A new foundation, sir, here in the town, of ladies, that call themselves the collegiates, an order between courtiers and country-madams, that live from their husbands; and give entertainment to all the wits, and braveries of the time, as they call them: cry down, or up, what they like or dislike in a brain or a fashion, with most masculine, or rather Hermaphroditical authority; and every day gain to their college some new probationer.
"Epicoene Or, The Silent Woman"
Ben Jonson