1. Introduction

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Thinking about eighteenth century hygiene rituals and beauty habits inevitably invokes the image of perfume and make-up covering bodies that never touched water. In a world that smelled a lot more than today, perfume obviously played an important role but the truth is much more complex. In continental Europe, the Thirty Years War and the outbreak of the plague epidemic at the beginning of the seventeenth century transformed or rather ended public hygiene. Bathing was considered to be the source of diseases and instead of washing themselves, people used make-up, powder and perfume to groom themselves. In Germany, the principle of the time used to be “kratzen statt waschen” (i.e. scratching instead of washing) (www.planet-wissen.de). This custom inevitably influenced hygiene rituals in Great Britain so that perfume became an important part of everyday life. However, throughout the mid- and late eighteenth century, hygienic practice went back to bathing and the role of perfume changed once again. Instead of cleaning the body it was then considered to have a superficial effect and betraying the senses (Vigarello 166 f.).

 

The various definitions of the term “perfume” given by the Oxford English Dictionary show the different uses of the word that can also be found in eighteenth century literature (see below). On the one hand, the word “perfume” can be defined as a “pleasant smell”, the use of the term that is most widely employed in literature. On the other hand, “perfume” refers to the chemically produced product. This use of the word is to be found less often, nonetheless frequent, in eighteenth century literature and manuals.

 

perfume, n.

1.

a. The (esp. pleasant-smelling) vapour or fumes given off by the burning of a substance; such fumes inhaled as a medical treatment or used to fumigate a house, room, etc. Obs.

b. The fragrance or odour emitted by any (usually pleasant-smelling) substance or thing; a fragrance.

1757   tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. III. 206   St. Antony's remains is said continually to emit a most fragrant perfume, which is chiefly smelt at a crevice behind the altar.

 

2. Originally: a substance which emits a pleasant smell when burned; incense. Later usually: a fragrant liquid, usually consisting of aromatic ingredients (natural or synthetic) in a base of alcohol, used to impart a pleasant smell to the body, clothes, etc.

1717   Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 343   Little Arches to set pots of perfume or baskets of Flowers.

1776   S. Ward Mod. Syst. Nat. Hist. XI. 43   They are often known to take the part of this animal which contains the musk, and wear it as a perfume about their persons.

 

For the sake of completeness, the OED definition of the term "perfumer" shall also be mentioned since the mentioning of the profession “Perfumer of Gloves” in 1724 reveals that there was a close relationship between the twin-professions of glove making and perfume production (see below “History and Introduction to England”).

 

 

perfumer, n.

A producer or seller of perfumes. Also: †a person employed to fumigate or perfume rooms (obs.).

1724   London Gaz. No. 6250/10,   Perfumer of Gloves.

1752   D. Hume Ess. & Treat. i. 18   Critics can reason and dispute more plausibly than cooks or perfumers.

1801   Portfolio 3 17 Jan. 23/2   Venders of fashionable goods, milliners, perfumers, &c.

 

 

 

2. The Rise of the Perfume: History and Composition

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The modern European perfume’s roots can be traced back to Arab civilization. In the fifth century, the distillation of rose water was developed and since it was used on the body as well as for perfuming rooms or interior gardens, perfume came to play an important role in everyday life. With the conquest of Spain by Moorish caliphs in the eleventh century, knowledge about fragrances was introduced to Europe. Soon, Montpellier and later Grasse became the major production centers of perfumes. Grasse was originally known for the production of gloves - which were perfumed in order to overcome the smell of urine in which the leather was softened – but also benefited from a climate that enabled the cultivation of flowers used in perfume making. In 1656, the guild of glove and perfume makers was established and the professions did not separate until 1724. (Moeran 3 f.) Applied to gloves, perfume was a luxury good that significantly enhanced their value: Perfumed gloves were much more expensive than those that had not been scented (Dugan 128).

 

During the sixteenth century, the close relationship between gloves and perfumes was frequently stressed in literature. One source that reveals their importance is  John Florio’s Italian phrasebook from 1578 in which he lists important phrases and questions for English tourists who want to purchase gloves from Italian merchants (Dugan 128): “These Gloves, are they wel perfumed,” “‘Who hath perfumed them,’  ‘Shewe me a payre of gloues,’ ‘I will bue a payre of Gloues,’ ‘And so will I too,’ ‘will yea haue the perfumed or no,’ ‘I will haue them perfumed,’ and ‘Behold here is a good payre.’” (Florio in: Dugan 128). Further, many plays described the appearance, as well as the smell of gloves indicating that perfumed gloves "were central to understanding a variety of social exchanges" (Dugan 129). Among these are Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor or Macbeth (Ibid.129).

