said duchesses, countesses, &c. who had taken up a traffic so entirely inconsistent with their quality. In the mean time, if this injured part of the community should, after every resource had failed, be reduced to try that of honesty, they hoped that government would think of some equitable compensation. They would stipulate freely on their parts to give up their rights to the Magdalen and Lock Hospitals, for the use of the disabled duchesses and contrite countesses; but that in lieu of these advantages they expected to succeed to their pews in the churches, and precedency at court-That they would surrender up all their convenient resorts in the vici nity of the playhouses, in the Strand, and in Oxfordroad, on condition of being put into possession of the genteelest squares in the west end of the town-That as the said duchesses and countesses were visibly moulting very fast, and baring their necks and shoulders, the petitioners thought it but just that they should come in for those rejected parts of their dress, especially as their own skins had long been battered by the inclemency of the weather-That if the outline of this proposal met with the approbation of Madam Olive-branch and her ladies, the petitioners would have the honour of stating their plan more in in detail, and submitting it a second time to the judgements of that honourable society. Signed by the different associations of the Sisterhood, met together under the Rose. I am forbid to divulge what was determined by the board as to the merits of this extraordinary petition, as the matter was referred to a secret committee that goes with them under the name of the Court of the Bona Dea. The next question which came before them was on the subject of a proclamation issued by my mo ther last week against a certain seditious volume, published by a female incendiary, called the Rights of Woman, tending most notoriously to inflame the minds of the sex with opinions dangerous to the permanence of the female empire, calculated to destroy all that power and ascendancy which they have hitherto owed to their gentleness of character, and to embroil them in a contest with a superior force, that must inevitably terminate in a most disgraceful defeat. An unanimous vote of thanks to my mother was immediately concluded upon. The paper that now was produced, was of a very extraordinary kind; and as it was the first they had received from any of our sex, there was a debate of some continuance, whether or not it ought to be admitted. At length, however, they decided in the affirmative, after having entered a clause in their journals against its becoming a precedent. It was a petition from a gentleman who stated himself to have turned the corner of thirty, without ever having had the felicity to be really in love, though this had been the leading object of his ambition since he had entered into his fifteenth year. He represented himself to be precisely in the predicament described in a sensible maxim of La Bruyere: "Les hommes souvent veulent aimer, & ne sauroient y reussir; ils cherchent leur défaite, sans pouvoir la rencontrer; & si j'ose ainsi parler, ils sont contraints de demeurer libres." He begged to be indulged with an opportunity of explaining himself more at large to the society, that they might judge whether the fault was in himself or in the sex, and furnish him accordingly with their advice and assistance. He furthermore stated, that for this last fortnight he had felt some unusual pains about the diaphragm and præcordia: butt hat he was somewhat in the case of the King in ... ... 12 51. SOLEMN Synod of females---State of the female world. Miranda's praise ---Various letters, petitions, &c. read---Court of the Bona Dea---Rights of Woman---Dialogue between a mademoiselle and her mistress--Juvenal charged with a libel---Decree of the assembly---Pleasant story of the three Furies 52. Subject of analogy continued---State of probation---Doctrine of fatalism /53. Threatening letter to Simon Olive-branch, on his intended visit to the metropolis--His head as unsafe as the pope's---Denounced by a club of patriots---A new Allegro---Pleasures of the town 54. Story of the Athenian madman---The mad carpenter and the king of Bohemia---Simon Olive-branch enters the metropolis---His surprises--- Universal pregnancy -- Letter from madam Olive-branch---Naked bosoms ---Swelled necks---Advertisement thereon ---Conjuring friend --- Modern improvements---Proclamation of the female synod 32 55. Simon still in the capital---Catalogue of vul ............... gar errors---Character of a polished man-- 24 No. Two characters from Mons. La Bruyere 56. Sentiments on the spring---A London spring ---Epigram---A city spring, the season Passage from baron Von 58. for salmon Lowhen 113 57. Sermon to a clerical congregation---Pulpit 59. The philosophy of the comfortable---Cha- 60. Translation---Specimen of a modern translation of Virgil 61. Same subject---Difficulty and dignity of translation Page. 44 56 66 77 86 97 109 62. Modern sensibility---Grown gentlemen and ladies taught sensibility on mathematical principles---Anecdote of a king of France -Poem on sensibility---Poem on a sick .... 121 infant 53. Thoughts on love---The hereditary complexion of the Olive-branch family---A mysterious pudding --- Mr. Isaac Olivebranch's poetical receipt---Queen Elizabeth and lord Essex---Simon's mother not degenerate---The manner in which love operates on Simon himself---Love's concerns transacted on the Exchange---Clari |