Memoirs of Celebrated Women, edited by G. P.R. JAstEs, Esq.,
is another of those equivocal employments of names which discre- ditably distinguish the literature of the day: Mr. JAMES has "revised" the proof-sheets of the present publication, because the author is out of England; and upon the strength of this very slight service, he allows it to be insinuated in titlepages and ad- vertisements, that he is or may be the author of the work.
The Memoirs are written by a lady ; and comprise biographies of JOAN Of Arc ; MARGARET of Anjou, the tyrannical consort of the weak and "holy" HENRY the Sixth of England; Lady JANE GREY, ANNA COMNENA, Madame DE MAINTENON, Queen ELIZABETH, and Donna MARIA PACHECO, the wife of PADILLA, one of the Spanish noblemen who unsuccessfully opposed the attack of CHARLES the Fifth upon the liberties of Spain. Of the last of these names, and of ANNA COMNENA, there is nothing in a biographical sense to tell. Of the remainder, all that we wish to know has been told already, and told better than in the work before us.
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