Note 29 — Chapter V
Matthew Raper translation
About sixty years ago, ladies of the first quality in Petersburgh used to be guilty of somewhat the same kind of irregularity. They had begun to adopt the French modes in dress; but, as Salmon says, did not well know how to manage them. “Wherefore,” he continues, “one must not be surprised, notwithstanding all the state of a Petersburgh lady, to meet one of them in summer, at which season they use the English straw hats, magnificently dressed in damask, ornamented with gold, silver, lace, and ribbands, walking barefooted, carrying her slippers in her hand.”