 

The popularity of perfume reached a climax in England during the reigns of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I. All public places were scented during Queen Elizabeth's rule since she could not tolerate bad smells. Holly Dugan states that “the first perfumed gloves made their way to England with Sir Edward of Nevarre, Earl of Oxford, who in 1566 presented them to the queen as a token of his affection.” (Dugan 132) The queen is said to have worn the gloves incessantly and thus inspired a trend for gloves scented with an Earl of Oxford perfume (Ibid. 132). However, Elizabeth I was not the only English ruler to appreciate the luxury items and James I, Charles I, as well as Oliver Cromwell possessed expensive scented gloves which they were sometimes given as presents by foreign ambassadors (Ibid. 132). Finally, by 1635, perfume had become a valuable luxury commodity (Dugan 130).

 

In the early eighteenth century a distinction was made between royal perfume and perfume for the bourgeoisie. The latter should not have an aesthetic effect but only disinfect the air. Thus, it had a therapeutic effect and was considered to be an important weapon against plague. It was considered to clean, protect and at the same time show material wealth. This distinction reflects the discussion that had long been going on and in which different guilds struggled in defining aromatics as either drugs, perfumes or spices (Dugan 130).

 

Apart from its popular history during the sixteenth and seventeenth century, perfume was still very successful in the eighteenth century. Everything that could hold a scent, from garters and gloves to wigs and powder, was perfumed. ()Cosmetics produced by the guild of maîtres gantiers-parfumeurs in France were imported to Britain in large quantities. In England, perfume was also produced by perfumers and hairdressers. (Festa 30) In the eighteenth century, they were produced in a variety of consistencies: alcohol-based, oil-based, water-based and wax-based. Perfumes consist of three different notes, the top or head note, the middle or heart note and the base note and seventeenth, as well as eighteenth century perfumes fell into two different categories, floral and musky. There was little difference between men’s and women’s scents. (http://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/)

 

 

 

1) Spectator. London, 7 April 1711. Issue XXXIII.

On the one hand, the advertisement shows the importance of perfumes as a luxury good to scent textiles, especially, handkerchiefs and gloves. On the other hand it reveals that perfumes were also used as medicines in order to cure “Diseases of the Head and Brain”. They were also used to perfume rooms.

 

 

 

3. Uses of Perfume: Eighteenth century recipes and manuals

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Apart from being used in religious ceremonies, perfumes were primarily used for two different purposes. On the one hand, they played an important role in personal hygiene and beauty rituals and on the other hand they were used for general hygienic and medical purposes.

 

Lynn Festa notes that “[a]lthough eighteenth-century recipe books were addressed to individual readers as well as to professional chemists (suggesting that domestic production persisted well into the century), advertisements show prepared products became readily available in France and Britain alike” (30). In his manual The French Perfumer, Simon Barbe gives a detailed account of “[t]eaching the several ways of Extracting the Odours of Drugs and Flowers, and Making all the Compositions of Perfumes for Powder, Wash-balls, Essences, Oyls, Wax, Pomatum, Paste, Queen of Hungary’s Rosa Solis, and other Sweet Waters” and so on (Barbe, front page). His Treatise is not designed for professional perfumers but for “the Publick Good” (Barbe, Preface A3). However, in his Preface which contains an address to the reader, Barbe reveals that perfume making at home might also be affordable for poor people since it only requires “leisure enough to gather flowers at . . . Country Seats” and the people may consequently “save the Expence of buying them [perfumes] at Extravagant Rates in Shops” (Ibid.). Interestingly, he also addresses “those who are read in the Holy Scriptures” and says that even those people cannot disapprove of his book since “there was in the Old Testament an Altar whereon they burnt nothing else but Perfumes” and it is explicitly written in the Bible “that God delighted in Sweet Smells” (Ibid.) Barbe’s preface shows that perfumes were used for different purposes during the eighteenth century (for religious uses see below). However, although they were also used in church services, the perfume’s predominant importance seems to have been the usage as a beauty product. He sees the perfumes’ esteem in his days as diverting kings and high classes and advertises his book as a means to “imitate these great Persons” (Ibid).

