370 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



"Are you at ease now, is your heart at rest, 

 Now you have got a shadow, au umbrella, 

 To keep the scorching world's opinion 

 From your fair credit ? " Beaumont and Fletcher. 



The latter passage makes it very clear that the umbrella, at 

 the time it was written, was intended not, as now, to keep off the 

 rain, but to cover the face from the sun. But what are we to 

 cay of the description in the former quotation, in which it clearly 

 appears that the umbrella was "flat" when "spread?" The 

 explanation is offered in the fact that the first kind of parasol 

 was a large fan. I cite a few words from Miss Strickland's 

 " Queens of England" (Vol. VIII., p. 355) : " The courtly belles 

 v,sed the gigantic green shading-fans which had been introduced 

 by the Queen (Catherine) and her Portuguese ladies, to shield 

 their complexion from the sun, when they did not wish wholly 

 to obscure their charms by putting on their masks. Both the 

 mask and the fan, or umbrella, were in general use in this reign. 

 The green shading-fan is of Moorish origin, and for more than 

 a century after the marriage of Catherine of Bragauza was 

 considered an indispensable luxury by our fair and stately 

 ancestral dames, who used them in open carriages, in the pro- 

 menade, and at prayers, when they ostentatiously screened their 

 devotions from public view, by spreading them before their faces 

 when they knelt. The India trade, opened by Catherine's 

 marriage treaty, soon supplied the ladies of England with fans 

 better adapted, by their lightness and elegance, to be used as 

 weapons of coquetry at balls and plays. Addison has de- 

 voted several papers in the Spectator to playful satire on these 

 toys, from whence the now general terms of flirt and flirtation 

 have been derived." 



Undoubtedly the practice of flirtation grew and prevailed in and 

 before the days of Addison : but as to the origin of the word 

 flirt Miss Strickland is in error. Derived from to fleer, flirt or 

 flurt, signifying a light and silly tossing, is of Saxon origin, and 

 may be found in some of our earliest writers. This flirting of 

 the fan is termed by Addison, flutter. The piece in which he 

 describes this flutter is in his best style for quiet satire, and I 

 shall therefore transcribe it as your lesson in composition, re- 

 questing you to send to some friend an account both of the 

 ensuing and of my observations on the umbrella, the parasol, 

 and the fan. 



EXEECISE IN COMPOSITION. 



MR. SPECTATOR, Women are armed with faus, as men with swords, 

 and sometimes do more execution with them. To the end. therefore, 

 that ladies may be entire mistresses of the weapons 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 fashionable airs and 

 motions that are now practised at court. The ladies who " carry " fans 

 under me, are drawn up twice a day iu 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 faus ! 



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 tolerable genius, who will apply herself diligently to her 

 exercise for the space of but one half year, shall be able to give her fan 

 a)l the graces that can possibly enter iuto 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 i'emale regiment is drawn up in array, with every ope 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 com- 

 prehended 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 au infinite number of cupids, ga-lands, altars, birds, beasts, 

 rainbows, and the like agreeable figures, that display themselves to 

 view, whilst every one in the regiment holds a picture in her hand. 



Upon my giving the word to " discharge their fans," they give one 

 general crack that may be heard at a considerable distance when the 

 wind sets fair. This is one of the most difficult parts of the exercise ; 



but I have several ladies with me, who at their first entrance could not 

 give a pop loud enough to be heard at the farther end of the room, who 

 can now " discharge a fan " in such a manner that it shall make a 

 report like a pocket-pistol. I have likewise taken care, in order to 

 hinder young women from letting off their fans in wrong places or un- 

 suitable occasions, to show upon what subject the crack of a fan may 

 come in properly. I have likewise invented a fan with which a girl of 

 sixteen, by the help of a little wind which is inclosed about one of the 

 largest sticks, can make as loud a crack as a woman of fifty with an. 

 ordinary fan. 



Wheu the fans are thus " discharged," the word of command in 

 course is to " ground their fans." This teaches a lady to quit her 

 fan gracefully when she throws it. aside in order to take up a pack of 

 cards, adjust a curl of h;iir, replace a fallen pin, or apply herself to* 

 any other matter of importance. This part of the exercise, as it 

 only consists in tossing a fan with an air upon a long table (which, 

 stands by for that purpose), may be learned in two days' time as well 

 as in a twelvemonth. 



