Volume I Part 76 (1/2)

L.

[Footnote 1: Swift.]

[Footnote 2: In his 'Principia', published 1687, Newton says this to show that the nuclei of Comets must consist of solid matter.]

[Footnote 3: a]

[Footnote 4: a whole]

No. 102. Wednesday, June 27, 1711. Addison.

'... Lusus animo debent aliquando dari, Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat sibi.'

Phaedr.

I do not know whether to call the following Letter a Satyr upon Coquets, or a Representation of their several fantastical Accomplishments, or what other t.i.tle to give it; but as it is I shall communicate it to the Publick. It will sufficiently explain its own Intentions, so that I shall give it my Reader at Length, without either Preface or Postscript.

_Mr._ SPECTATOR,

'Women are armed with Fans as Men with Swords, and sometimes do more Execution with them. To the end therefore that Ladies may be entire Mistresses of the Weapon which they bear, I have erected an Academy for the training up of young Women in the _Exercise of the Fan_, according to the most fas.h.i.+onable Airs and Motions that are now practis'd at Court. The Ladies who _carry_ Fans under me are drawn up twice a-day in my great Hall, where they are instructed in the Use of their Arms, and _exercised_ by the following Words of Command,

_Handle your Fans, Unfurl your fans.

Discharge your Fans, Ground your Fans, Recover your Fans, Flutter your Fans._

By the right Observation of these few plain Words of Command, a Woman of a tolerable Genius, [who [1]] will apply herself diligently to her Exercise for the s.p.a.ce of but one half Year, shall be able to give her Fan all the Graces that can possibly enter into that little modish Machine.

But to the end that my Readers may form to themselves a right Notion of this _Exercise_, I beg leave to explain it to them in all its Parts. When my Female Regiment is drawn up in Array, with every one her Weapon in her Hand, upon my giving the Word to _handle their Fans_, each of them shakes her Fan at me with a Smile, then gives her Right-hand Woman a Tap upon the Shoulder, then presses her Lips with the Extremity of her Fan, then lets her Arms fall in an easy Motion, and stands in a Readiness to receive the next Word of Command. All this is done with a close Fan, and is generally learned in the first Week.

The next Motion is that of _unfurling the Fan_, in which [are [2]]

comprehended several little Flirts and Vibrations, as also gradual and deliberate Openings, with many voluntary Fallings asunder in the Fan itself, that are seldom learned under a Month's Practice. This Part of the _Exercise_ pleases the Spectators more than any other, as it discovers on a sudden an infinite Number of _Cupids_, [Garlands,]