 

The following recipe is taken from Barbe’s manual:

 

Essence of strong Orange, or of small Grain

Put what quantity you please of small Oranges, not too ripe, in a cold Still with Water, let it distil in a Glass botele long-necked, let it rest a while, the Essence will swim over, take it out of the Water, and keep it in Viols well stopt.

You wil know the Treatise of distilling Waters, how to order your Alembick. (Barbe 50 f.)

2) Barbe, Simon. The French Perfumer. Printed for Sam. Buckley. London, 1696.

Although published shortly before the beginning of the eighteenth century, the manual gives detailed descriptions and explanations of the characteristics of different scents and contains numerous recipes for the production of perfumes, powders, etc.

 

3) Barbe, Simon. “Essence of Strong Orange.” The French Perfumer. p. 51 f.

 

Perfumes were also used for general hygienic purposes since the excessive use of perfume originated in medical discourses from the medieval period which saw stink as a sign and medium of disease (Brant 446). The nowadays obsolete definition of a perfumer as a “person employed fumigate or perfume rooms” was still valid in the eighteenth century when it was common to perfume rooms in order to disinfect the air. Rooms were fumigated by means of an incense burner or perfume burner in which a small piece of incense was burned by placing it on top of a heat source. Such incense burners were also used in religious rituals in which scents have always played an important role.

 

 

4) Perfume Burner, ca. 1760. London, England. Designed by James Stuart, made by Diederich Nicolaus Anderson.

 

The role of perfumes as a hygiene product is mentioned in several other accounts as well. Mariana Starke, an Englishwoman who travelled through Italy in 1797, pointed out the necessity of being especially careful when it comes to cleanliness while one travels to the continent. She stresses the necessity of bringing one's own sheets, pillows and blankets. Once arrives at a guesthouse, Starke suggests that "[f]our or five drops of strong oil of lavender distributed about a bed, will drive away either bugs or fleas for the night" (Starke 266). This kind of "sympathetic magic" which recommended using strong smells in order to neutralize other strong smells (evoked by bedbugs for example) was often recommended in manuals (Sarasohn 520). Starke was not alone in her disgust for bugs and fleas since people in the eighteenth century showed a rising awareness towards problems with insects. Being bitten was no longer a fact of life but a sign of uncleanliness (Ibid. 513). They had a particular aversion against bedbugs since they “elicited horror as a newly-recognized pest which breached the bodies and bedrooms of its eighteenth-century hosts” (Ibid. 513). Hence, an abundance of literature was written on how to get rid of bugs, practices which often involved the usage of perfumes, either liquid or provoked by the burning of different substances. The Universal Family Book from 1703 for example recommended mixing different ingredients and burn them in order to provoke a strong scent that would kill the bugs (Ibid. 520).

 

 

 

4. Perfume, Society and Gender

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When thinking about the role of perfume for society it is important to acknowledge the cultural meanings and functions of smell. The “suppression of foul smells and promotion of fragrance was an important part of bourgeois hegemony” (Brant 444). The process took place on two levels: the one of public life including works of sanitation as well as the level of private life including personal practices of deodorizing. The two levels were connected through social conventions of cleansing, bathing and perfuming spaces and bodies (Ibid. 444). Lisa Sarasohn sees evidence of this social control in the “perceived evil odor of bedbugs” which became a cultural marker for early modern men and women who wanted to distinguish themselves from the lower classes, foreigners or other outside groups (Sarasohn 516). Perfume was an important means in covering up bodily odours and since it was mostly used by the higher classes because of its status as a luxury good, it served to distinguish them from the odiferous lower classes.

