Obs. Brief title of a romance [prob. after Bacon’s New Atlantis] satirizing those who had effected the Revolution of 1688 (see first quot.); hence gen. a secret or scandalous history.
1709. Mrs. Manley (title), Secret Memoirs and Manners of several Persons of Quality of both Sexes from the New Atalantis, an Island in the Mediteranean.
1785. R. Cumberland, in Observer, No. 109, ¶ 3. He has a court-atalantis of his own, from which he can favour you with some hints of sly doings amongst the maids of honour.
1789. (title) The Naval Atalantis; or a Display of the Characters of such Flag Officers, [etc.].
