With an Account of the Present State
of Whoring in these Kingdoms.
By LUKE OGLE, Esq;
THE FOURTH EDITION.
LONDON:
Printed in the Year M.DCC.XL.
TO THE
SOCIETIES
FOR
Reformation of Manners.
Gentlemen,
THE great Pains and Diligence
You have employ’d in the Defence
of Modesty and Virtue, give You
an undisputed Title to the Address of
this Treatise; tho’ it is with the utmost
Concern that I find myself under a Necessity
of writing it, and that after so
much Reforming, there should be any
Thing left to say upon the Subject, besides
congratulating You upon Your
happy Success. It is no small Addition
to my Grief to observe, that Your Endeavours
to suppress Lewdness have
only serv’d to promote it; and that this
Branch of Immorality has grown under
Your Hands, as if it was prun’d instead
of being lopp’d. But however Your
ill Success may grieve, it cannot astonish
me: What else could we hope for,
from Your persecuting of poor strolling
Damsels? From your stopping up those
Drains and Sluices we had to let out
Lewdness? From your demolishing
those Horn-works and Breast-works of
Modesty? Those Ramparts and Ditches
within which the Virtue of our Wives
and Daughters lay so conveniently intrench’d?
An Intrenchment so much the
safer, by how much the Ditches were
harder to be fill’d up. Or what better
could we expect from Your Carting of
Bawds, than that the Great Leviathan
of Leachery, for Want of these Tubs
to play with, should, with one Whisk
of his Tail, overset the Vessel of Modesty?
Which, in her best Trim, we
know to be somewhat leaky, and to have
a very unsteady Helm.
An ancient Philosopher compares
Lewdness to a wild, fiery, and headstrong
young Colt, which can never be
broke till he is rid into a Bog: And
Plato, on the same Subject, has these
Words; The Gods, says he, have given
us one disobedient and unruly Member,
which, like a greedy and ravenous Animal
that wants Food, grows wild and
furious, till having imbib’d the Fruit of
the common Thirst, he has plentifully
besprinkled and bedewed the Bottom of
the Womb.
And now I have mentioned the Philosophers,
I must beg Your Patience for
a Moment, to hear a short Account of
their Amours: For nothing will convince
us of the irresistible Force of
Love, and the Folly of hoping to suppress
it, sooner than reflecting, that those
venerable Sages, those Standards of Morality,
those great Reformers of the
World, were so sensibly touch’d with
this tender Passion.
Socrates confess’d, that, in his old
Age, he felt a strange tickling all over
him for five Days, only by a Girl’s
touching his Shoulder.
Xenophon made open Profession of
his passionate Love to Clineas.
Aristippus of Cyrene, writ a lewd
Book of ancient Delights; he compar’d
a Woman to a House or a Ship, that
was the better for being used: He asserted,
that there was no Crime in Pleasure,
but only in being a Slave to it:
And often used to say, I enjoy Lais, but
Lais does not enjoy me.
Theodorus openly maintain’d, that a
wise Man might without Shame or
Scandal, keep Company with common
Harlots.
Plato, our great Pattern for chaste-Love,
proposes, as the greatest Reward
for public Service, that he who has perform’d
a signal Exploit, should not be
deny’d any amorous Favour. He writ
a Description of the Loves of his Time,
and several amorous Sonnets upon his
own Minions: His chief Favorites were
Asterus, Dio, Phædrus, and Agatho;
but he had, for Variety, his Female
Darling Archeanassa; and was so noted
for Wantonness, that Antisthenes, gave
him the Nick-name of Satho, i. e. Well-furnish’d.
Polemo was prosecuted by his Wife
for Male-Venery.
Crantor made no Secret of his Love
to his Pupil Arcesilaus.
Arcesilaus made Love to Demetrius
and Leocharus; the last, he said, he
would fain have open’d: Besides, he
publickly visited the two Elean Courtezans,
Theodota and Philæta, and was
himself enjoy’d by Demochares and
Pythocles: He suffer’d the last, he said,
for Patience-sake.
Bion was noted for debauching his
own Scholars.
Aristotle, the first Peripatetic, had
a Son call’d Nichomacus, by his Concubine
Herpilis: He lov’d her so well,
that he left her in his Will a Talent of
Silver, and the Choice of his Country-Houses;
that, as he says, the Damsel
might have no Reason to complain: He
enjoy’d, besides the Eunuch Hermias,
others say only his Concubine Pythais,
upon whom he writ a Hymn, call’d,
The Inside.
Demetrius Phalereus, who had 360
Statues in Athens, kept Lamia for his
Concubine, and at the same time was
himself enjoy’d by Cleo: He writ a
Treatise, call’d, The Lover, and was
nick-nam’d by the Courtezans, Charito,
Blespharus, i. e. A Charmer of Ladies;
and Lampetes, i. e. A great Boaster
of his Abilities.
Diogenes, the Cynic, us’d to say,
that Women ought to be in common,
and that Marriage was nothing but a
Man’s getting a Woman in the Mind
to be lain with: He often us’d Manual
Venery in the public Market-place,
with this Saying. Oh! that I could
assuage my Hunger thus with rubbing
of my Stomach!
But what Wonder if the old Academics,
the Cyrenaics, and Peripatetics,
were so lewdly wanton, when
the very Stoics, who prided themselves
in the Conquest of all their other
Passions, were forc’d to submit to this?
Zeno, indeed, the Founder of that
Sect, was remarkable for his Modesty,
because he rarely made Use of Boys,
and took but once an ordinary Maid-Servant
to Bed, that he might not be
thought to hate the Sex; yet, in his
Commonwealth, he was for a Community
of Women; and writ a Treatise,
wherein he regulated the Motions of
getting a Maidenhead, and philosophically
prov’d Action and Reaction to
be equal.
Chrysippus and Apollodorus agree
with Zeno in a Community of Women,
and say, that a wise Man may be in
Love with handsome Boys.
Erillus, a Scholar of Zeno’s, was a
notorious Debauchee.
I need not mention the Epicureans
who were remarkable for their Obscenity.
Epicurus used to make a Pander of
his own Brother; and his Scholar, the
Great Metrodorus, visited all the noted
Courtezans in Athens, and publicly
kept the famous Leontium, his Master’s
Quondam Mistress. Yet, if you will
believe Laertius, he was every Way a
good Man.
But what shall we say of our Favourite
Seneca, who, with all his Morals,
could never acquire the Reputation
of Chastity? He was indeed
somewhat Nice in his Amours, like
the Famous Flora, who was never
enjoy’d by any Thing less than a Dictator
or a Consul; for he scorn’d to
intrigue with any Thing less than the
Empress.
Now, if those Reverend School-Masters
of Antiquity, were so loose in
their Seminals, shall we, of this Age,
set up for Chastity? Have our Oxford
Students more Command of their Passions
than the Stoics? Are our Young
Templars less Amorous than Plato?
Or, is an Officer of the Army less
Ticklish in the Shoulder than Socrates?
But I need not waste any Rhetoric
upon so evident a Truth; for plain
and clear Propositions, like Windows
painted, are only the more Obscure
the more they are adorn’d.
I will now suppose, that you have
given up the Men as Incorrigible;
since You are convinc’d, by Experience,
that even Matrimony is not able
to reclaim them. Marriage, indeed, is
just such a Cure for Lewdness, as a
Surfeit is for Gluttony; it gives a
Man’s Fancy a Distaste to the particular
Dish, but leaves his Palate as Luxurious
as ever: for this Reason we find so
many marry’d Men, that, like Sampson’s
Foxes, only do more Mischief for
having their Tails ty’d. But the
Women, You say, are weaker Vessels,
and You are resolv’d to make them
submit; rightly judging, if You cou’d
make all the Females Modest, it would
put a considerable Stop to Fornication.