 

Apart from the distinction of higher and lower classes, the use of perfume also played a very specific role in determining gender relations in the eighteenth century. Brian Moeran for example sees the emergence of the bourgeoisie as the starting point for the gendering of perfume. An event that decisively influenced this process in West Europe was the French Revolution which lead to the spreading of luxury products such as perfumed soaps from the court to the new bourgeois class. Although the impact of this development was mostly to be seen in the nineteenth century, it already influenced attitudes in the eighteenth century. As Moeran puts it:

 

For the bourgeois man, luxury was no longer a sign of aristocratic indolence but one of his own useful labour. He transformed the private sphere of his home, together with his wife or mistress, into a display of luxury and wealth. As a result, fragrance came to be used primarily by women, rather than by both men and women as hitherto. The bourgeois woman’s colourful clothes, made-up face, floral perfumes and the décor of her sumptuous apartment revealed her as a feminised object of display. (Moeran 4)

 

This development continued during the nineteenth century when the “bath itself became a space of women’s privacy and intimacy, and the bathroom thus a site of men’s voyeuristic fantasies about women’s sensuality and nakedness”. (Moeran 4 f.) Although perfume in the eighteenth century was still used by men and women alike there are several indications that perfume gradually became gendered as a feminine object.

 

The most popular perfume in the late eighteenth century was called Olympian Dew or Grecian Bloom Water (Brant 463). It is telling that this perfume was so popular since the advertisement below shows that it was specifically advertised to a female patronage (of the nobility and gentry), respectively for the use by women. The advertisement promises to lighten the complexion because one of the prevailing ideals of beauty was fair skin. Other “imperfections” of the skin such as “wrinkles, tan, pimples, redness, and freckles” should be removed entirely by the use of Olympian Dew. The advertisement shows that perfume was connected to ideals of beauty that especially women had to live up to.

 

5) Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser. London 29 Jun. 1781. Issue 3781.

 

The impact that Olympian Dew had on the beauty standards of eighteenth century life cannot be stressed enough. The importance of the perfume can be seen in George Crabbe’s poem The Newspaper from 1785 in which Crabbe mocks advertisements for Olympian Dew such as the one analysed above (Gamble 512). However, Crabbe’s poem reveals that in reality the use of perfume was a lot more complex than simply labelling perfumes as "something for women". As has been stated, perfume was used by men and women alike and Brant points out that in fact “perfume was also reviled because it crossed gender lines” (459). The following extract from the poem shows that perfumery was not regarded as a proper profession for men. The juxtaposition of the “simple barber, once an honest name” and the “gay perfumer . . . on whose soft cheek his own cosmetic blooms” suggests that perfume and perfumery had the connotation of femininity. In his parody of the advertisement, he also only mentions the female audience the advert should attract:

 

George Crabbe The Newspaper (1785)

 

The simple barber, once an honest name,

Cervantes founded, Fielding raised his fame:

Barber no more; a gay perfumer comes,

On whose soft cheek his own cosmetic blooms;

Here he appears, each simple mind to move,

And advertises beauty, grace, and love.

“Come, faded belles, who would your youth renew,

And learn the wonders of Olympian Dew;

Restore the roses that begin to faint,

Nor think celestial washes vulgar paint;

Your former features, airs, and arts assume,

Circassian virtues, with Circassian bloom.” (Crabbe 166 f.)

 

6) Crabbe, George. The Newspaper.  Poems by the Rev. George Crabbe, LL. B. [Six lines in Latin from Lucan].

 

Another indication for the connotation of perfume blurring gender lines can be seen in the following poem “by a fashionable young lady” (Brant 459). The poem shows how perfumes “were used to blend gender essences and question sexual identity” (Brant 459). It is interesting that the man referred to in the poem is a major, thus stressing that he has a profession that was exclusively practiced by men. However, regardless of this fact, the excessive use of perfume feminises him.

 

But see the MAJOR comes up to me,

(Sure the dear man would undo me!)

Gales of perfume tell him near;

The air’s in love with him, my dear,

For his soft form she embraces,

Even at all public places,

And steals from him, and scatters round him,

Scents with airy sweet abounding! (Letter XII, 102)

 

Ultimately, the simple fact that it was common for women of higher social standing to receive a vanity set containing perfume flacons as a wedding gift shows that perfumes were regarded as feminine objects (see pictures below). (http://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/) 

 

 

 

7)   8)

 

7) Enamelled Vanity Case, Staffordshire, 18th Century. Agate Vanity Case, Gold mounted, Border inscription in French "Nothing is Too Good for the Loved One." English, c. 1750.

8) Lapis Perfume Bottle, mounted in Gold, French, 19th Century. Mother of Pearl and Gold Vanity Case, completely fitted, English, c. 1770. Perfume Bottle, petrified wood and gold, English, 19th Century.

9) Perfume Vase and Cover. Derby Porcelain Factory, England. 1770-1774.

