The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D., Volume IX | Page 8

all that come with
horary questions into my ante-chamber, to give the gentleman my
opinion."
This paper is written in ridicule of some affected ladies of the period,
who pretended, with rather too much ostentation, to embrace the
doctrines of Platonic Love. Mrs. Mary Astell, a learned and worthy
woman, had embraced this fantastic notion so deeply, that, in an essay
upon the female sex, in 1696, she proposed a sort of female college, in
which the young might be instructed, and 'ladies nauseating the parade
of the world,' might find a happy retirement. The plan was disconcerted
by Bishop Burnet, who, understanding that the Queen intended to give
£10,000 towards the establishment, dissuaded her, by an assurance, that
it would lead to the introduction of Popish orders, and be called a
nunnery. This lady is the Madonella of the Tatler.... This paper has
been censured as a gross reflection on Mrs. Astell's character, but on no
very just foundation. Swift only prophesies the probable issue of such a
scheme, as that of the Protestant nunnery; and it is a violent
interpretation of his words to suppose him to insinuate, that the
conclusion had taken place without the premises. Indeed, the scourge of
ridicule is seldom better employed than on that species of _Précieuse_,
who is anxious to confound the boundaries which nature has fixed for
the employments and studies of the two sexes. No man was more
zealous than Swift for informing the female mind in those points most
becoming and useful to their sex. His "Letter to a Young Married
Lady" and "Thoughts on Education" point out the extent of those
studies. [S.]

Nichols, in his edition of "The Tatler" (1786), ascribes this paper to
"Swift and Addison"; but he thinks the humour of it "certainly
originated in the licentious imagination of the Dean of St. Patrick's."
[T.S.]]
[Footnote 2: John Norris (1657-1711), Rector of Bemerton, author of
"The Theory and Regulation of Love" (1688), and of many other works.
His correspondence with the famous Platonist, Henry More, is
appended to this "moral essay." Chalmers speaks of him as "a man of
great ingenuity, learning, and piety"; but Locke refers to him as "an
obscure, enthusiastic man." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 3: Henry More (1614-1687), the famous Cambridge Platonist,
and author of "Philosophicall Poems" (1647), "The Immortality of the
Soul" (1659), and other works of a similar nature. Chalmers notes that
"Mr. Chishall, an eminent bookseller, declared, that Dr. More's
'Mystery of Godliness' and his other works, ruled all the booksellers of
London for twenty years together." [T.S. ]]
[Footnote 4: The reference here is to Milton's "Apology for
Smectymnuus." Milton and More were, during one year,
fellow-students at Christ's College, Cambridge. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 5: Said to refer to a Mr. Repington, a well-known wag of the
time, and a member of an old Warwickshire family, of Amington, near
Tamworth. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 6: The Betty here referred to is the Lady Elizabeth Hastings
(1682-1739), daughter of Theophilus, seventh Earl of Huntingdon. In
No. 49 of "The Tatler," Steele refers to her in the famous sentence: "to
love her is a liberal education." She contributed to Mrs. Astell's plans
for the establishment of a "Protestant nunnery." [T.S.]]
[Footnote 7: See previous note. Mrs. Mary Astell (1668-1731) the
authoress of "A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of
their true and greatest Interest" (1694), was the friend of Lady
Elizabeth Hastings and the correspondent of John Norris of Bemerton.
There is not the slightest foundation for the gross and cruel insinuations

against her character in this paper. The libel is repeated in the 59th and
63rd numbers of "The Tatler." Her correspondence with Norris was
published in 1695, with the title, "Letters Concerning the Love of God".
Later in life she attacked Atterbury, Locke, and White Kennett. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 8: The reference here is to Sir Thomas Browne's "Religio
Medici," part ii., section 9. [T.S.]]
[Footnote 9: M. Bournelle--a pseudonym of William
Oldisworth--remarks: "The next interview after a second is still a
_second_; there is no progress in time to lovers" ("Annotations on 'The
Tatler'"). Chalmers reads here, "a second and a third interview." [T.S.]]

THE TATLER, NUMB. 35.
FROM TUESDAY JUNE 28. TO THURSDAY JUNE 30. 1709.
"SIR,[1]
"Not long since[2] you were pleased to give us a chimerical account of
the famous family of _Staffs_, from whence I suppose you would
insinuate, that it is the most ancient and numerous house in all Europe.
But I positively deny that it is either; and wonder much at your
audacious proceedings in this matter, since it is well known, that our
most illustrious, most renowned, and most celebrated Roman family of
_Ix_, has enjoyed the precedency to all others from the reign of good
old Saturn. I could say much to