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with small bunches of geranium, or fancy flowers, are becoming head-dresses for the morning.

The fascinating simplicity in the mode of wearing the hair still prevails. In full dress few curls are to be seen, it is combed lightly back in front, and closely twisted up behind, or banded round the head after the Grecian manner. The diamond bodkin, is the newest and most esteemed ornament for the hair; it is a gold pin, with a head about an inch long studded with diamonds or other jewels, and is much used for confining the lace veil and Turkish handkerchief to the head; small bunches of foil flowers of the ruby or emerald colour, are just introduced, placed over the left side, and worn with a very pleasing effect.

No variety has taken place in the shoes since our last. The Grecian sandal is very generally worn by our elegantes, it is mostly embrodered in silver, coloured bugle, and foil; rosettes are often seen to adorn the slipper.

ence.

Jewellery is far more worn than during the last month. Necklaces in ruby, emerald, garnet, and coral, seem to have the preferPearls and diamonds are much intermixed. The diamond snap, with pearl clasp, is the prevailing ornament for the ear. Buckles are sometimes seen on the shoes, we hope it will gain ground, as it is certainly a very elegant addition to the foot.

The prevailing colours are garter-blue, amaranthus, amber and geranium. The most fashionable mixtures Spanish-green, amaranthus shot with white, red, and brown.

La Belle Assemblée.

ACCOUNT OF THE SPANISH CORTES.

An order has been issued in the name of FERDINAND VII, respecting the convocation of the cortes, which is represented as being "the most important object that can or ought to employ the supreme junta." The executive council of Spain seems at last to be convinced of the necessity of this measure, which has been so repeatedly urged as indispensible to the salvation of the country. A short explanation of the constitution and the duties

of the Spanish cortes, will show the importance of this ancient Spanish senate.

It is not generally known, but it is a fact of great consequence, and highly honourable to the intelligence and spirit of the Spanish nation, that the representatives of the commons formed a constituent part in the supreme assemblies of that kingdom a century before they were admitted to that rank in the other European nations. Zurita mentions a convention of the cortes in the year 1133, at which the procuradores de las cindades y villas were present.

The cortes was composed of the nobility, the clergy, and the representatives of the cities. They were the depositaries of the legislative government, the executive being confided to the king, under the inspection, however, in some provinces at least, of the justiza, or supreme judge, who, like, the ephori with the Lacedemonians, was the protector of the people, and the controler of the prince.

From Gil Gonzales de Avila, who gives the writ of summons. to the town of Abula, in 1390, we learn that bishops, dukes, marquisses, the masters of the three military orders, as Condes and Ricos Hombres, were required to attend the cortes. The cities sending members on that occasion were 48 in number, and their representatives 125. These places commissioned more or fewer members to discharge their important functions in that assembly, according to their rank and dignity, which appears to have been nearly in proportion to their population.

There was one regulation which, in modern times at least, would be extremely embarrassing: no law could pass without the assent of every individual of the cortes. Its powers were prodigiously extensive; without its permission no tax could be imposed, no money could be coined, and no war could either be commenced or terminated. It governed all the inferior courts, redressed all grievances, and inspected every department of public administration. The King could neither prorogue nor dissolve it, and its session continued during forty days. For several centuries prior to the 14th it met anually, but subsequently to that period biennially. Those who applied for relief to the cortes did not approach that assembly as lowly supplicants and humble petitioners, but they demanded its assistance as the birthright of freemen.

It is well known that until the time of Ferdinand and Isabella at the close of the fifteenth century, the kingdoms of Leon, Cas

tile, and Arragon, were not united. From the silence of the historians of the two former, as to the powers and duties of the cortes, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, we are under the necessity of resorting to the annals of Arragon to supply the deficiency, but it is probable that we shall commit no material error in supposing that these contemporaneous establishments were similar in the extent of their powers and privileges.