 

 

 

5. Perfume, Masquerade and Deception

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The function of perfume has always been one of masking, of covering up both human and environmental odours:

 

Perfume added one more layer to the linen undergarments and silk coverings that made the body beautiful (and clean). Even today, in our age of soaps and detergents, deodorants and antiperspirants, plumbing and mains sewerage systems, masking remains one of the primary functions of fragrance. To smell clean is to be clean. (Moeran 3)

 

The use of perfume as a "mask" is closely related to the use of other cosmetics as well as clothes for the purpose of masquerade. Masquerade in this sense has most often been associated with women since they were, as the section on gender shows, the intended target audience for the selling of perfumes and cosmetics. One of the most interesting connections that have been established between scents and masquerade can be found in Mary Wollstonecraft’s earliest work Thoughts on the Education of Daughters from 1787. In this treatise, especially in the section "Dress", she analyses the theme of female appearance and its relation to the "true self" of a woman (Wollstonecraft 35-41). Wollstonecraft argues that the mind of a woman is mediated to her surroundings by her physical appearance, the reason why clothing is of critical importance (Alexander 37). In Wollstonecraft’s words: "This [dress] is an exterior accomplishment . . . . The body hides the mind, and it is, in its turn, obscured by the drapery." (Wollstonecraft 35) Clothing should thus be “simple, elegant, and becoming, without being too expensive” and the self should no longer be distorted by the claims of vanity (Ibid. 36). In the following, she extends her treatise on dress to everything that could mask the given physicality of a woman and distort her appearance, including perfumes: "In the article on dress may be included the whole tribe of beauty washes, cosmetics, Olympian dew, oriental herbs, liquid bloom, and the paint which enlivened Ninon’s face, and bid defiance to time." (Ibid. 38) For Wollstonecraft, the reliance on perfume, cosmetics and "glaring" dresses is nothing else than deception which could even be dangerous for the woman because "if caught by it a man marries a woman thus disguised, he may chance not be satisfied with her real person" (Ibid. 39). Thoughts on the Education of Daughters reflects the contemporary anxiety with female appearance, the female body and "its possible deceptions entrapping the vulnerable sexuality of the male, found in the claims of propriety and ideal means of fixing woman" (Alexander 38).

 

Another reflection of this anxiety and one of the most peculiar proves of how important the issue of masquerade and perfume was in the eighteenth century is the enduring myth surrounding a bill that was supposedly raised by the House of Commons and introduced in the English parliament in 1770. It contained the following provisions:

 

[A]ll women of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins, maids or widows, that shall, from and after such Act, impose upon, seduce, and betray into matrimony, any of his Majesty’s male subjects by the scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, etc., shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanours, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void. (quoted in: Hughes 29)

 

Various secondary sources refer to this act claiming that it had been raised in parliament and either been turned down or passed into law. However, no evidence can be found in any records of parliamentary debates that the bill had indeed existed. Nonetheless, even the emergence of the myth is telling since it reflects the obvious concern with deception by the means of perfume, cosmetic and clothes that is evident in many other eighteenth century sources.

 

Apart from historical treatises on behaviour such as Mary Wollstonecraft’s treatise, the theme of masquerade and deception by means of perfume has also been dealt with in many literary texts such as Jonathan Swift’s poem The Lady’s Dressing Room from 1732. The following excerpts from the poem deal with the theme of perfume covering up disgusting human bodily odours. In this text, it is a prostitute who deceives an "innocent" man by the use of perfume, make-up, etc. until he explores her room and finds out about all the artificial things she uses to mask her "unsavory steams". However, the man subsequently links every woman he sees with this experience, stating that they all try to cover up their rise from "stinking ooze":

 

Jonathan Swift The Lady’s Dressing Room (1732)

. . .

A Paste of Composition rare,

Sweat, Dandruff, Powder, Lead and Hair.

A Forehead-Cloath with Oyl upon’t,

To smooth the Wrinkles on her Front;

Here Alum flower to stop the Steams,

Exhal'd from sour unsavoury Streams,

There Night-Gloves made of Tripsey’s Hide,

Bequeath'd by Tripsey when she died,

With Puppy-Water, Beauty’s help,

Distilled from Tripsey’s darling Whelp.

Here Gally-pots and Vials plac't,

Some fill'd with Washes, some with Paste;

Some with Pomatums, Paints, and Slops,

And Ointments good for scabby Chops. (4)

. . .

