| La Danse, after Lancret. | Dr Law Adam |
Hotspur’s exclamation, I Henry IV., II. iii., further serves to show that this instrument could, upon occasion, be used as an offensive weapon:
‘Zounds! an I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with his lady’s fan.’
The strength hidden in such an apparently harmless toy is thus recognised equally by both sterner and gentler sex: the hint contained in the quaint and charming conceit addressed to the fan of his mistress by Louis de Boissey, author of Le Babillard, will not be lost upon lovers:
‘Deviens le protecteur de ma vive tendresse,
Bel éventail! je te remets mes droits;
Et si quelque rival avait la hardiesse
D’approcher de trop près du sein de ma maîtresse,
Bel éventail: donne-lui sur les doigts!’
