Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-05-27
PRICE: FIVE CENTS.
In Bishop Halls "Satires," the fan is noticed
as indicative of vain lady, when 1t was hung to
the girdle
While one piece pays her idle waiting man
UT buys hood. or silYer.handled fan"


u. lo9o) The lta ian fan, adorned with excel
lent pictures Of amoFous things tending 10 dal-
| lance with witty verses and fine emblems" IL
difusely mentioned in "Coryats Crudities "a.
ID. 16ll.) It appears that men were eifemn ,te
| enough to carry them, and in some old plats
they are so equipped In ''Greene's Farewell to
| Folly" "a. ID. l5S0) they ar, reproached for
wearing plumes of feathers in their hands which
| their ancestors wore on their heads. The poet
Lovelace "a. D. 1889 addressed verses TO the
fan of his mistress, which he describes as made
of ostrich feathers, dyed sky blue, with looking
| glass set in it:
"a crystal mirror sparkles in thy breast"
| Fans with NEUROLOGICAL and fancy sketches
| next became fashionable, and fan painting took
| its position as distinct branch Of art. But We
| find that in England the fan was used less for
cooling purposes than for the employment Of the
hands; speaking Of Flayia's accomplishments,
the poet Gay says
"In other hands the fan could prove
Anengine Of small force in love-"
| He also gives the fan as present from Venus to
de,pairing lover in order to soften his mistress
| and describes the hint which the Peacock's tail
presents for its construction.
Considering the coarseness Of language, even
among the nobility of England, during the early
part of the last century, II is not to be wondered
at that the fsn should have been ind spensable to
a lady-being held up to shield her cOunenance
when an expression too gross "for ears polite"
happened to be uttered. Pope thus alludes 10
| this use
THE modest fan was lifted up no more,
And virgins smiled, at what they blu,hed be.
| FORE"
| In the "Tater' of August g. 1909, Steele pives
an amusing account of Delamaria. a fine lady,
resigning her fan, when about to be married.
| Two years later, Addison, in the Special r' de.
scribes an academy where the use Of the fan was
taught according to the fashionable airs and
notions then practised at Court making mention
| Of
-"the augry lutter, the modest futter, the
timoTous futter, and the amorous futter. Not to
be tedious, there is scarce any emotion of the
| mind which does produce a lta lie agita-
tion of the fan; insomuch that, if only see the
| fan of a disciplined lady, | know very we'll
/ whether she laughs, frowns, or bushes. | have
/ seen fan so n CRY that il won d b I'VE been
d ngerous for the absent lover who proyosed il
to come within the wind of It: and at other
times so very languishing that have been glad
| for the ladys sake the lover was at a sufficient
distance. / need not add that fan is either a
pride or coquette, according to the person who
| bears it," etc.
However, they became so large that Sir Roger
| de Coverley is SAID to have declared that he
| would have allowed the lady he cou ted the
profits of a Windmill FIR her fans" Later in the
eighteenth century it was usual for gentlemen,
| at the dancing assemblies in London and Bath,
| TO select each his partne by dlawing fan, the
ladies having placed them promiscuously in
hat for the purpose Mr. Montagu thus refers to
this custom In the afternoon | went to Lord
Oxford's ball. which was very agreeab e, when
the partners were chosen by their fans, but with
| little supercherie"-a trick or fraud which the
| authOress delicately wells under FIeLc ch term,
as "the beaux were far from guiltl-ss for lady's
fan was then almo I as well known as her face"
Sir Alexander Boswell thus alludes to the stra.
tegem:
Each lady's fan chosen Damon bore,
With care SELF cted many dly before"
Fans are used in Rome on various public occa.
