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From the sixteenth century up to the late 1800s throughout the whole of Europe, the dress of no fashionable lady en grande tenue appears to have been complete without the addition
of a fan. So prominent a part has this little “modish machine" played in intrigue, love, and scandal that it has been aptly termed "the woman's scepter." Invitations were given by it, assignations were made; a gracious furl encouraged the lover; a disdainful furl plunged him into despair. To read aright this language became a necessity in the education of all fine gallants, who must know how to understand each movement and interpret each flutter.
The praises of the fan have been sung by poets in various ages and in various climes. In England the great essayist Addison thought it not unworthy of a place in the Spectator, and in an amusing skit called "The Fan Academy" he describes "the angry flutter, the modish flutter, the timorous flutter, the confused flutter, the merry flutter, the amorous flutter. Not to be tedious," he says, “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 very angry that it would have been dangerous for the absent lover who provoked it to 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." Thus from its introduction the literature of the fan has been rich in satire, verse, and epigram.
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