=Motto.= "She had not accustomed her woman's hands to the distaff or
the skeins of Minerva."--Virgil, _Æneid_, vii. 305.
=69=: 13. =Leonora.= A letter from a Leonora, perhaps the lady of this
paper, is to be found in _Spectator_, No. 91.
=70=: 4. =Great jars of china.= The craze for collecting china was then
at its height. It is satirized by Steele in _Tatler_, No. 23, and by
Addison in No. 10 of _The Lover_.
=70=: 17. =Scaramouches.= The Scaramouch is a typical buffoon in
Italian farces; the name is derived from Scaramuccia, a famous Italian
clown of the last half of the seventeenth century.
=70=: 20. =Snuff box.= This indicates that the habit of snuff taking
had been adopted by fine ladies. It would seem, however, to have been a
new fashion, at all events with ladies. See Steele's criticism upon the
habit in _Spectator_, No. 344. For curious facts with reference to the
use of tobacco in the Queen Anne time, see Ashton, _Social Life in the
Reign of Queen Anne_, Chap. xvii.
=71=: 3. =Looking into the books=, etc. The humour consists largely,
of course, in the odd miscellany of books suited "to the lady and the
scholar."
=71=: 9. =Ogilby's Virgil=, the first complete translation of Virgil,
1649.
=71=: 10. =Dryden's Juvenal=, 1693.
=71=: 11, 12, 13. =Cassandra=, =Cleopatra=, and =Astraea= were
translations of long-winded, sentimental French romances, the first two
by La Calprenède, the third by Honoré D'Urfé.
=71=: 15. =The Grand Cyrus= and =Clelia= were even more famous
romances, by Mademoiselle de Scudéry, each in ten volumes. For
delightful satire upon the taste for this sort of reading, see Steele's
comedy, _The Tender Husband_; the heroine, Miss Biddy Tipkin, has been
nourished upon this delicate literature.
=71=: 17. =Pembroke's Arcadia.= Written in 1580-1581, by Sir Philip
Sidney, but published, after his death, by his sister, the Countess of
Pembroke. It is the best of the Elizabethan prose romances.
=71=: 18. =Locke.= John Locke's _Essay on the Human Understanding_, an
epoch-making work in philosophy, published in 1690. Locke was one of
the authors Leonora had "heard praised," and may have "seen"; but she
evidently found better use for his book than to read it. The "patches"
were bits of black silk or paper, cut in a variety of forms, which
ladies stuck upon their faces, presumably to set off their complexions.
See _Spectator_, No. 81. Notice the pun in this use of Locke.
=71=: 22. =Sherlock.= William Sherlock (1641-1707), dean of St. Paul's.
=71=: 23. =The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony=, a translation of a
French book of the fifteenth century, _Quinze Joies de Mariage_.
=71=: 24. =Sir William Temple's Essays=, published 1692.
=71=: 25. =Malebranche's Search after Truth= had been translated from
the French not long before.
=72=: 1. =The Ladies' Calling=, a popular religious book, anonymous,
but ascribed to the unknown author of the most widely circulated
religious book of the seventeenth century, _The Whole Duty of Man_.
=72=: 2. =Mr. D'Urfey.= Thomas D'Urfey (1650-1720), a playwright and
humorous verse writer. His poetical writings were collected, 1720,
under the title, _Pills to purge Melancholy_. In 1704 he published
_Tales, Tragical and Comical_, which is probably the book here referred
to.
=72=: 6. =Clelia.= See note on 71: 15.
=72=: 8. =Baker's Chronicle.= _Sir Richard Baker's Chronicle_ of the
kings of England, 1634. Sir Roger was very familiar with this dull
book. See _Spectator_, No. 329, XXVIII of this volume.
=72=: 9. =Advice to a Daughter.= By George Saville, Marquis of Halifax.
=72=: 10. =The New Atalantis.= By Mrs. Manley, who had an unsavoury
reputation in London journalism during the reign of Anne. This was a
scandalous romance, attacking prominent persons, especially of the Whig
party, under feigned names.
=72=: 11. =Mr. Steele's Christian Hero.= See Introduction.
=72=: 14. =Dr. Sacheverell's Speech.= A Tory high-church preacher
who was impeached before the House of Lords for two violent sermons
assailing the Whig party. His trial caused great excitement, and was
one of the events immediately preceding the downfall of the Whigs in
1710. The "speech" here mentioned is that delivered in his own defence.
It is said to have been written for him by Samuel Wesley, father of
John Wesley.
=72=: 15. =Fielding's Trial.= One Robert Fielding, tried for bigamy
early in the century.
=72=: 16. =Seneca's Morals.= _The Moral Essays of Seneca_ (4 B.C.-65
A.D.). The translation of Roger L'Estrange was popular at this time.
=72=: 17. =Taylor's Holy Living and Dying.= Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667),
the most eloquent of English divines.
=74=: 22. =To give me their thoughts upon it.= Some of "their thoughts"
may be found in Nos. 92 and 340.