(_For the Mirror._)
Gurdon, in his _Antiquities of Parliaments_, says, "The ladies of
birth and quality sat in council with the Saxon Wita's." "The Abbess Hilda
(says Bede,) presided in an ecclesiastical synod."
"In Wighfred's great council at Beconceld, A.D. 694, the abbesses sat and
deliberated, and five of them signed the decrees of that council along
with the king, bishops, and nobles."
"King Edgar's charter to the Abbey of Crowland, A.D. 961, was with the
consent of the nobles and abbesses, who subscribed the charter."
"In Henry the Third's and Edward the First's time, four abbesses were
summoned to parliament, viz. of Shaftesbury, Berking, St. Mary of
Winchester, and of Wilton."
"In the 35th of Edward III. were summoned by writ to parliament, to appear
there by their proxies, viz. Mary Countess of Norfolk, Alienor Countess of
Ormond, Anna Despenser, Phillippa Countess of March, Johanna Fitz Water,
Agneta Countess of Pembroke, Mary de St. Paul Countess of Pembroke,
Margaret de Roos, Matilda Countess of Oxford, Catherine Countess of Athol.
These ladies were called _Ad Colloquium et Tractatum_, by their
proxies, a privilege peculiar to the peerage to appear and act by proxy."