in the year, rather than make use of stoves, which
are certainly one of the greatest conveniences of life; and so far from
spoiling the form of a room, they add very much to the magnificence of
it, when they are painted and gilt, as at Vienna, or at Dresden, where
they are often in the shape of china jars, statues, or fine cabinets, so
naturally represented, they are not to be distinguished. If ever I
return, in defiance to the fashion, you shall certainly see one in the
chamber of,
"Dear sister, &c."
CHAPTER IX
THE EMBASSY TO THE PORTE--II(1717-1718)
Adrianople--Turkish baths--Lady Mary wears Turkish dress--Her
description of the costume--Her views on Turkish women--She becomes
acquainted with the practice of inoculation--Her son engrafted--Her
belief in the operation--She later introduces it into England--Dr.
Richard Mead--Richard Steele supports her campaign--Constantinople--Lady
Mary homesick--Exposes the British ignorance of Turkish life--Montagu
recalled--Addison's private letter to him--Lady Mary gives birth to a
daughter--The return journey--The Montagus at Paris--Lady Mary sees her
sister, Lady Mar.
The Montagus returned to Vienna for the new year (1717), but late in
January went to Peterwaradin, thence to Belgrade, and arrived at
Adrianople at the end of March. It was in Adrianople that Lady Mary made
acquaintance with the Turkish Bath, which so impressed her that she sent
home a long account of it. It was not until about 1860 that they became
popular in England, a century and a half later.
"I went to the bagnio about ten o'clock. It was already full of women.
It is built of stone, in the shape of a dome, with no windows but in the
roof, which gives light enough, There were five of these domes joined
together, the outmost being less than the rest, and serving only as a
hall, where the portress stood at the door. Ladies of quality generally
give this woman the value of a crown or ten shillings; and I did not
forget that ceremony. The next room is a very large one paved with
marble, and all round it, raised, two sofas of marble, one above
another. There were four fountains of cold water in this room, falling
first into marble basins, and then running on the floor in little
channels made for that purpose, which carried the streams into the next
room, something less than this, with the same sort of marble sofas but
so hot with steams of sulphur proceeding from the baths joining to it,
it was impossible to stay there with one's clothes on. The two other
domes were the hot baths, one of which had cocks of cold water turning
into it, to temper it to what degree of warmth the bathers have a mind
to.
"I was in my travelling habit, which is a riding dress, and certainly
appeared very extraordinary to them. Yet there was not one of them that
shewed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me with
all the obliging civility possible. I know no European court where the
ladies would have behaved themselves in so polite a manner to a
stranger. I believe in the whole, there were two hundred women, and yet
none of those disdainful smiles, or satiric whispers, that never fail in
our assemblies when any body appears that is not dressed exactly in the
fashion. They repeated over and over to me, "Uzelle, pek uzelle," which
is nothing but Charming, very charming.--The first sofas were covered
with cushions and rich carpets, on which sat the ladies; and on the
second, their slaves behind them, but without any distinction of rank by
their dress, all being in the state of nature, that is, in plain
English, stark naked, without any beauty or defect concealed. Yet there
was not the least wanton smile or immodest gesture amongst them. They
walked and moved with the same majestic grace which Milton describes of
our general mother. There were many amongst them as exactly proportioned
as ever any goddess was drawn by the pencil of Guido or Titian,--and
most of their skins shiningly white, only adorned by their beautiful
hair divided into many tresses, hanging on their shoulders, braided
either with pearl or ribbon, perfectly representing the figures of the
Graces.
"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.'"