It is great Pity, no doubt, so Fine a
Project should Miscarry: And I would
willingly entertain Hopes of seeing
one of these Bridewell Converts. In
the mean Time it would not be amiss,
if You chang’d somewhat your present
Method of Conversion, especially in
the Article of Whipping. It is very
possible, indeed, that leaving a Poor
Girl Penny-less, may put her in a Way
of living Honestly, tho’ the want of
Money was the only Reason of her
living otherwise; and the stripping
of her Naked, may, for aught I know,
contribute to Her Modesty, and put
Her in a State of Innocence; but surely,
Gentlemen, You must all know, that
Flogging has a quite contrary Effect.
This Project of pulling down Bawdy-houses
to prevent Uncleanness, puts
me in Mind of a certain Over-nice
Gentleman, who cou’d never fancy
his Garden look’d sweet, till he had
demolish’d a Bog-house that offended
his Eye in one Corner of it; but it
was not long before every Nose in the
Family was convinc’d of His Mistake.
If Reason fails to Convince, let us
profit by Example: Observe the Policy
of a Modern Butcher, persecuted with
a Swarm of Carnivorous Flies; when
all his Engines and Fly-flaps have
prov’d ineffectual to defend his Stall
against the Greedy Assiduity of those
Carnal Insects, he very Judiciously cuts
off a Fragment, already blown, which
serves to hang up for a Cure; and
thus, by sacrifising a Small Part, already
Tainted, and not worth Keeping,
he wisely secures the Safety of the
Rest. Or, let us go higher for Instruction,
and take Example by the
Grazier, who far from denying his Herd
the Accustom’d Privilege of Rubbing,
when their Sides are Stimulated
with sharp Humours, very Industriously
fixes a Stake in the Center of the Field,
not so much, you may imagine, to
Regale the Salacious Hides of his
Cattle, as to preserve his Young Trees
from Suffering by the Violence of their
Friction.
I could give You more Examples of
this Kind, equally full of Instruction,
but that I’m loth to detain You from
the Perusal of the following Treatise;
and at the same Time Impatient to
have the Honour of Subscribing Myself
Your Fellow-Reformer,
and Devoted Servant,
Phil-Porney.
PREFACE.
LEST any inquisitive Reader should puzzle
his Brains to find out why this Foundling is
thus clandestinely dropt at his Door, let it suffice
him, that the Midwife of a Printer was unwilling
to help bring it into the World, but upon
that Condition, or a much harder, that of my
openly Fathering it. I could make many other
reasonable Apologies, if requisite: For, besides my
having follow’d the modest Example of several other
pious Authors, such as that of Εικων Βασιλικη, of
the Whole Duty of Man, &c. who have studied rather
their Country’s Publick Good, than their own
Private Fame; I think, I have also play’d the
Politick Part: for should my Off-spring be defective,
why let it fall upon the Parish. On the
other hand, if accidentally it prove hopeful, ’tis
certain I need be at no further Trouble. There
will then be Parents enough ready to own the Babe,
and take it upon themselves. Adoption amongst
the Machiavellian Laws of the Muses is strictly kept
up, and every day put in Practice: How few of
our now bright Noblemen would otherwise have
Wit? How many of our present thriving Poets
would else want a Dinner? ’Tis a vulgar Error to
imagine Men live upon their own Wits, when
generally it is upon others Follies; a Fund that
carries by much the best Interest, and is by far upon
the most certain Security of any: The Exchequer
has been shut up, the Bank has stopt Payment,
South-Sea has been demolish’d, but White’s was
never known to fail; and indeed how should it,
when almost every Wind blows to Dover, or
Holyhead, some fresh Proprietor amply qualified
with sufficient Stock.
I am in some pain for the Event of this Scheme,
hoping the Wicked will find it too Grave, and
fearing the Godly will scarce venture beyond the
Title-Page: And should they, even, I know they’ll
object, ’tis here and there interwoven with too ludicrous
Expressions, not considering that a dry Argument
has occasion for the larding of Gaiety
to make it the better relish and go down. Besides,
finding by the exact Account tack’d to that most
edifying Anti-Heidegger Discourse,6 that eighty
six Thousand Offenders have been lately punish’d,
and that four hundred Thousand religious Books
have been distributed about Gratis (not to mention
the numberless Three-penny Jobs daily publish’d
to no Ends, or Purpose, but the Author’s;)
I say, finding all these Measures have been taken,
and that Lewdness still so much prevails, I thought
it highly proper to try this Experiment, being fully
convinc’d that opposite Methods often take place.
Own, Preferment-Hunter! when sailing on with the
Tide avails nothing, does not tacking about steer
you sometimes into that snug Harbour, an Employment?
Speak Hibernian Stallion! when a meek
fawning Adoration turns to no Account, does not
a pert assuming Arrogance frequently forward, nay,
gain the critical Minute? And say,7 Mesobin!
where a Purge fails, is not a Vomit an infallible
Recipe for a Looseness?
To conclude; when my Arguments are impartially
examin’d, I doubt not but my Readers will
join with me, that as long as it is the Nature of
Man (and Naturam expellas furca licet usque recurret)
to have a Salt Itch in the Breeches, the
Brimstone under the Petticoat will be a necessary
Remedy to lay it; and let him be ever so sly in
the Application, it will still be found out: What
avails it then to affect to conceal that which cannot
be concealed, and that which if carried on openly
and above-board, would become only less detrimental,
and of consequence more justifiable?
Be the Success of this Treatise as it happens, the
Good of Mankind is my only Aim; nor am I
less hearty or zealous in the Publick Welfare of my
Country, than that Noble Pattern of Sincerity,
Bishop B——t, who finishes his Preface with the
following Paragraph. And now, O my G—, the G—
of my Life, and of all my Mercies, I offer this Work
to Thee, to whose Honour it is chiefly intended; that
thereby I may awaken the World to just Reflections on
their own Errors and Follies, and call on them to
acknowledge thy Providence, to adore it, and ever
to depend on it.
A
Modest Defence, &c.
THERE is nothing more idle, or
shows a greater Affectation of Wit,
than the modern Custom of treating
the most grave Subjects with
Burlesque and Ridicule. The present
Subject of Whoring, was I dispos’d, would
furnish me sufficiently in this kind, and might
possibly, if so handled, excite Mirth in those who
are only capable of such low Impressions. But,
as the chief Design of this Treatise is to
promote the general Welfare and Happiness
of Mankind, I hope to be excus’d, if I make
no farther Attempts to please, than are consistent
with that Design. The Practice of
Whoring has, of late Years, become so universal,
and its Effects so prejudicial to Mankind,
that several Attempts have been made
to put a Stop to it; and a certain Society of
Worthy Gentlemen have undertaken that Affair
with a Zeal truly commendable, tho’
the Success does but too plainly make it appear,
that they were mistaken in their Measures,
and had not rightly consider’d the Nature
of this Evil, which we are all equally
sollicitous to prevent, however we may differ
in our Opinions as to the Manner. And tho’
the Method I intend to propose, of erecting
Publick Stews for that purpose, may seem at
first sight somewhat ludicrous, I shall, nevertheless,
make it appear to be the only Means
we have now left for redressing this Grievance.
As this Redress is the whole Scope
and Design of this Treatise, I hope to be acquitted
of my Design, when I have prov’d
the following Propositions: That publick
Whoring is neither so criminal in itself, nor so
detrimental to the Society, as private Whoring;
and that the encouraging of publick Whoring,
by erecting Stews, will not only prevent
most of the ill Consequences of this Vice, but
even lessen the Practice of Whoring in general,
and reduce it to the narrowest Bounds
which it can possibly be contain’d in. But
before we proceed, it is requisite that we examine
what those mischievous Effects are
which Whoring naturally produces, that we
may the better judge whether or no they
will be prevented by this Scheme.