The cortes of Arragon not only opposed the attempts of their kings to increase their revenues and extend their prerogatives, but they claimed and exercised for some time the extraordinary power of appointing the officers of his household, as well as the member of the council. The cortes looked with a jealous eye upon the military authority, and in order to control it raised troops under its own immediate orders, and nominated persons who were to command them. In the year 1503, an act of the cortes is on record, conceding to the king permission to appoint officers for a body of troops destined to be employed in Italy.

We are told that the cortes of Arragon were violently attentive to all the ceremonies sanctioned by antiquity, in their proceedings, and the following remarkable fact is stated in support of the allegation:" According to the the established laws and customs of Arragon no foreigner had liberty to enter the hall in which the cortes assembled. Ferdinand, in the year 1481, appointed his Queen, Isabella, regent of the kingdom, while he was absent during the course of the campaign. The laws required that a regent should take the oath of fidelity in presence of the cortes; but as Isabella was a foreigner, before she could be admitted the cortes through it necessary to pass an act, authorising the serjeant-porter to open the door of the hall to allow her to enter."

Political Review..

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

AT the election of officers for the ensuing year, the following persons were chosen:

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George Clinton, Vice President of the United States.

Lindley Murray, of York, (England).

Rev. Dr. John Eliot

Rev. Dr. Jedediah Morse

Rev. Timothy Alden

George Gibbs, Rhode Island.
Doctor William S. Johnson
Rev. Dr. Benjamin Trumbull
Noah Webster

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Boston.

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Connecticut.

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Philadelphia.

Doctor Samuel Bard, New-York.

Doctor Benjamin Rush

Doctor Caspar Wister

Charles B. Brown

Doctor David Ramsay, Charleston, South Carolina.

This society was instituted in 1805, and incorporated in 1809. It consists at present of about sixty members, and has made considerable progress in the establishment of a library and cabinet, which are deposited in an apartment of the Government House of the suite of rooms occupied by the Academy of Arts, appropriated to their use.

The objects of this highly useful and laudable society are more particularly detailed in the following address:

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The address of the New-York Historical Society.

Having formed an association, which has since been incorporated, for the purpose of discovering, procuring and preserving whatever may relate to the natural, civil, literary, and ecclesiastical history of our country, and particularly of the state of New-York, we solicit the aid of the liberal, patriotic and learned, to promote the objects of our institution.

The utility of societies for the advancement of science, has been so fully proved by the experience of the most enlightened nations of Europe, and by that of our own country, that there can be no need, at this time, of any formal arguments in support of their claim to public patronage. But it may be observed, that, in this state, if we except the Agricultural Society, there is no association for the purposes of general knowledge; and the want of regular, minute, and authentic history of New-York, renders the combined efforts of individuals for that object more peculiarly necessary.

It is well known that many valuable manuscripts and papers relative to the history of our country remain in the possession of those who, though unwilling to entrust them to a single person, yet would cheerfully confide them to a public institution, in whose custody they would be preserved for the general benefit of society. To rescue from the dust and obscurity of private repositories such important documents, as are liable to be lost or destroyed, by the indifference or neglect of those into whose hands they may have fallen, will be a primary object of our at tention.

The paucity of materials, and the extreme difficulty of procuring such as relate to the first settlement and colonial transactions of this state, can be fully perceived by those only who have meditated on the design of erecting an historical monument of those events, and have calculated the nature and amount of their resources: for without the aid of original records and authentic documents, history will be nothing more than a well-combined series of ingenious conjectures and amusing fables. The cause of truth is interesting to all men, and those who possess the means, however small, of preventing error, or of elucidating obscure facts, will confer a benefit on mankind by communicating them to the world.

Not aspiring to the higher walks of general science, we shall confine the range of our exertions to the humble task of collecting and preserving whatever may be useful to others in the different branches of historical inquiry. We feel encouraged to follow this path by the honourable example of the Massachusetts Society, whose labours will

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