fame purpofe. Among the various improvements fuggefted, we meet the following in regard to the conftitution of the houfe of peers. As the house of lords are constituted on an idea of wisdom, impartiality, and juftice; and dignity, that is, independence, is the very foundation of this principle, if one might prefume to fuggeft an improvement in the houfe of lords, it fhould be, not to leffen their dignity, by diminishing or limiting the number of their members, but to increafe their dignity, by res quiring in them, or, at least, in all new-made peers, a qualification fo ample, that their own poffeffions fhould give a fecurity against corruption, and infure in them a common intereft with the community; an idea which is the foundation of that virtue, or principle, on which the houfe of commons also is founded. From the bishops, indeed, no qualification can be required; as they hold their feats by virtue of their ancient fpiritual territories, called, under the Saxons, frank-almoign, or free alms; changed, by William the Conqueror, into the feodal or Norman tenure by barony; and the rather too, as they hold their honours but for life. Reftore the dignity of the ancient barons, and the houfe of peers will, in fome measure, be restored to their ancient weight in the fcale of government. If a qualification be requifite in the members of the lower houfe of parliament, is it not ftrange no qualification should be required in the members of the higheft; and especially, when (to repeat what is faid before) their territories, which are to give them dignity, are the very foundation of the prin ciple of their conftitution? Should a peer be fo indifcreet as to. reduce his fortune, and become dependent, he ought to be de-. graded. A ftate of dependence is inconfiftent with the dignity. which is required in a peer of Great Britain. Whenever it fhall happen, that men in diftreffed circumstances fhall make a part of the British peerage, undoubtedly the equilibrium of power would be endangered, Contrary to their inftitution, it would invite, what of ali other things ought to be avoided, ill-defigning parties, faction, and their concomitant corruption. Whereas, the opulence and dignity of the peers of Great Britain fhould be fuch as to preclude, as far as human provifions can preclude, both faction and corruption; or, in the language of fir William Blackstone, their fubfervience to either of the other branches of the legislature, As the law pays that regard to the word, or honour, as it is called, of a peer, as to elteem it equal to another man's oath, so his actions should have that refpect paid to them, as not even to be fufpected.' On the whole, the author of this Effay has taken an extenfive view of the polity of England, and collected a variety of obfervations, as well as made several remarks of his own, on this fruitful and interefting fubject. The grand fpecific which he, like every other writer who has treated of political evils, U 3 from from the days of Ariftotle to the prefent time, propofes, is to extinguish corruption in the affairs of government. That this would prove a remedy for all public grievances, is univerfally acknowledged; and the only question is, the moft fuccefsful means of accomplishing this defirable purpose. Dialogues concerning the Ladies. To which is added an Essay on the Antient Amazons. Small 8vo. 3s. fewed. Cadell. Dialogue is a mode of compofition facred from its antiquity; entertaining as well as inftructive, from its employing a variety of interlocutors of different manners, ftyle, and purfuits. It was once cultivated with peculiar care, and the perfons introduced were the most refpectable, for the different qualifications which the author intended to recommend or enforce. Precepts from fuch inftructors came with additional energy. This was the opinion of Cicero: we have not introduced Tithonus as a speaker,' says he, in his introduction to the Dialogue on Old Age, for there would be little weight in a fabulous perfonage; but Marcus Cato, already grown old, that the argument may be enforced with greater authority. We introduce Lælius and Scipio, at his houfe, furprifed that he bears his age fo eafily, and Cato anfwering them. feems to contend with more learning than we perceive in his writings, you will attribute it to the Grecian literature, which, in his advanced life, he was very eager to attain.' In the Dialogue on Friendship,' he has introduced the speakers ftill more artificially, and feems almoft to relate a converfation which had formerly paffed; though there is more than one hint, that the greater part of it is his own. This kind of discourse, fays he, which refls on the authority of our anceflors, especially thofe which were illuftrious, has, fomehow, more weight.' In our own time, this ancient form has been revived with fingular fuccefs by Dr. Hurd. Perhaps there is no work more claffical in any modern language; nor any, finçe the days of Plato, more valuable for the judgment of the precepts, and the fimple energy of the ftyle. All thefe works recurred to our mind on reading the title of that before us. The learned reader will therefore judge of our difappointment and difguft, when we perceived the moft trifling difcourfe, between the perfonages of a modern novel, in language that, fo far from arifing to elegance, fometimes creeps in the lowest colloquial train. Authors are often injudicious, in forcing a comparifon on their readers minds, which must be ultimately difadvantageous to their works: perhaps, if we had not been foon difguited with the fubftance, we might have thought the lan guage guage neat and clear; the anecdotes at leaft entertaining. But our readers fhall judge for themfelves. Mr. Percival. Such a female character will certainly be a great improvement of your company, and especially to me; for I can truly fay, with Montaigne, that "the conversation of beautiful and well-bred women is to me a moft fweet commerce." I do, however, fometimes meet with ladies, whom, I confess, I have not gallantry enough to admire. In walking up the park yesterday, about an hour before dinner-time, met Mrs. Stanhope, who has an advantageous perfon, and her dress was very fplendid and attractive. But she is so vain, and fo ignorant, that the impreffions which her figure at fir makes in her favour, are very speedily removed by her extreme frivoloufness and manifeft affectation. Her own perfon, and her own drefs, seem, indeed, to be almost the only objects of her attention. Mr. Wyndham. It has, in former times, been a fubject of debate, whether women ought to