E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Atos’sa.
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, so called by Pope, because she was the friend of Lady Mary Wortley Montague, whom he calls Sappho. Herod’otus says that Atossa, the mother of Xerxes, was a follower of Sappho.