The greatest Evil that attends this Vice,
or could well befall Mankind, is the Propagation
of that infectious Disease, called the
French-Pox, which in two Centuries, has
made such incredible Havock all over Europe.
In these Kingdoms it so seldom fails to attend
Whoring, now-a-days mistaken for Gallantry
and Politeness, that a hale, robust Constitution
is esteem’d a Mark of Ungentility; and
a healthy young Fellow is look’d upon with
the same View, as if he had spent his Life in
a Cottage. Our Gentlemen of the Army,
whose unsettled way of Life makes it inconvenient
for them to marry, are hereby very
much weaken’d and enervated, and render’d
unfit to undergo such Hardships as are necessary
for defending and supporting the Honour
of their Country: And our Gentry in general
seem to distinguish themselves by an ill State
of Health, in all probability the Effect of this
pernicious Distemper: for the Secrecy which
most People are obliged to in this Disease,
makes the Cure of it often ineffectual; and
tho’ the Infection itself may possibly be remov’d,
yet for want of taking proper Methods,
it generally leaves such an ill Habit of Body as
is not easily recover’d. ’Tis to this we seem
to owe the Rise of that Distemper, the King’s-Evil,
never known till the French Disease
began to prevail here. But what makes this
Mischief the more intolerable, is, that the
Innocent must suffer by it as well as the
Guilty; Men give it to their Wives, Women
to their Husbands, or perhaps their
Children; they to their Nurses, and the Nurses
again to other Children; so that no Age,
Sex, or Condition can be intirely safe from
the Infection.
Another ill Effect of this Vice, is, its making
People profuse, and tempting them to live beyond
what their Circumstances will admit of;
for if once Men suffer their Minds to be led
astray by this unruly Passion, no worldly Consideration
whatever will be able to stop it;
and Wenching as it is very expensive in itself,
without the ordinary Charges of Physic or
Children, often leads Men into a thousand other
Vices to support its Extravagance: Besides, after
the Mind has once got this extravagant
Turn, there naturally follows a Neglect and
Contempt of Business; and Whoring of itself
disposes the Mind to such a sort of Indolence,
as is quite inconsistent with Industry, the main
Support of any, especially a trading, Nation.
The murdering of Bastard Infants is another
Consequence of this Vice, by much
worse than the Vice itself: and tho’ the Law
is justly severe in this Particular, as rightly
judging that a Mind capable of divesting itself
so intirely of Humanity, is not fit to live
in a civiliz’d Nation: yet there are so many
ways of evading it, either by destroying the
Infants before their Birth, or suffering them
afterwards to die by wilful Neglect, that
there appears but little Hope of putting any
Stop to this Practice, which, besides the Barbarity
of it, tends very much to dispeople the
Country. And since the Prosperity of any
Country is allow’d to depend, in a great measure,
on the Number of its Inhabitants, the
Government ought, if it were possible, to prevent
any Whoring at all, as it evidently hinders
the Propagation of the Species: How
many thousand young Men in this Nation
would turn their Thoughts towards Matrimony,
if they were not constantly destroying
that Passion, which is the only Foundation of
it? And tho’ most of them, sooner or later,
find the Inconvenience of this irregular Life,
and think fit to confine themselves to One, yet
their Bodies are so much enervated, by the
untimely or immoderate Increase of this Passion,
together with the Relics of Venereal
Cures, that they beget a most wretched, feeble,
and sickly Offspring: We can attribute it
to nothing else but this, that so many of our
ancient Families of Nobles are of late extinct.
There is one thing more we ought to consider
in this Vice, and that is the Injury it
does to particular Persons and Families; either
by alienating the Affections of Wives
from their Husbands, which often proves prejudicial
to both, and sometimes fatal to whole
Families; or else by debauching the Minds
of young Women, to their utter Ruin and
Destruction: for the Reproach they must undergo,
when a Slip of this nature is discover’d,
prevents their marrying in any Degree
suitable to their Fortune, and by degrees
hardens them to all Sense of Shame; and
when they have once overcome that, the present
View of Interest as well as Pleasure,
sways them to continue in the same Course,
till at length they become common Prostitutes.
These are the several bad Effects of Whoring;
and it is an unhappy Thing, that a
Practice so universal as this is, and always
will be, should be attended with such mischievous
Consequences: But since few or
none of them are the necessary Effects of Whoring,
consider’d in itself, but only proceed
from the Abuse and ill Management of it;
our Business is certainly to regulate this Affair
in such sort as may best prevent these
Mischiefs. And I must here beg pardon of
those worthy Gentlemen of the Society, if I
can’t conceive how the Discouragement they
have given, or rather attempted to give, to
publick Whoring, could possibly have the
desired Effect. If this was a Vice acquired
by Habit or Custom, or depended upon Education,
as most other Vices, there might be
some Hopes of suppressing it; and then it
would, no doubt, be commendable to attack
it, without Distinction, in whatever
Form or Disguise it should appear: But alas!
this violent Love for Women is born and
bred with us; nay, it is absolutely necessary
to our being born at all: And however
some People may pretend, that unlawful Enjoyment
is contrary to the Law of Nature,
this is certain, that Nature never fails to furnish
us largely with this Passion, tho’ she is often
sparing to bestow upon us such a Portion of
Reason and Reflection as is necessary to curb it.
That long Course of Experience which
most of these Gentlemen have had in the
World, and which is of so great Use in other
Cases, may probably occasion their Mistake
in this; for Age is very liable to forget
the violence of youthful Passions, and, consequently,
apt to think them easier curb’d:
whereas if we consider the true Source of Whoring,
and the strong Impulse of Nature that
way, we shall find, it is a Thing not to be
too violently restrain’d; lest, like a Stream
diverted out of its proper Channel, it should
break in and overflow the neighbouring
Inclosures.
History affords us several Instances of this
Truth; I shall mention but one, and that
is of Pope Sixtus the Fifth, who was so
strictly severe in the Execution of Justice, if
such Severity may be call’d Justice, and particularly,
against Offenders of this kind, that he
condemned a young Man to the Galleys, only
for snatching a Kiss of a Damsel in the Street:
yet notwithstanding this his Holiness’s Zeal,
he never attempted once to extirpate Whoring
intirely: But like a true Pastor separated the
clean Sheep from the unclean, and confin’d all
the Courtezans to one Quarter of the City. It is
true, he did attempt to moderate this Vice, and
banish’d as many Courtezans as he thought
exceeded the necessary Number; but he was
soon convinc’d of the Error of his Computation,
for Sodomy, and a thousand other unnatural
Vices sprung up, which forc’d him soon
to recal them, and has left us a remarkable
Instance of the Vanity of such Attempts.
Let us now proceed to the Proof of our
Proposition, in the first Part of which, it was
asserted, That publick Whoring is neither so
Criminal in itself, nor so Detrimental to the
Society, as private Whoring.
