THE LOOKER-ON. N° 51. SATURDAY, MAY 4. Illam quidquid agit, quoque vestigia flectit, TIBULL. Whate'er she does, where'er her steps she bends, Her every act a subtle grace attends; We can't tell how---but when she speaks, it talks; IT was last night considered as an especial favour, that I was permitted to have a seat at the female board, where my mother sits as presidentess. It had been determined on this evening to take into consideration the state of the female nation—a discussion to which they dedicate one sitting in every six months. Miranda, who is my mother's principal secretary, had the chief direction and management in the business of the day; and almost all the motions, petitions, remonstrances, advices, &c. either originated with her, or passed through her hands. I think I never saw her appear with such advantage as upon this occasion. It is a most difficult task for a woman to come forth in the character of a director and manager, and to mix in the more active duties of life, without losing something on the side of delicacy and softness; and it is on this ground, principally, that the men are found to object to any masculine undertakings in the women not because we regard such undertakings with jealousy, as an invasion of our provinces, but because we consider them as leading to the destruction of that amiable and captivating gentleness which constitutes the great ornament of the female mind. Somehow or other, Miranda manages to steer with the nicest precaution in these difficulties: a certain magical grace of manner, a lubricous insinuating softness slides into every action and gesture, and often disappoints their natural effects; so that, attempt what she will, it is all becoming; and say what she please, we cannot find fault. Thus she can do a thousand things which other women dare not, and allow herself a thousand freedoms which would be indecorous and even dangerous in others. Miranda is a little too short, but you hardly know it; and somewhat marked with the small-pox, which you presently forget. She is little under forty, but you would leave twenty-five to follow her; her very blemishes she converts into graces, and infirmities bear a premium in Miranda, and go farther than perfections in another face. She possesses an uncommon power of giving price to trifles, and of decorating mere nothings with the playfulness of her wit, the sprightliness of her allusions, or the importance of her inferences. She will raise a Venus out of the froth of the sea, or from an elephant's tooth produce an ivory statue. Last night she was busily employed in laying before the assembly the different reports, proposals, and requisitions, which had been sent to her, as the secretary, from all quarters. The first paper which was read to us was of a singular nature, considering the chaste assembly to which it was submitted. It was a petition from an association of such of the sex as profess loose love, the keepers of bagnios, &c. praying to be heard against those usurpers of their craft, who, in this great city, had of late years drawn all the trade to themselves;-against those duchesses and countesses who had engrossed, as the petition set forth, all the fashionable custom of the town, by underselling those whose bread depended upon the profits of their business-that the fair traders were reduced to the saddest shifts imaginable, by these smugglers of debauchery-and that one of the most numerous classes of female manufacturers was likely soon to be reduced to throw up their calling, and beg their bread, or to emigrate to other countries, and carry the mysteries of the trade with them - That these interlopers had taken the most ungenerous and illiberal means, and acted in a manner that was calculated to bring scandal upon the profession, in order to attract custom; that they parted with their favours for nothing, only to pilfer in other ways with greater success- -That they had sunk the price of intrigue, only to make it subservient to their gaming plans, that thus the dupes of their caresses might hug themselves in the excellence of their bargains, and cheapness of their pleasures, while a collateral drain was insensibly emptying their pockets. That these petitioners and innocent sufferers entreated the high court of females, assembled under the direction of Madam Olive-branch, that they would back with all their credit another petition which they had in contemplation to present to parliament, by the help of such connections there as they still retained; praying to succeed to those honours and dignities which ought in all reason to be laid down by the 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 vicinity 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 |