talent of divination though I am at present the only one of my sex who
seems to be of that opinion, the ladies having shown their zeal and
appetite for knowledge in a most glorious manner. At the last warm
debate in the House of Lords, it was unanimously resolved there should
be no crowd of unnecessary auditors; consequently the fair sex were
excluded, and the gallery destined to the sole use of the House of
Commons. Notwithstanding which determination, a tribe of dames resolved
to show on this occasion that neither men nor laws could resist them.
These heroines were Lady Huntingdon, the Duchess of Queensberry, the
Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Westmorland, Lady Cobham, Lady Charlotte
Edwin, Lady Archibald Hamilton and her daughter, Mrs. Scott, and Mrs.
Pendarves, and Lady Frances Saunderson. I am thus particular in their
names, since I look upon them to be the boldest assertors, and most
resigned sufferers for liberty, I ever read of. They presented
themselves at the door at nine o'clock in the morning, where Sir William
Saunderson respectfully informed them that the Chancellor had made an
order against their admittance. The Duchess of Queensberry, as head of
the squadron, pished at the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer, and desired
him to let them upstairs privately. After some modest refusals, he swore
by G--he would not let them in. Her Grace, with a noble warmth,
answered, by G--they would come in in spite of the Chancellor and the
whole House. This being reported, the Peers resolved to starve them out;
an order was made that the doors should not be opened till they had
raised their siege. These Amazons now showed themselves qualified for
the duty of even foot soldiers; they stood there till five in the
afternoon, without either sustenance or evacuation, every now and then
playing volleys of thumps, kicks, and raps against the door, with so
much violence that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. When the
Lords were not to be conquered by this, the two duchesses (very well
apprised of the use of stratagems in war) commanded a dead silence of