Publick Whoring consists in lying with a
certain Set of Women, who have shook off
all Pretence to Modesty; and for such a Sum
of Money, more or less, profess themselves
always in a Readiness to be enjoy’d. The
Mischief a Man does in this Case is intirely
to himself; for with respect to the Woman, he
does a laudable Action, in furnishing her
with the Means of Subsistence, in the only, or
at least most innocent way that she is capable
of procuring it. The Damage he does
to himself, is either with regard to his Health,
or the Expence of Money, and may be consider’d
under the same View as Drinking,
with this considerable Advantage, that it
restores us to that cool Exercise of our Reason,
which Drinking tends to deprive us of. Indeed
was there a Probability of a Woman’s
Amendment, and of her gaining a Livelihood
by some honester Method, there might be some
Crime in encouraging her to follow such a
Profession: But the Minds of Women are
observ’d to be so much corrupted by the Loss
of Chastity, or rather by the Reproach they
suffer upon that Loss, that they seldom or never
change that Course of Life for the better;
and if they should, they can never recover
that good Name, which is so absolutely
necessary to their getting a Maintenance in
any honest Way whatever; and that nothing
but meer Necessity obliges them to continue
in that Course, is plain from this, That they
themselves in Reality utterly abhor it: And
indeed there appears nothing in it so very alluring
and bewitching, especially to People
who have that Inclination to Lewdness intirely
extinguish’d, which is the only thing
could possibly make it supportable,
The other Branch of Whoring, viz. Private,
is of much worse Consequence; and a
Man’s Crime in this Case increases in proportion
to the different Degree of Mischief
done, if you consider his Crime with regard
to the Society; for as to personal Guilt, Allowance
ought to be made for the Increase of
Temptation, which is very considerable in
the Case of debauching Married Women;
upon account of the Safety to the Aggressor,
either with Respect to his Health, or the
Charge, and, if that affects him, the Scandal
of having a Bastard. On the other hand,
the Injury done, is very considerable, as such
an Action tends to corrupt a Woman’s Mind,
and destroy that mutual Love and Affection
between Man and Wife, which is so necessary
to both their Happiness. Besides, the Risque
run of a Discovery, which at least ruins a
Woman’s Reputation, and destroys the Husband’s
Quiet; nay, where Virtue does not
intirely give way, if it warps but ever so
little, the Consequence is shockingly fatal:
for tho’ the good Man, suspicious of the
Wife’s Chastity, the Wife of the Gallant’s
Constancy, and the Gallant of the Husband’s
Watchfulness, by being a Check upon each
other, may keep the Gate of Virtue shut; yet
then even all Parties must be attended with a
never-ceasing Misery, nor to be imagin’d, but
by those who too fatally feel it.
The Crime of debauching young Virgins
will appear much greater, if we consider that
there is much more Mischief done, and the
Temptation to do it much lessen’d by the fear
of getting Children; which, in most Circumstances
of Life, does a Man a deal of Prejudice,
and keeps at least three Parts in four of our
sober Youth from gratifying this violent Passion.
Besides, the Methods that are necessary
to be taken, before a Man can have such
an Action in his Power, are in themselves
Criminal; and it shows a certain Baseness of
Mind to persuade a Woman, by a thousand
solemn Vows and Protestations, into such a
good Opinion of you, and Assurance of your
Love to her, that she trusts you with all that
is dear and near to her; and this with no
other View but the Gratification of a present
Passion, which might be otherwise vented,
than at the certain Expence of her Ruin, and
putting her under the Necessity of leading
the Life of a Publick Courtezan.
From this general Consideration of Whoring,
it is evident, that tho’ all the several Species
of it proceed from the same Cause, our
natural Love and Passion for Women, yet
they are very different in their Natures, and
fully as distinct Crimes as those which proceed
from our Love to Money, such as Murder,
Shoplifting, &c. And I hope I have said
enough to prove, that the Publick Part of it
is by far the least Criminal, and least Detrimental
to the Society; which of itself is a sufficient
Motive for the Legislature to confine
it to that Channel. I shall now proceed
farther, and show, as I before propos’d, that
the encouraging of Publick Whoring, will
not only prevent most of the mischievous
Effects of this Vice, but even lessen the Practice
of Whoring in general, and reduce it to
the narrowest Bounds which it can possibly be
contain’d in.
When I talk’d of encouraging publick
Whoring, I would be understood to mean,
not only the erecting Publick Stews, as
I at first hinted, but also the endowing
them with such Privileges and Immunities,
and at the same time giving such Discouragement
to private Whoring, as may be most
effectual to turn the general Stream of Lewdness
into this common Channel.
I shall here lay down a Plan for this Purpose,
which, tho’ it may well serve to illustrate
this Point, and make good the Proof of
my present Argument, would doubtless
receive infinite Improvement by coming
through the Hands of a National Senate,
whose august Body, being compos’d of Spirituals
as well as Temporals, will, I hope, take
into Consideration this Important Affair, which
so nearly concerns both.
The Plan I would propose, is this: Let a
hundred or more Houses be provided in some
convenient Quarter of the City, and proportionably
in every Country-Town, sufficient
to contain two thousand Women: If a hundred
are thought sufficient, let a hundred
Matrons be appointed, one to each House, of
Abilities and Experience enough to take upon
them the Management of twenty Courtezans
each, to see that they keep themselves neat
and decent, and entertain Gentlemen after a
civil and obliging Manner. For the encouragement
of such Matrons, each House must
be allow’d a certain Quantity of all sorts of
Liquor, Custom and Excise free; by which
Means they will be enabled to accommodate
Gentlemen handsomely, without that Imposition
so frequently met with in such Houses.
Besides the hundred abovemention’d, there
must be a very large House set apart for an
Infirmary, and Provision made for two able
Physicians, and four Surgeons at least. Lastly,
there must be three Commissioners appointed
to superintend the whole, to hear and
redress Complaints, and to see that each
House punctually observes such Rules and Orders
as shall be thought necessary for the
good Government of this Community. For
the better Entertainment of all Ranks and
Degrees of Gentlemen, we shall divide the
twenty Women of each House into four Classes,
who for their Beauty, or other Qualifications
may justly challenge different Prices.
The first Class is to consist of eight, who
may legally demand from each Visitant Half
a Crown. The second Class to consist of six,
whose fix’d Price may be a Crown. The third
Class of four, at half a Guinea each. The remaining
two make up the fourth Class, and are
design’d for Persons of the first Rank, who can
afford to pay a Guinea for the Elegancy of their
Taste. To defray the Charges of this Establishment,
will require but a very moderate
Tax: For if the first Class pays but forty
Shillings Yearly, and the rest in Proportion,
it will amount to above 10,000 l.
a Year, which will not only pay the Commissioners
Salaries, Surgeons Chests, and other
Contingencies, but likewise establish a good
Fund for the Maintenance of Illegitimate Orphans
and superannuated Courtezans.
For the better Government of this Society,
it will be necessary that the Mistress have an
absolute Command in her own House, and
that no Woman be suffer’d to go abroad
without her Leave. No Woman must be
suffer’d to lie in, within the House; nor any
young Children admitted under any Pretence.
No Musick or Revelling to be allow’d in any
Room, to the Disturbance of the rest. No
Gentlemen disorderly or drunk, to be admitted
at an unseasonable Hour, without the
Consent of the Mistress: And, in case of Violence,
she must be empower’d to call the Civil
Aid.
For the Society’s Security in Point of Health,
it must be order’d, That if any Gentleman
complains of receiving an Injury, and the
Woman, upon Search, be found tainted, without
having discover’d it to the Mistress, she
shall be stripp’d and cashier’d. But if a Woman
discovers her Misfortune before any Complaint
is made against her, she shall be sent
to the Infirmary, and cured at the Publick
Charge. No Woman that has been twice pox’d
shall ever be re-admitted. Note, That three
Claps shall be reckon’d equivalent to one Pox.
But as no Society ever fram’d a compleat
Body of Laws at once, till overseen Accidents
had taught them Foresight, we shall
refer the farther Regulation of these Laws,
with whatever new ones shall be thought
necessary, to the Wisdom of the Legislature,
The Publick Stews being thus erected and
govern’d by good and wholesome Laws, there
remains nothing to compleat this Project, but
that proper Measures be taken effectually to
discourage all other Kinds of Whoring whatsoever.
