In the time of Queen Anne ladies were strongly infected with the spirit of party. Addison declares that even the patches they wore on their faces were so situated that the political views of the wearer could be recognised at a glance. Friends might be distinguished from foes in this delightful fashion, Tory ladies wearing their patches on the left, Whigs on the right side of the face. An old number of the "Spectator"[427] contains the sad story of one Rosalinda, a famous Whig partisan who suffered much annoyance on this account. The fact that Rosalinda had a beautiful mole on the Tory part of her forehead gave her enemies the chance of misrepresenting her face as having revolted against the Whig interest--an accusation which naturally depressed the poor lady considerably. [427] No. 812, June 2, 1711. The House of Lords has always been more hospitable than the Commons in its treatment of women. The two side galleries are reserved for peeresses--though a certain portion is kept for members of the _corps diplomatique_, and for the Commons--and there is a large box on the floor of the House where the wives of peers' eldest sons sit, and a number of seats below the bar to which Black Rod may introduce ladies. The peers have not, however, been exempt from the occasional inconveniences attaching to the presence of women. Lord Shaftesbury, during the term of his Lord Chancellorship, complained bitterly of the "droves of ladies that attended all causes," and said that things had reached such a pass that men "borrowed or hired of their friends, handsome sisters or daughters to deliver their petitions."[428] And in 1739, the fair Kitty, Duchess of Queensberry, headed a storming party and successfully besieged a gallery in the House of Lords from which ladies had been excluded in order to make room for members of the Commons.[429] Grenville declares that the steps of the Throne were inconveniently thronged with women in 1829. "Every fool in London thinks it necessary to be there," he says. "They fill the whole space, and put themselves in front, with their large bonnets, without either fear or shame."[430] [428] Townsend's "Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 461. [429] "Letters and Works of Lady M. W. Montagu," vol. ii. p. 37. (I have described this incident at length in "A Group of Scottish Women," pp. 137-8.) [430] "Memoirs," 4 April, 1829.