Moliere's play, Les Femmes savantes, which appeared in 1672, is one of the first indications.

In 1686 Fontenelle published his Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, in which a savant explains the new astronomy to a lady in the park of a country house.

[Footnote: The Marquise of the Plurality of Worlds is supposed to be Madame de la Mesangere, who lived near Rouen, Fontenelle's birthplace.

He was a friend and a frequent visitor at her chateau.

See Maigron, Fontenelle, p.42.The English translation of 1688 was by Glanvill.