And here it is to be hoped, that those
worthy Gentlemen of the Society, who have
hitherto distinguish’d their Zeal to so little
Purpose, will now exert themselves where
they have so good a Prospect of Success; for
altho’ a poor Itinerant Courtezan could not
by any Means be persuaded to starve at the
Instigation of a Reforming Constable, yet a
little Bridewell Rhetorick, or the Terrors of
a Transportation, will soon convince her that
she may live more comfortably and honestly in
a Publick Stew. If there are any so foolish as
to love Rambling better, or who are not qualify’d
to please Gentlemen according to Law,
they ought to be transported; for Bridewell,
as it is now manag’d, only makes them poorer,
and consequently lays them under a greater
Necessity than ever of continuing Prostitutes.
Let us now suppose, for Brevity sake,
that the Publick Stews are as much as
possible favour’d and encourag’d, and that
all the other Branches of this Vice have the
utmost Rigour of the Laws exerted against
them.
It now remains for me to show what Benefit
the Nation would receive thereby,
and how this Project would prevent or in
any Degree alleviate those Mischiefs which
I have mention’d to be the necessary Consequences
of this Vice. As for any Objections
that may be rais’d against me, either Christian
or Moral, I shall refer them to the Close
of this Discourse.
First then, I say, the Nation would receive
a general Benefit by having such a considerable
Number of its most disorderly Inhabitants
brought to live after a regular
civiliz’d Manner. There is, one Year with
another, a certain Number of young Women
who arrive gradually, Step by Step, at the highest
Degree of Impudence and Lewdness. These
Women, besides their Incontinence, are commonly
guilty of almost the whole Catalogue of
immoral Actions: The Reason is evident;
They are utterly abandon’d by their Parents,
and thereby reduc’d to the last Degree
of Shifting-Poverty; if their Lewdness
cannot supply their Wants, they must have
Recourse to Methods more criminal, such as
Lying, Cheating, open Theft, &c. Not that
these are the necessary Concomitants of Lewdness,
or have the least Relation to it, as all
lewd Men of Honour can testify; but the
Treatment such Women meet with in the
World, is the Occasion of it.
Those Females, who either by the Frigidity
of their Constitutions, a lucky Want of
Temptation, or any other Cause, have preserv’d
their Chastity; and the Men, in general,
Chaste or Unchaste, are so outrageous
against these Delinquents, that they make
no Distinction: all of them are branded
with the same opprobrious Title, they are
all treated with the same Contempt, all
equally despis’d; so that let them be guilty
of what other Crimes they please, they
cannot add one Jot to the Shame they already
undergo. Having thus remov’d the Fear of
worldly Reproach, which is justly esteem’d
the greatest Bulwark of Morality, it is no
wonder if these Women, insensible of Shame,
and prick’d on by Want, commit any Crimes,
where they are not deter’d by the Fear of
corporal Punishments. But the Case now
will be quite alter’d; these Women, as soon
as they have attain’d a competent Share of
Assurance, and before they are pinch’d with
the Extreme of Poverty, will enter themselves
in some of the abovementioned Classes
of profess’d Courtezans; where, instead of
being necessarily dishonest, they will have
more Inducements to Honesty than any other
Profession whatsoever. The same Money
defends, as well as it corrupts a Prime
Minister: A Churchman takes Sanctuary
in a Gown, and who dare accuse a Mitre
of Simony? Accuse a Colonel of Injustice,
he is try’d by his Board of Officers, and your
Information is false, scandalous, and malicious.
A Lawyer cheats you according to
Law; and you may thank the Physician, if
you live to complain of him. Over-reaching
in Trade, is prudent Dealing; and Mechanick
Cunning, is stiled Handicraft. Not
so fares the poor Courtezan; if she commits
but one ill Action, if, for Instance, she
should circumvent a Gentleman of a Snuff-Box,
she can hardly escape Detection; and
the first Discovery ruins her; she is banish’d
the Publick Stews, mark’d out for Infamy,
and can have no better Prospect than a Transportation.
On the other hand, the Motives
to Honesty will be as great here as any
where: It is natural for Mankind to regard
chiefly the good Opinion of those with whom
they converse, and to neglect that of Strangers:
Now in this Community, Lewdness
not being esteem’d a Reproach, but rather a
Commendation, they will set a Value on
their good Name, and stand as much upon
the Puncto of Honour, as the rest of Mankind;
being mov’d by the same commendable
Emulation, and deter’d by greater, or
at least more certain Punishments. Besides
this Reformation in Point of Honesty, the
Publick will receive another Benefit in being
freed from those nocturnal Disorders, Quarrels
and Brawlings, which are occasion’d
by vagrant Punks, and the Number of private
Brothels dispers’d throughout the City,
to the great Disturbance of its sober Inhabitants.
We have already mention’d the French
Disease as one of the worst Attendants upon
Lewdness, and with good Reason; for in
the Enjoyment of this Life, Health is the
sine qua non: i. e. the greatest Happiness. And
this Distemper has one Thing in it peculiarly
inveterate, as if it came out of Pandora’s worst
Box; there is no other Disorder, but what at
some Age, or in some particular Constitution,
will abate of itself without the Application of
Medicines; but this is such a busy restless Enemy,
that unless resisted, he is never at a
Stand, but gathers Strength every Day, to
the utter Disquiet of the Patient. Now it is
so evident that the Publick Stews, when
well regulated, will prevent the Spreading
of this Plague, that a prolix and tedious
Proof of it would look like Declaiming.
As this Disease has its Spring and Source entirely
from publick Whoring, and from
thence creeps into private Families; so it
likewise receives continual Supplies and Recruits
thro’ the same Channel: When this
Source is once dry’d up the Nation will naturally
recover its pristine Health and Vigour:
And this cannot fail to happen, if
due Care be taken to keep the Stews free
from Infection; for what young Fellow
will be so industriously mad, as to take
Pains to run his Head into an Apothecary’s
Shop, when he may with so much Ease
and Conveniency, and without the Fear
of a Reforming Officer, both secure his
Health and gratify his Fancy with such a
Variety of Mistresses.
’Tis true, the keeping of the Publick
Stews so very safe, will appear a difficult
Task, at first Sight; but not so if we consider
the Case a little nearer. This Disease
is propagated reciprocally from the Woman
to the Man, and from the Man to the
Woman; but the first is the most common
for several Reasons: We are not like Cocks
or Town-Bulls, who have a whole Seraglia
of Females entirely and solely at their Devotion;
on the contrary, one industrious
Pains-taking Woman, who lays herself out
that Way, is capable of satisfying several
rampant Males; insomuch, that a select
Number of Women get a handsome Livelihood
by being able to oblige such a Number
of Customers. Now, if but a few of
these Women are unsound, they can infect
a great many Men; whereas these Men
have neither Power nor Inclination to infect
the like Number of Women. I say, Inclination;
for a Woman, to raise Money
for the Surgeon’s Fee, may counterfeit Pleasure
when she really receives Pain; nay, she
may even venture to complain of being hurt:
for the Man will attribute the Pain he gives
her, either to her Chastity, or his own Vigour;
not dreaming, perhaps, that he has
molested a Shanker. This a Female may
do, as being only passive in the Affair,
but a Man must have real Fancy and Inclination
before he is qualify’d to enter upon
Action: And how far this Fancy to
Woman may be cool’d by a stinging Gonorrhœa,
I leave the experienc’d Reader to
judge; and whether a Man won’t rather
employ his Thoughts upon his round Diet, i. e.
Pills, how to digest 2 at Night, and 3 in
the Morning; what Conveyance to find
out when poach’d Eggs grow nauseous,
and how to preserve his Linnen from being
speckled; with a Thousand other Particulars
that occur to a Man in this Distress: but
these are sufficient, with the Assistance of
a Cordee, to bridle any moderate Passion.
So that from the whole we may safely draw
this Conclusion; That since the Men are
so seldom guilty of transgressing in this Kind,
the spreading of this Distemper must be
owing to the Neglect of Cure in the Women.