So things, which must not be exprest,

When Plumpt into the reeking Chest,

Send up an excremental Smell,

To taint the Part from whence they fell,

The Pettycoats and Gown perfume,

Which waft a Stink round ev'ry Room. (7)

. . .

His foul imagination links

Each Dame he sees with all her Stinks,

And, if unsavory Odours fly,

Conceives a lady standing by.

All women his Description fits,

And both Ideas jump like Wits,

But vicious Fancy coupled fast,

And still appearing in Contrast. (7 f.)

 

I pity wretched Strephon, blind

To all the charms of Female Kind.

Should I the Queen of Love refuse,

Because she rose from stinking Ooze? (8)

. . .

 

Swift’s poem shows the male preoccupation with female sexuality and the anxiety that they could betray men by the use of perfume and cosmetics. The poem also reveals how hygiene standards shifted during the eighteenth century and that a good smell (evoked by the use of perfume) was not any longer a sign for cleanliness but for the covering up of a bad smell.

 

Equally, although expressed in a positive manner, the following poem On A Perfume Taken out of a Young Ladie’s Bosom which was published in 1696 by John Oldmixon shows that contemporary opinion held that perfume should not be used since it masked the natural scent and beauty of a woman.

 

John Oldmixon ON A PERFUME Taken out of a Young Ladie's Bosom (1696)

 

1 Begon! Bold Rival from my Fair,

2 Thou hast no Plea for Business there;

3 'Twere needless where the Lilly grows,

4 To add Perfumes, or to the Rose;

5 Faint are the Sweets which thou canst give,

6 To those which in her Bosom Live;

7 Thence tender Wishes, Amorous Sighs,

8 Love's Breath, the richest Odours rise.

9 Not all the Spices of the East ,

10 Nor Indian Grove nor Phænix Nest,

11 Send forth an Odour to compare

12 With what we find to please, us there

13 Where Nature has been so profuse,

14 Thy little Arts are of no use.

15 Thou canst not add a grace to her,

16 She's all Perfection every where.

17 Speak sawcy thing, for I will know

18 How much to her, and me you owe.

19 Whence comes this sweetness so Divine?

20 Speak, is it hers, or is it thine?

21 Ha! Varlet, by the fragrant smell

22 'Tis her's, all her's, I know it well;

23 I know you rob'd Olivia 's Store,

24 But hence! For you shall steal no more.

25 Be gone! She has no room for thee,

26 Olivia 's bosom must be free,

27 For nothing but for Love and me.

 

In a different manner, the theme of masquerade in connection with perfume appears in Charles Johnson’s play Love in a Chest from 1710 which, together with The Force of Friendship, formed part of the same play. In Act II, Scene I of the farce, Theresa’s lover Sebastian visits her in the disguise of a perfume women and one act later, Faschinetti also disguises himself as a perfume woman in order to come close to his beloved Theresa. The masks again establish a link between women and the use of perfume on the one hand and the notion of perfume masking something on the other hand.

 

Charles Johnson Love in a Chest, A Farce (1710)

ACT II.

SCENE I.

. . .
Enter Fant. Conducting in Sebastian in the Habit of a Perfume Woman.

Fant.

Here's a Woman wou'd sell your Ladyship some Perfumes or Essence---

. . .

Fas.

Consider a little Faschinetti, let me see, To make sure work, I will first discover this

Sebastian and his intrigue with Theresa to the Cardinal, so I shall increase my Credit with

him for a good Spy, and get my Rival bolted out; besides, my Person is not safe while that

interloping Rascal appears---Od I am a happy Dog--- But how shall I appear, in what

shape---Od I'll be a Perfume Woman too, that's a shape I know she likes--- I'll endeavour

to be as Jolly, as frolic, and as young as Sebastian.

[Exit.]

 

ACT III.

SCENE I.

 

SCENE Theresa's Apartment.

Enter Theresa.

Ther.

This old Baboon of mine Faschinetti, may be properly said to suffer Love; He is indeed

Possess'd, he shou'd be Dieted and Blooded; but since I have undertaken to be his Doctress,

I'll use a method as certain, tho' not so regular; I'll make him forswear Caterwawling---

 

Enter Faschinetti as a Perfume Woman. 

 

Fas.

