MORE MODESTY
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BATHS
In the eighteenth century, as in the nineteenth, the bath had not to be taken immodestly if taken at all, writes "Lucio" in the "Manchester Guardian." Mrs. Montagu, the "Queen of the Bluestockings," complained when she visited the Duchess of Portland at Bulstrbde that she had the greatest difficulty in obtaining a bathtub there "that was capable of holding water." After much trouble she was able to proclaim: "My batHing-tub is ready for me, so tomorrow I shall go in." But there was a difficulty still to be overcome. "Pray look for my bathingdress," she implored. "Till then I must go in chemise and jupon." .Her friend Dorothea Gregory also found too close contact with .water highly embarrassing. From Edinburgh she wrote: "I find there is a cold bath in the house. Miss Gordon thinks I shall do well to make use of it, but as I was not aware of such a thing being in the house I did not bring my bathing-dress with me."
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1940, Page 19
Word Count
171MORE MODESTY Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1940, Page 19
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