Now the Publick Stews will be so
regulated, that a Woman cannot possibly
conceal her Misfortune long; nay, it will
be highly her Interest to make the first
Discovery; so that whatever Damage the Society
may sustain at first, when Claps are
most current, it will be soon repair’d, and this
Distemper, in Time, entirely rooted out. But
of this enough.
The next Thing that comes to be consider’d
in this Vice, is the Expence it occasions,
and the Neglect of worldly Business,
by employing so much of our Time and
Thoughts; for let a Man have ever so much
Business, it can’t stop the Circulation of his
Blood, or prevent the Seminal Secretion:
for Sleeping or Waking, the Spermaticks
will do their Office, tho’ a Man’s Thoughts
may be so much employ’d about other
Affairs, that he cannot attend to every minute
Titillation. A Man of Pleasure, indeed,
may make this copulative Science his
whole Study; and, by Idleness and Luxury,
may prompt Nature that Way, and spur up
the Spirits to Wantonness: but then his
Constitution will be the sooner tired; for
the Animal Spirits being exhausted by this
Anticipation, his Body must be weaken’d,
and his Nerves relax’d; neither will his irregular
effeminate Life assist them in recovering
their former Force. Besides, those Parts
which more particularly suffer the Violence
of this Exercise, are liable to many Accidents;
and Men of Pleasure, though otherwise
pretty healthy, are often troubled with
Gleets and Weaknesses, either by a former
Ulceration of the Prostrates, or else some
violent Over-straining, which occasions this
Relaxation. These Men, ’tis true, will talk
very lusciously of Women; but, pretend
what they please, they can never have
that burning Desire which they had formerly,
when their Vessels were in full Vigour.
The Truth is, their Lust lies chiefly
in their Brain, kept alive by the Impression
of former Ideas, which are not so easily
rubb’d out as the Titillation which created
them; and this Passion comes to be so diminished,
that, in Time, it changes its Residence
from the Glans Penis to the Glandula
Penealis. A Man of Business, on
the contrary, or one who leads a sober regular
Life, will seldomer be attack’d by
these wanton Fits, but then they will come
with double the Violence; for though it is a
common received Opinion, that the longer
a Man refrains, the better he is able to
refrain, yet it is only true in one Sense,
and amounts to no more than this: That
if a Man has been able, for such and such
Reasons, to curb this Passion, for Instance,
a Month, he will, if the same Reasons hold,
and without an additional Temptation, be
able to curb it a Month longer; but, nevertheless,
he may have Desires much stronger
than a Man who, for want of these
Motives to Abstinence, gratifies them every
Day. If there are some Men of a particular
Constitution, whose puny Desires may
be easily block’d up with the Assistance
of three small Buttons: or else endow’d
with such an extraordinary Strength of Reason,
that they can master the most rampant
Sallies of this raging Passion; I heartily
congratulate their happy Conquest, but
have nothing more to do with them at
present, the Publick Stews not being design’d
for such: I am here speaking of those
Men of Business, who, notwithstanding their
Abstinence or the Regularity of their Lives,
are sometimes prevailed upon to quench these
amorous Heats; and, I say, in such Men the
Passion is much stronger than in Men of
Pleasure, and that their Abstinence contributes
to heighten the Violence of the Desire,
and make it the more irresistible:
for the Fancy not being cloy’d with too
frequent Enjoyment, presently takes fire; and
the Spermaticks, not being weaken’d with
forc’d Evacuations, are in their full Vigour,
and give the Nerves a most exquisite Sensation:
so that upon the least toying with
an alluring Wench, the Blood-Vessels are
ready to start; and to use Othello’s Words,
The very Sense aches at her.
Now, what shall this Man do, when he
has once taken the Resolution to make himself
easy? He must either venture upon the
Publick, where, it is Odds, he may meet
with a Mischance that will either drain his
Pocket, and make him unfit for any Business,
at least without Doors; or else he must
employ both his Time and Rhetoric, and
perhaps too his Purse, in deluding some modest
Girl; which, besides the Loss of Time
in carrying on such an Intrigue, is apt to give
the Head such an amorous Turn as is quite
inconsistent with Business, and may probably
lead a Man into After-Expences, which at first
he never dreamt of.
Now to remedy all these Inconveniences,
the Publick Stews will be always ready
and open, where a Man may regulate his
Expences according to his Ability, from
Half a Crown to a Guinea; and that too
without endangering his Health: And besides,
which is chiefly to be consider’d, if
a Man should be overtaken with a sudden
Gust of Lechery, it will be no Hindrance
to him even in the greatest Hurry of Business,
for a ready and willing Mistress will
ease him in the twinkling of an Eye, and
he may prosecute his Affairs with more Attention
than ever, by having his Mind entirely
freed and disengag’d from those troublesome
Ideas which always accompany a
wanton Disposition of the Body. But to proceed:
Another ill Consequence of Whoring, is
the Tendency it has to dispeople a Nation;
and that both by the Destruction of Illegitimate
Infants, and by ruining young Men’s Constitutions
so much, that, when they marry,
they either beget no Children, or such as are
sickly and short-liv’d. The first of these,
indeed, is almost unavoidable, especially in
modest Women, who will be guilty of this
Cruelty as long as Female Chastity carries
that high Reputation along with it, which
it really deserves: However, in common
Women, it may and will be, in a great
measure, prevented by this Scheme; for
every profess’d Courtezan, that is legally
licens’d, will have an Apartment allotted
her in the Infirmary when she is ready to
lie in, and will be obliged to take Care of
her Child; by which means a considerable
Number of Infants will be reared up, that
otherwise might probably have perish’d. Besides,
there are a great many ordinary Girls,
such as Servant-Maids, who are chiefly mov’d
to this Action, by the fear of losing their
Services, and wanting Bread. Now this
handsome Provision that is made for them,
will be a great Inducement for such to enter
themselves in the Stews, rather than commit
such an unnatural Action, especially when the
Discovery is Death.
Let us now consider the Affair of Matrimony.
Since the World is now no longer
in a State of Nature, but form’d into several
Societies independent of one another, and
these Societies again divided into several
Ranks and Degrees of Men, distinguish’d
by their Titles and Possessions, which descend
from Father to Son; it is very certain
that Marriage is absolutely necessary, not only
for the regular Propagation of the Species,
and their careful Education, but likewise
for preserving that Distinction of Rank
among Mankind, which otherwise would be
utterly lost and confounded by doubtful Successions.
And it is no less certain and indisputable,
that all Sorts and Kinds of Debauchery
whatever are Enemies to this State, in
so far as they impair the natural Vigour of
the Constitution, and weaken the very Springs
of Love.
This necessary Passion is, indeed, of such
a ticklish Nature, that either too much or
too little of it is equally prejudicial, and
the Medium is so hard to hit, that we are
apt to fall into one of the Extremes. We
are naturally furnish’d with an extraordinary
Stock of Love; and, by the Largeness of
the Provision, it looks as if Nature had
made some Allowance for Wear and Tear.
If young Men were to live intirely chaste
and sober, without blunting the Edge of
their Passions, the first Fit of Love would
turn their Brains Topsy-turvy, and we should
have the Nation pestered with Love-Adventures
and Feats of Chivalry: By the
time a Peer’s Son came to be Sixteen, he
would be in danger of turning Knight-Errant,
and might possibly take a Cobler’s
Daughter for his Dulcinea; and who knows
but a sprightly young Taylor might turn
an Orlando Furioso, and venture his Neck
to carry off a Lady of Birth and Fortune.
In short, there are so many Instances every
day of these ruinous disproportion’d Matches,
notwithstanding our present Intemperance,
that we may justly conclude, if the
Nation was in a State of perfect Sobriety,
no Man could answer for the Conduct of his
Children.