| sions, especially at the Festa di Catedra, when
the Pope Is escorted by clericals holding feather
| fans without using hem; and the Lreek hurch
is careful to place them In the hands OF their dea-
cons to guard the ele ents from desecration-
The State fan of the Emperor Of Oh ma Is precise
ly the same in form as that used by the ancient
Greeks. In Japan it occupies most important
position
Instead of taking off lis hat the japanese
| performs the same courtesy by W wing his fan;
| visitors accept the dainties offered them upon
| their fans; in giving aims g-ntleman puts his
| money upon his fan; diligent scholars recsive
fans as school prizes, and the ped gOgu, uses 1t,
instead Of ferule upon the lruants knuckles
and when criminal of rank il condemned, his
doom Is proclaimed by presenting him with fan,
and his head is taken off whi e ne stretches out
his hand to receive the fatal gift"
The fan of Hussen Pasha, the last Of the Deys
of Algiers possesses great historical Importance,
for II so happens that
ION April 90 1897 when NJ. Deval the French
| Consul, called al the Palace TO pay his respects
to the Dey, or the occasion of h great fe, tival,
his Highness questioned him about a lei te he
had written to Charles Y relative to some pend.
i -. katr- fha
sui haughtily replied that the King OF France
| could not condescend 10 correspond with the Dey
| of Algiers' upon which the tier struck the Con-
| sui in the face with his fan. and fercely abused
his sovereign. The Dey refusing to apologize,
| war ensued, which terminated ia the cUnQ Iest of
Algeria. 10 the stroke of the fan may, therefore,
| be traced the annexation of that country as a
| colony OF France.
| In SPAN fans have always been held in the
| highest estimation; and the Spanish ladies, as
| well as the ladies of Spanish extraction on the
American continent, excel al Others IN its grace
| full use. Indeed II is worthy of record that
among the articles presented to COrtez by Monte.
/ yuma were five faLs OF variegated feather.-
/ Dsraeli the eminent British statesman, who
formerly distinguished himself as q novelist tells
| u.s. in his "Contarini fleming"
| "A Spanish lady with her fan might shame the
| tactics of a troop of horse. Now she unfu Is IL
/ with the slow pomp and conscious elegance OF
the bird of Juno; now she futters it with the Ian
gour of the listless beauty; now with ali the live
| illness of vivacious one now. in the midst OF
/ tornado, she closes IT, with whlrr tn t makes
/ you start. Here, as in the north, its use Is not
| confined to the delightful sex; for the caya-
lier also has his fam and, that 1t may not be
sidere ed n effeminacy, the so ders will not mount
| guard without this soace"
/ In Southern Europe men fan themselves with
| all the graces OF coquette. Inc author OF
| "Vacalion kambes in Sp4il,n assures us tnat he
- was vastly interested In the movements Of
the ladies' fans at church. Al the world knows
that they betray eacn feeling that passes through
| the mind of the hearer. / felt c .nyinced tast
could guess the nature CT the service at every
particular moment; the difference b-tween
| Litany and Thanksgiving was unmistakable;
and believe that minor shades OF dey otion we're
| also discoverable by the motous Uf the fans"
Except in Spain and Mexico, fans ara no longer
used in fas lonable circ es for the frivolous pur-
poses noticed in their pas. history but as our
| readers we'll know, they still form an indlspensa.
| BILE portion of ceremonial dress at dinner and
| evening parties, as well as at @ opera. ln EN-.
bel ishng them, the resources of art are exerted
| on scale commensurate wi their cJstliness
the finest specimens being imported from Paris,
where the prices vary from two sous to five
| thousand francs.
The house of Duvelerpy employs several hun
| dred persons in their manuiacture-including
large corps of distinguished artists who study the
pee uliar tastes of every ,tion and they are now
competing in the East with those OF China and
Japan. Spain, 1t is said, is trying to supply the
wants of her own people; but tropical America,
and the Eas, and Wess Indies, afford the best
markets for gorgeous specimens, on which ex-
citing scenes are painted in luxurious tints.
/ Those exhibited at the great exhibitions in Eu-
rope excited great attention.-N. York Home
| Journal.