Volume 1

A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its brances: with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks, in general ... from a serious observations, taken in many years travels thro' those countries / By Aaron Hill.

Aaron Hill

Date:: 1709

Credit: A full and just account of the present state of the Ottoman Empire in all its brances: with the government, and policy, religion, customs, and way of living of the Turks, in general ... from a serious observations, taken in many years travels thro' those countries / By Aaron Hill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

156/418 (page 110)

$How Wives are kept in Turkey. The Excel¬ lence of their complexion?. A Difcription of the Perfons of the Turlii(k Ladies. Arch’d Eye* Brows Judg’d a Beauty by the Turfa. Their Shapes and Aires. The Turkijh Ladies are Lafcivioufly inclin’d. bitter Minutes of fome European Mam ages are altogether ftr^ngeis.rp the fweet Enjoyment of their Conjummate Happinejs. itts i fenfe of awfull Fear and Duty, that obliges them contentedly to r rj1 *11f. t]ip fmalleft Power in Domeitick matters? Inut up live 4/ Home, wi ,tment divided like our Hfpitals for feveral Beds, ‘Xcl-llt from °Enly?Prideor Jealoufy, they Eat, Drink, and Work together, r ^ THed bv the Watchful Obfervatioii of Indufiriim.Eunucbs, and excluded Guarded b' the Waanrai ^ ^ ^ ^ Stirring from tlieir H°oufesC nor making Vifi’ts to tlieir Neighbours, but all entirely bent to pleafe by turns the Wandring will of their Refpected Husband. T H F S F. then are the Chief Jccompl foments of their Womens Minds, whTchareMou ded by Zfametftoms to the fame Nature, in every Part ^f their Country And tho’ fome Provinces have been efteem’d more Fa¬ mous than others for the Beauty of their Women; the Following Account will ferve as a Defcription of the Turkijh Ladies. THEIR Complexions are for the moil Part, of a Lovely Fair., andl wi th¬ out the help of foexquifitely Smooth and Ruddy, that tis beyond the Power of Imagination to Guefs at their Beauty whtch Extraordmaty Pet- feOion they owe to their fo frequent ufe of Bathing, and Perpetual Confine¬ ment to their Houfes, by which means they are never Ruffled by the Chances the Weather, norfubjeft to the Sultry Influences of a Scorching ohfervable that they lofe their Beauty much fooner than the Inhabitants of the Northern World, lor the daily ufe of Bagnio’s, tho’ it 1 mooths tlieir Skin, and foftens their Complexions, does notionhpnding, vrt)udi(X their Coiiftitu- tions bv the Warm effe&sof its Sulphureous Quality. I heir Features ate ei - rally molt agreeably Regular, of an exad and fweet Proportion, their Eyes ot a Eg B ach, almoft Tranfparently Bright and Striking and the larger thev are the more Efteem’d, for fo vaft a Value do the Turks Profefs for Grit Ey'd Ladies, that the Enjoyment ot fuch is by Mahomet promts d them as one of the Sublimeft Joys of their Chimerical Paradife, the Arched Exctl- lency of their Eye-brows, is no fmall Addition to the Beauty ol their Peatuies, anil fo Nicely fenfible they are of this Perfeaion, that where Nature has de- ny’d ’em fo agreeable a Charm, they ate never contented till by die repeat- el Applications of Artificial Endeavours, they raffle their Brows to a lofty Semicircle, meeting over their Nofe in a Sharp and Gracefitll Jng e. I can hardly fpeak of their Shapes, with fo large Encomiums as I have done of their Beauty, fince the Loofenel's ot their Drejs, denies them that forc'd Slendernefs of Waft, fo much admir’d by our European Ladies ; bat tho {hey boaft not' that one Excellency, Nature has adorn’d ’em wttn a Thoufand cells, which fufficiently fupply its want, for their Bodies have fomewha of an agreeable turn, and their Motions carry a Peculiar Grace in an Eajy andUrn fCetledFreedom of behaviour, the Native Chants ot an Amorot%Sf‘>>fS appear unfeignedly in every look, while every Step beai s fomew ta no? altogether free from a Majeftk Gravity, and yet entirely Govern d by an Uncommon Eafinefs, I am forry (after fo true, yetgreat a CharaQer of their Perfons) to De- feend to the Weaknefs of their unguarded Vertue, winch lies lo open anc un¬ fortified by Principle, as to be Incapable of refilling the fmalleft 1 emptation of a Favourable Opportunity. This Vice oi Incontinency is undoubte yno Hereditary Misfortune deriv’d from their Ancefiors, lince moll or the i o ern Turks, especially thofeof Europe, are Defcended from the Greeks, the old Inhabitants of that Subverted Country; a Nation lo entirely *iee, lon] Leivdnefs and Immorality, that they Inftructed all the, V orlu in the u$