AUTHOR’S NOTE
187 Words
AUTHOR’S NOTEDivorce in England at the time of this story had to go through Parliament, who like other Protestant countries, alone had the power to dissolve marriages.
However, such private Acts were difficult to obtain and so extremely expensive that only the wealthiest could contemplate them.
The total number of Parliamentary divorces for over 350 years between 1602 and 1859 were 317.
For a lady to be divorced was to incur complete ostracism from Society. Those who were, immediately fled abroad and never returned. A gentleman, however, was soon forgiven, although he was not always reinstated in Court circles.
The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women’s social and educational movement, started by Mrs. Edward Montague (1720-1800) in Portman Square, London. They invited various people to attend, both male and female, including the botanist, translator and publisher Benjamin Stillingfleet, grandson of the famous Bishop of Worcester, Edward Stillingfleet (1635-1699). The story is that the appellation a ‘blue stocking’ derives from the blue worsted stockings worn by Stillingfleet to attend the salon, because he was too poor to afford the regulation black silk stockings, which should have been worn with his knee breeches.
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