Friday, February 2.—To-day, I found her ladyship busied in sorting out certain articles of apparel, which had just before been brought home for herself: they had been made by the wife of Lufloofy, the person at Sayda who generally lodged English travellers. As the fair sex may like to know what the texture of ladies' under-garments is in the East, these were made of half cotton and half silk, and, to the appearance and touch, not unlike crape. Some women have them all silk. Either kind is favourable for absorbing perspiration, and, under any circumstances, never strikes cold to the body.[1]
There had arrived, also, from Marseilles six cases of claret, two of brandy, one of rum, twelve baskets of champagne, one case of Kirsch water; and from Leghorn six cases of Genoese pâte, two Parmesan cheeses, some Bologna sausages, pots of preserve, one barrel of salmon and tunny, one ditto of anchovies, brooms, scuppets, perfumery, two chests of tea, and numberless
- ↑ Lady Hester one day showed me fourteen of these articles of ladies' apparel, six or seven of which were in slits and holes, so that a maid-servant in England would not have accepted them as a gift: she said her maids had torn them by their rough handling in dressing her. I had them sent to my house, and they were all mended. She expressed herself as grateful for this little service to my daughter and the governess, as if she had been a pauper clothed at their door!