Please your Ladyship to buy any Perfumes, Essences, Cream Washes, Powder, Complexion,

White, or Red, Pomatums, Rosa solis, May Dew, Ratifia, Saffron, Citron, Cinamon, Lemon

Waters, or cold Tea, Paste for your Hands, or Pencils for your Brows.

Ther. (Aside.)

This dry headed old Fool cou'd think of nothing but the Perfume Woman.

Fas.

Od this looks likes business, this is Intrigueing, Come Dear pretty Rogue, let me Ravish one

little Kiss.

Ther.

This violent Love Faschinetti is too furious to hold; this Habit too methinks makes you look

a little odd.

Fas.

Aye I am in Masquerade---Shall I Poison my Blouse, hah---Wou't thou be my Wife---Od my

Blood is on Fire; Come Terry, come, nay you promis'd so you did; Smile upon me---look a

little Roguish now with those lovely Black wanton sparkling Eyes,--- Put on a little dimpling

Smile

(Sings)

Gad I'll Ravish, 'tis impossible to hold any longer.

. . .

 

 

 

Annotated Bibliography

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Primary Sources

Anon (Advertisement). Spectator. London, 7 April 1711. Web. Historical Texts. 2 Mar. 2015.

The advertisement reveals the various uses of perfume as a cosmetic, as well as a medical product.

 

Barbe, Simon. The French Perfumer. London: Printed for Sam. Buckley, 1696. Web. Historical Texts. 2 Mar. 2015.

This source is especially interesting since it shows the imprtance of perfume as a luxury product for all classes as well as providing innumerable recipes for the production of perfumes at home.

 

Crabbe, George. The Newspaper.  Poems by the Rev. George Crabbe, LL. B. [Six lines in Latin from Lucan]. New York: Published by Inskeep & Bradford. Printed by Robert Carr., 1808. Web. Early American Imprints Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, 1801-1819. 2 Mar. 2015.

Crabbe's poem reflects the impact that perfume, especially the most popular perfume Olympian Dew, had on eighteenth century society. It also shows how perfume became gendered as a feminine object.

 

Johnson, Charles. Love in a Chest, A Farce. The Force of Friendship. A tragedy. As it is Acted at The Queen's Theatre in the Hay-Market. By Her Majesty's Servants. To which is Added, a farce call'd Love in a Chest. London: Printed for Egbert Sanger, 1710. Web. Literature Online. 6 Mar. 2015.

On the one hand, this drama shows how common the profession of perfumer (respectively perfume woman) was in the eighteenth century. It also establishes a relationship between perfume and masquerade.

 

“Letter XII: Miss Kitty R. to Miss Sally F”. Modern Manners: in a Series of Familiar Epistles. London, 1781: 100-107. Web. Historical Texts. 3 Mar. 2015.

This source was helpful in understanding the impact that perfume had on the notion of gender and how perfume could be used in order to blend gender essences.

 

Oldmixon, John. ON A PERFUME Taken out of a Young Ladie's Bosom. Poems on Several Occasions, Written in imitation of the manner of Anacreon, with Other Poems, Letters and Translations. London: Printed for R. Parker, 1696. Web. Literature Online. 6 Mar. 2015.

This poem takes up the idea of perfume covering natural human smells. Surprisingly and in contrast to many other eighteenth century texts, it presented bodily odours in a very positive manner and not as something disgusting.

 

Sharp (Advertisement). For Ladies: Olympian Dew. London, 29 Jun. 1781. Web. Historical Texts. 2 Mar. 2015.

The advertisement reveals several ideals of beauty that prevailed during the eighteenth century and shows how advertisements for perfumes were addressed to women rather than to men.

 

Starke, Mariana. Letters from Italy, between the years 1792 and 1798, containing a view of the Revolutions in that country, from the capture of Nice by the French Republic to the expulsion of Pius VI. from the ecclesiastical state, etc. London: Printed by T. Gillet, for R. Phillips, 1800. Web. Historical Texts. 3 Mar. 2015.

Starke's account reveals how perfumes were used for hygienic purposes.

 

Swift, Jonathan. The Lady’s Dressing Room. 3rd Edition. Dublin: Printed and sold by George Faulkner, 1732. Web. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. 10 Mar. 2015.

This poem shows how perfumes were used in order to cover bodily odours. In this respect, it also reveals how perfume was regarded as something negative because it served the purpose of deception.