When my female regiment is thus disarmed, I generally let them, 

 walk about the room for some time; when on a sudden, like ladies- 

 that look upon their watches after a long visit, they all of them hasten 

 to their arms, catch them up in a hurry, and place themselves in their 

 proper stations upon my calling out " Recover your fans ! " This 

 part of the exercise is not difficult, provided a woman applies her 

 thoughts to it. 



The " fluttering of the fan " is the last, and indeed the master- 

 piece of the whole exercise ; but if a lady does not mis-spend her time 

 she may make herself mistress of it in three months. I generally lay- 

 aside the dog-days and the hot time of the summer for the teaching- 

 this part of the exercise, for as soon as ever I pronounce" Fluttro 

 your fans," the place is filled with so many zephyrs and gentle breezes 

 as are very refreshing in that season of the year, though they might 

 be dangerous to ladies of a tender constitution in any other. 



There is an infinite variety of motions to be made use of in the 

 " flutter of a fan : " there is the angry flutter, the modish flutter, the 

 timorous flutter, the confused flutter, the merry flutter, and the 

 amorous flutter. Not to be tedious, there is scarce any emotion in 

 the mind which does not produce a suitable agitation in the fan ; 

 insomuch that if I only see the fan of a disciplined lady, I know very 

 well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a fan so 

 Tery angry, that it would have been dangerous for the absent lover 

 who provoked it to have come within the wind of it ; and at other 

 times so very languishing, that I have been glad, for the lady's sake, 

 the lover was at a sufficient distance from it. I need not add that a 

 fan is either a prude or a coquette, according to the name of the person, 

 who bears it. To conclude my letter, I must acquaint you that I have 

 from my own observations compiled a little treatise for the use of my 

 scholars, entitled " The Passions of the Fan ; " which I will communi- 

 cate to you, if you think it may be of uje to the public. I shall hav& 

 a general review on Thursday next, to which you shall be very welcome, 

 if you will honour it with your presence. I am, etc. 



P.S. I teach young gentlemen the whole art of gallanting a fan. 



N.B. I have several little plain fans made for this use, to avoid 

 expense. 



READINGS IN FRENCH. XI. 

 J A C O P . 



SECTION I. 



ON aime a recueillir, comme un religious souvenir, tout ce qui 

 appartient (a) a la vie 1 des hommes illustres. A. ce titre 1'anec- 

 dote suivante ne sera pas sans interet, 2 car vous connaissez tous 

 son principal heros : Napoleon ! 



Par un beau jour d'etl, deux jeunes enfants, un garon et une 

 petite fille s'amusaient a courir dans un magnifique jardin 

 d'Ajaccio en Corse. 3 Tous les deux, armes d'un filet pour prendre 

 des papillons, 4 se livraient avec ardeur a la poursuite de ces jolie 

 insectes. 



C'etaient Napoleon, 1'un des fils de Charles Bonaparte et de 

 Loetitia Ramolini, et la petite filisa, sa so3ur. 5 



Les deux enfants se dirigerent vers un bouquet (6) de lilas 

 situe a 1'extremite du jardin, qu'une simple haie separait de la 

 campagne. 6 Presque au memo instant, les deux filets se pose- 

 rent (c) sur un branche ou venait de s'arreter un papillon ; 7 mais 

 celui-ci, faisant un ricochet, s'echappe, 8 et, s'elevant en zigs- 

 zags dans les airs, prend sa course par-dela la haie et s'elance 

 dans la campagne. 9 



"Ah ! Napoleon, qu'est-ce done que tu viens de faire ?" 10 



" Je viens de franchir un defile pour gagner la bataille. Suis- 

 moi." n 



Alors ecartant les branches, prenant sa sceur par la main, il 

 lui facilite le passage de 1'autre c6te du jardin. 12 Libres alors, 

 ils s'elancent a la poursuite dii fugitif et ne tardent pas a so 