It must, indeed, be confess’d, as Matters
now stand, the Excess of Chastity is not so
much to be fear’d as the other Extreme of
Lewdness, tho’ there are Instances of both;
and many Fathers, now living, would gladly
have seen their Sons fifty times in a
Stew, rather than see them so unfortunately
married. The other Extreme is equally, or
rather more dangerous, as it is more common;
for most young Men give too great a
Loose to their Passions, and either quite destroy
their Inclination to Matrimony, or
make their Constitutions incapable of answering
the Ends of that State.
To avoid therefore these two dangerous
Extremes, we have erected the Publick
Stews, which every considerate Man must
allow to be that Golden Mean so much desired:
For, in the first Place, we avoid the
Inconvenience of too strict a Chastity.
When a Man has gained some Experience
by his Commerce in the Stews, he is
able to form a pretty good comparative
Judgment of what he may expect from
the highest Gratifications of Love; he finds
his Ideas of Beauty strangely alter’d after
Enjoyment, and will not be hurry’d into
an unsuitable Match by those romantick chimerical
Notions of Love, which possess the
Minds of unexperienced Youth, and make
them fancy that Love alone can compleat
the Happiness of a married State. But this
will be so readily granted, that I shan’t insist
upon it farther.
In the next Place, the Publick Stews will
prevent the ill Effects of excessive Lewdness,
by preserving Men’s Constitutions so well,
that although they may defer Matrimony
some time for their special Advantage, yet
they will have a sufficient Stock of Desire
left to perswade them, one time or other, to
quit the Gaiety of a Single Life: and when
they do marry, they will be able to answer
all the Ends and Purposes of that State as
well, and rather better, than if they had lived
perfectly chaste.
This may seem a bold Proposition, but
the Proof of it is nevertheless obvious. However,
to proceed methodically, there are
three Ways by which lewd young Men destroy
their natural Vigour, and render themselves
Impotent: First, By Manufriction,
alias Masturbation. Secondly, By too frequent
and immoderate Enjoyment. And,
Lastly, By contracting Venereal Disorders,
as Claps or Poxes.
The first lewd Trick that Boys learn, is
this Manual Diversion; and when they have
once got the knack of it, they seldom quit
it till they come to have actual Commerce
with Women: The Safety, Privacy, Convenience,
and Cheapness of this Gratification
are very strong Motives, and chiefly
persuade young Men to continue the Practice
of it.
If these Pollutionists were so abstemious as
to wait the ordinary Calls of Nature, this
Action, however unnatural, would be no
more prejudicial, when prudently managed,
than common Copulation; but, instead of
this, they are every Day committing Rapes
upon their own Bodies; and though they
have neither real Inclination nor Ability to
attack a Woman, yet they can attack themselves,
and supply all these Defects by the
Agility of their Wrists; by which means
they so weaken their Genitals, and accustom
them to this violent Friction, that,
tho’ they have frequently Evacuations without
an Erection, yet the common and ordinary
Sensation which Females afford to
those Parts, is not able of itself to promote
this Evacuation: so that they are impotent
to all Intents and Purposes of Generation.
To put a Stop therefore to these clandestine
Practices, and prevent young Men from
laying violent Hands upon themselves, we
must have Recourse to the Publick Stews,
which cannot fail to have the desired Effect:
For which of these private Practitioners
can be so brutish, as to prefer this boyish
solitary Amusement before the actual Embraces
of a fine Woman, when they can
proceed with the same Convenience, Safety,
and Privacy in the one, as well as the
other.
In the next Place, Men are often weaken’d,
and sometimes contract almost incurable
Gleets by too frequent and immoderate
Enjoyment. This seldom or never
happens but in private Whoring, when some
particular Mistress has made such a strong
Impression upon a Man’s Fancy, that he
exerts himself in an extraordinary Manner
beyond his natural Ability, and thereby
contracts a Seminal Weakness, which is
generally more difficult to cure than a virulent
Running. Now this Danger will
be pretty well remov’d by the Encouragement
given to Publick Whoring, which, as
I shall show more particularly hereafter,
will divert Men’s Minds, and turn their
Thoughts very much from private Intrigues:
And it will be readily granted me, that no
such Excess is to be fear’d in Publick Stews;
where a Man only acting out of a general
Principle of Love to the whole Sex,
will be in no Danger of proceeding any
farther than he is prompted by Nature, and
the particular Disposition of his Body at
that Time.
As for the third Cause of Impotency,
the Venereal Disease, we have already
prov’d that this Institution of the Stews
is the best and surest Remedy against it;
and shall only observe here how happily
this Project provides against the various ill
Effects of Lewdness, in whatever Light we
consider them.
Thus, I think, the first Part of my Proposition
pretty well clear’d, viz. That the
Publick Stews will preserve Mens Constitutions
so well, that they will have a
sufficient Stock of corporal Ability, and consequently
Inclination left to persuade them,
sooner or later, to enter into the Marriage-State.
I say farther, that these Men, having thus
preserv’d their Constitution, will answer all
the Intents and Purposes of that State, rather
better than if they had lived perfectly
chaste.
When a Man and a Woman select one
another out of the whole Species, it is
not merely for Propagation; nay, that is
generally the least in their Thoughts: What
they chiefly have in View, is to pass the
Remainder of their Lives happily together,
to enjoy the soft Embraces and mutual
Endearments of Love; to divide their Joys
and Griefs; to share their Pleasures and
Afflictions; and, in short, to make one
another as happy as possible. As for Children,
they come of Course, and of Course
are educated according to their Parents
Abilities.
Now all these Enjoyments depending
upon the mutual Affection of these two,
Man and Wife; whenever this Affection
fails, either in the Woman or the Man,
that Marriage is unhappy, and all the good
Ends and Designs of this State entirely
frustrated. To give the Women their Due,
they must have the Preference in Point of
Constancy; their Passions are not so easily
rais’d, nor so suddenly fix’d upon any particular
Object: but when this Passion is
once rooted in Women, it is much stronger
and more durable than in Men, and rather
increases than diminishes, by enjoying the
Person beloved. Whether it is that Women
receive as much Love as they part
with, and that the Love they receive is
not entirely lost, but takes Root again by
Conception; whereas what a Man parts
with never affects him further, than just the
Pleasure he receives at the time of parting
with it: or whether this Difference is
owing to the different Turn of Mens Fancies,
which are more susceptible of fresh
Impressions from every handsome Face they
meet, or perhaps that their Heads are so
much employ’d in worldly Affairs, that
they only take Love en passant to get rid
of a present Uneasiness, whereas Women
make it the whole Business of their Lives:
Whatever the Reason is, I say, it is experimentally
true, that a Woman has but a very
slippery Hold of a Man’s Affections after
Enjoyment. Let us see therefore which of
these two, the chaste or the experienc’d Man,
will be least liable to this Failure of Affection,
and consequently which of the two
will make the best married Man.
