ly: 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.

When 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 Hair, replace a falling
Pin, or apply her self 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
Masterpiece 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 _Flutter your
Fans_, the Place is fill'd with so many Zephyrs and gentle
Breezes as are very refreshing in that Season of the Year,
tho' 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 an Angry Flutter, the modest
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 disciplin'd Lady, I know very well
whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a Fan so
very Angry, that it would have been dangerous for the absent
Lover who provoked it to have come within