be allowed to proceed to great degrees of expence and luxury, with refpect to the decoration of their bodies. The fathers, and particularly St. Jerom, were very fevere in their animadverfions upon the ladies on this head. And I remember, that Bayle gives an account of a controverfy on this fubject, which originated from fome fermons of Timotheus Mapheus, preached at Bologna, in which he had maintained, that women ought to be forbidden all fuperfluity of drefs by a public decree. His eloquence had fo powerful an effect, if not upon the ladies, at leaft upon the magiftrates, that a decree was accordingly iffued against the licentioufnefs of female drefs. The women, however, were not without their advocates on this occafion; and more than one piece was published to fhew, that the ladies fhould have liberty to adorn themfelves, and ought not to be deprived of their ornaments. As to myself, I fhall not inquire, whether a greater licentioufnefs of drefs be not now adopted, even by modeft women, than is in any respect proper or expedient, and fuch as would formerly have been thought characteristic only of women of pleafure: but I will at least ven, ture to fay this, that when fo much pains and expence are employed on the decoration of the body, the mind fhould not be wholly left uncultivated. An elegant drefs, and an agreeable perfon, would be rendered ftill more pleafing by a refined and cultivated understanding.' The anecdotes are chiefly from Ballard's Memoirs of Learned Ladies,' and Millar on the Distinction of Ranks in Society. Indeed, though the learned reader may foon participate in our feelings, there are humbler minds who may And find both inftruction and entertainment in thefe Dialogues. But, even as modern performances, there is not fufficient difcrimination of character and ftyle *. The account of the Antient Amazons is taken from Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Juftin, Plutarch, &c. Every part of this defcription refembles a true ftory, heightened by a romantic imagination: even Plutarch allows, that great deductions should be made from the general relation, to reconcile it with truth. Female warriors were not indeed uncommon in antient times; and they feem to have been unusually frequent in Scythia, from whence fome of them probably emigrated into Africa. Every thing elfe is fable and uncertainty; but we did not fufpect, at this period, that any one believed them to have been deprived of their right breast, in order that they might more conveniently ufe the right arm. It is indeed mentioned by Herodotus, from whom it feems to have been copied by fubfequent authors; but it is not fupported by the general confent of antiquity: the poets, who most frequently introduce them, have given a very different teftimony. Virgil describes the drefs of Penthefilæa in the following manner; • Aurea fubnectens exerta cingula mammæ Bellatrix.' In thefe lines exerta' has been always rendered cut off, without the fhadow of an authority. • Dentes exerti,' in Pliny, means teeth not covered with the jaw; exerti enses,' in Ovid, drawn fwords. Even Virgil ufes exerta papilla' on a very different occafion. It is evident therefore that, in this paffage, the breaft is only reprefented uncovered. Claudian, in his panegyric on the confulfhip of Probinus and Olybrius, defcribes Rome emulating Minerva. Dextram nuda latus niveos exerta lacertos In this inftance, to conquer the Parthians,' or 'reftrain the Hydaipe,' fhe must have cut off her arms, if this be the meaning of exerta. We could accumulate quotations, to fhow, that in fculpture and poetry, the Amazons were never represented in this manner, but with the right breaft naked. We fhall * May we venture to fuggeft a plan, which arose frour our perufal of this work? Female Dialogues may be probably written fo as to afford great inftruction. Suppofe, for inftance, one between mifs Carter, lady Millar, and Mrs. Macaulay Graham, on female drefs, and the relative importance of ornaments and intellectual acquifitions Another between Madame de Chatelet and Mrs. Montague, on the merits of Shakspeare.— Another, between Mrs. Chapone and Mifs Seward, on the different female accompliments. A work of this kind, if well executed, would probably be very fuccefsful. how however, only tranfcribe the following paffages from Propertius, and the abbè Winkelman. Turba.' Again, Amazonidum nudatis bellica mammis Felis Hyppolite nudâ tulit arma papilla.' Book iv. Eleg. 3. The abbé tells us Parmi les figures ideales, nous ne voyons que les Amazones avec de groffes & d'amples mammelles; auffi comme elles reprefent des femmes, & non des filles, le bout de leur fein eft vifible." Hiftoire de l'Art de l'Antiquité, tom. ii. p. 151.* ་ The Obferver. Svo. 65. Dilly. UNDER this title, the author has collected fome mifcellaneous effays; and they are published in a volume, though they have never appeared in a detached form. We need not enquire into the difadvantages which would have arifen from a different plan: if the materials are good, it is of little confequence whether they are compreffed in a fingle dish, or more oftentatiously displayed, with all the fplendor of a modern entertainment. Our author himself recommends, that we fhould praise without comparifon,' if we praise at all; fo that we are excluded from afcertaining his rank in the proces fion of different journalists, or enquiring in what he may be fuppofed an imitator, or where he would rife to the dignity of an original. If we confider then this collection of papers, without referring to the labours of others in the fame walk, we should pronounce them neither void of entertainment or inftruction. The author's lucubrations are on subjects frequently peculiar to himfelf, and his reading has been often at a diftance from the ufual tracts. His pictures of life and manners are not diftinguished by the vivacity of an original obferver, but feem rather the fictions of the clofet: and fometimes the recollection of others' defcriptions appears to have been the fource from whence he has drawn a fcene, rather than invention. The farrago libelli,' as ufual in fuch circumstances, confifts of various fubjects. The only attempt at a new character, or rather a new drawing, is in that of the Dampers; and it is executed with fpirit and juftnefs. The fpecies of this race are well known: they are the enemies of vivacity, and the checks of mirth; they filence the fprightly jeft by an illtimed question, and blaft the harmless fmile by the fcrutinizing brow of fufpicion, or the fneer of malice. For the particular traits, |