Note 208 — Chapter VII · The Bluestocking Club
Reading edition
An Italian equivalent for bluestocking is unknown to Tomaseo and Bellini. In a pamphlet, entitled Pursuits of Literature, printed in 1797, T. J. Mathias gives the term calza azzurra as though from Ariosto, quoting,
Fortunata la Calza azzurra e d’ oro Si grate a Febo e al santo Aonio coro.
The first line quoted, however, is not by Ariosto at all, but by Mathias himself. Cf. Orlando Furioso, ed. Papini, canto 46, st. 3.