 

Wollstonecraft, Mary. Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1787. Web. Historical Texts. 6 Mar. 2015.

Wollstonecraft's text stresses the deceiving properties of perfumes and cosmetics, too and gives an interesting reflection of contemporary views on perfume.

 

Secondary Sources

Brant, Clare. “Fume and Perfume: Some Eighteenth-Century Uses of Smell.” The Journal of British Studies 43.4 (2004): 444-463.

 

Carlebach, Julius. “Flashback: Four Thousand Years of Cosmetics.” Collectors Weekly. Market Street Media LLC, 16 Apr. 2009.

<http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/four-thousand-years-of-cosmetics/> 22 Dec. 2014.

 

Festa, Lynn. “Cosmetic Differences: The Changing Faces of England and France.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 34 (2005): 25-54.

 

Hughes, Kerry. The Incense Bible: Plant Scents that Transcend World Culture, Medicine, and Spirituality. New York: Routledge, 2014.

 

“I’ve been Scent from the Past: 17th and 18th Century Perfumes.” The Pragmatic Costumer: Historical Costuming for the Rest of Us. n.p. 2 Jul. 2013.  < http://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/ive-been-scent-from-the-past-17th-and-18th-century-perfumes/> 22 Dec. 2014.

 

Meena, Alexander. Women in Romanticism: Mary Wollstonecraft, Dorothy Wordsworth, and Mary Shelley. Savage (U.S.): Barnes & Noble Books, 1989.

 

Moeran, Brian. “Fragrance and Perfume in West Europe.” Creative Encounters Working Paper No. 23. Frederiksberg, 2009. 14 p.

<http://www.google.de/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2%2Fopenarchive.cbs.dk%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F10398%2F7772%2FCreative%2520Encounters%2520Working%2520Papers%252023.pdf%3Fsequence%3D1&ei=KRaYVOCvA8a3UZ2lgLgL& usg=AFQjCNEyc4UQDWXCLcV7VRSAItJ5G8O5vw& bvb=bv.82001339,d.d24> 22 Dec. 2014.

 

Sarasohn, Lisa T. “‘That Nauseous Venomous Insect’: Bedbugs in Early Modern England.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 46.4 (2013): 513-530.

 

Wieland, Melanie. “Warum parfümierten sich Menschen früher, statt sich zu waschen?” Planet Wissen. WDR / SWR / ARD-alpha 2014, 30 Sep. 2014.

<https://www.planet-wissen.de/alltag_gesundheit/sauberkeit/hygiene/wissensfrage.jsp> 22 Dec. 2014.

 

Pictures

1) Payn’s Toyshop (Advertisement). Spectator. London, 7 Apr. 1711. Web. Historical Texts. 2 Mar. 2015.

 

2) Barbe, Simon. The French Perfumer. London: Printed for Sam. Buckley, 1696. Web. Historical Texts. 2 Mar. 2015.

 

3) Barbe, Simon. “Essence of Strong Orange.” The French Perfumer. London: Printed for Sam. Buckley, 1696. p. 51 f.

 

4) Stuart James, and Diederich Nicolaus Anderson. Perfume Burner. London, ca. 1760. Web. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 8 Mar. 2015.

 

5) Sharp (Advertisement). “For Ladies: Olympian Dew.” Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser. London, 29 Jun. 1781. Web. Historical Texts. 2 Mar. 2015.

 

6) Crabbe, George. The Newspaper.  Poems by the Rev. George Crabbe, LL. B. [Six lines in Latin from Lucan] (1808). Web. Early American Imprints. 2 Mar. 2015.

 

7) Anon. Enamelled Vanity Case, Staffordshire, 18th Century. Agate Vanity Case, Gold mounted, Border inscription in French "Nothing is Too Good for the Loved One." English, c. 1750.

<http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/four-thousand-years-of-cosmetics/> 2 Mar. 2015.

 

8) Anon. Lapis Perfume Bottle, mounted in Gold, French, 19th Century. Mother of Pearl and Gold Vanity Case, completely fitted, English, c. 1770. Perfume Bottle, petrified wood and gold, English, 19th Century.

<http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/four-thousand-years-of-cosmetics/> 2 Mar. 2015.

 

9) Derby Porcelain Factory, England. Perfume Vase and Cover. 1770-1774. Web. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. 8 Mar. 2015.