The first great Cooler of a Man’s Affections
after Marriage, is the Disparity of the
Match. When a Man has married entirely
for Love, and to the apparent Detriment
of his worldly Affairs, as soon as the first
Flash of it is over, he can’t help reflecting
upon the Woman as the Cause, and, in
some Sense, the Author of his Misfortunes;
This naturally begets a Coldness and Indifference,
which, by Degrees, turns to an
open Dislike. Now it is these sorts of Marriages
that chaste Men are always in danger
of falling into, as I have already proved;
neither is there any effectual Way to convince
a Man of this Folly, and secure him
against it, but by giving him some Experience
in Love-Affairs. Again, as chaste
Men seldom marry for any thing but sheer
Love, so they have framed to themselves
such high extravagant Notions of the Raptures
they expect to possess in the Marriage-Bed,
that they are mightily shocked at
the Disappointment. A chaste unexperienc’d
Man is strangely surprized, that those bewitching
Charms should make such a faint
Impression upon him after a thorow Perusal;
he can scarce believe that the Woman is still
possessed of the same Charms which transported
him formerly; he fancies he has discover’d
abundance of little Faults and Imperfections,
and attributes his growing Dislike
to this Discovery, not dreaming that
this Alteration is entirely in himself, and
not in the Object of Desire, which remains
still the same. The Truth is, when a Man is
full fraught with Love, and that his Pulse
beats high for Enjoyment, this peccant Love-Humour
falls down upon the Eye, which
may be observ’d at such a time to be full
brisk and sparkling: ’Tis then the Beauty
of every Feature is magnified. and Parthenope
is no less than a Goddess. But when
this dazzling Humour is drawn downwards
by a Revulsion, as in the Case of Marriage,
a Man’s Eyes are perfectly open’d;
and though they may look languid, sunk, and
environ’d with blueish Circles, yet he actually
sees much better than before; for Parthenope
will now appear to him a Mortal, such
as she really is, divested of all those false Glosses
and Appearances.
The chaste Man is surprized at this
Change; he is apt to lay the Fault upon the
Woman, and generally fixes his Affections
on some other Female, who, he imagines,
is free from those Faults: then farewel happy
Wedlock. The experienc’d Man, on the
contrary, has try’d several Women; he
finds they all agree in one Particular, and
that after a Storm of Love there always succeeds
a Calm: When he enters into Matrimony,
he is prepar’d against any Disappointments
of that Nature, and is ready to make
Allowance for those Faults and Imperfections
which are inseparable from Human
Kind. This is so true, that Women have
establish’d a Maxim, that Rakes make the
best Husbands; for they are very sensible
how difficult it is to monopolize a Man’s
Affections; that he will have his Curiosity
about those Affairs satisfied one time or
other: And tho’ this Experience is useful
before Marriage, it is very dangerous afterwards.
Besides, to compleat the Happiness of the
Marriage-State, or indeed to make it tolerably
easy, there must be some Agreement
in the Temper, Humour, and Disposition of
the two Parties concern’d. If, for Instance,
the Man can’t endure the Sight of a Metropolis,
and the Woman can’t enjoy herself
out of it; if the Man is grave, serious, and
an Enemy to all jocular Merriment, when
his Wife is a profess’d Lover of Mirth and
Gaiety, these two can never agree: Differences
will arise every Day, and Differences
in Wedlock are as hard to reconcile as those
in Religion: We may guess at the Reason
from a parallel Instance.
After the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantz, several Protestant Gentlemen were
shut up in the Bastile at Paris, where they
liv’d constantly together for a considerable
Time: They made an Observation, during
their Stay there, That whenever the least
Difference or Dispute happen’d amongst them,
it was never reconciled till some time after
their Enlargement; because, said they, altho’
we were Yoke-Fellows in Affliction, yet
never being out of one another’s Company,
our Animosities were always kept up warm,
for want of a little Absence to cool them.
It is the same Case with Matrimony; and
People ought to be particularly careful to
chuse a Wife as nearly of their own Temper
as possible.
Now this Consideration never enters into
the Head of a chaste unexperienc’d Man,
he is so infatuated with personal Love, that
he imagines his whole future Happiness depends
upon the Possession of such a Shape,
or such a Composition of Features; when
he is disappointed in this, how much will it
add to his Chagrin, to find himself yoked
for Life to a Woman whose Temper is quite
opposite to his own, and consequently whose
Satisfaction is quite inconsistent with his?
We may guess the Sequel; separate Beds, separate
Maintenance, and all the whole Train
of Conjugal Misfortunes. In short, let us
consider Matrimony under what View we
please, we shall still find that the experienc’d
Man will make the best Husband, and answer
all the Ends of Marriage much better
than a Man who lives perfectly chaste to his
Wedding-Day.
Thus, we see, by this happy Regulation
of the Publick Stews, that Whoring, instead
of being an Enemy to Matrimony, will advance
and promote the Interest of it as much
as possible.
We come to the last great Point propos’d,
viz. that this Project of the Publick
Stews will prevent, as much a possible, the
debauching of modest Women, and thereby
reduce Whoring to the narrowest Bounds in
which it can possibly be contain’d.
To illustrate this Matter, we must step a
little back to consider the Constitution of
Females, while they are in a State of Innocence;
and when we have taken a View of
the Fortifications which Nature has made to
preserve their Chastity, we shall find out
the Reason why it is so often surrender’d,
and be the better able to provide for its
Defence.
Every Woman, who is capable of Conception,
must have those Parts which officiate
so framed, that they may be able
to perform whatever is necessary at that
Juncture. Now, to have those Parts so
rightly adapted for the Use which Nature
design’d them, it is requisite that they should
have a very quick Sensation, and, upon
the Application of the Male-Organ, afford
the Woman an exquisite Pleasure; for
without this extravagant Pleasure in Fruition,
the recipient Organs could never exert
themselves to promote Conception as
they now do, in such an extraordinary
Manner: The whole Vagina, as one continu’d
Sphincter, contracting and embracing
the Penis, while the Nymphæ and adjacent
Islands have their particular Emissions at
that critical Minute, either as a Vehicle
to lubricate the Passage, or else to incorporate
with the Masculine Injection: Add to
this, that the Fallopian Tubes put themselves
in a proper Posture to receive the impregnating
Fluid, and convey it, as is suppos’d,
to the Ovaria. Now it is hard to imagine,
that so many alert Members, which
can exert themselves in such a lively Manner
on this Occasion, should be at all
other Times in a State of perfect Tranquillity;
for, besides that Experience teaches
us the contrary, this handsome Disposition
would be entirely useless, if Nature had not
provided a prior Titillation, to provoke Women
at first to enter upon Action; and all
our late Discoveries, in Anatomy, can find
out no other Use for the Clitoris, but to
whet the Female Desire by its frequent
Erections; which are, doubtless, as provoking
as those of the Penis, of which it is a
perfect Copy, tho’ in Miniature.
In short, there requires no more to convince
us of the Violence of Female Desire,
when raised to a proper height, but only to
consider, what a terrible Risque a Woman
runs to gratify it. Shame and Poverty
are look’d upon as Trifles, when they
come in Competition with this predominating
Passion. But altho’ it must be allow’d,
that all Women are liable to these
amorous Desires, yet, the Variety of Constitutions
will make a considerable Difference;
for as in some Men the Olfactory, Auditory,
or Optick Nerves, are not so brisk
and lively as in others, so there are some
Women who have the Nerves of their Pudenda
more lively, and endow’d with a
much quicker Sensation than others. Now,
whether this Difference is owing to the
Formation of the Nerves, or to the different
Velocity of the Blood circulating thro’
those Parts, or whether it is owing to the
different Quantity, or perhaps Acrimony, of
that Fluid which is separated from the Blood
by the Nymphæ, and other titillating Glands:
I say, from whencesoever this Difference
proceeds, according to the Degree of this
Sensation, we may venture to pronounce a
Woman more or less in their own Nature
Chaste.
To counterballance this violent natural
Desire, all young Women have strong Notions
of Honour carefully inculcated into
them from their Infancy. Young Girls
are taught to hate a Whore, before they
know what the Word means; and when
they grow up, they find their worldly
Interest entirely depending upon the Reputation
of their Chastity. This Sense of
Honour and Interest, is what we may call
artificial Chastity; and it is upon this
Compound of natural and artificial Chastity,
that every Woman’s real actual Chastity
depends.
As for Instance, some Women are naturally
more Chaste, or rather, to speak properly,
less Amorous than others, and at
the same time have very strict Notions of
Honour. Such Women are almost impregnable,
and may be compar’d to Towns
strongly fortify’d both by Art and Nature,
which, without Treachery, are safe from
any sudden Attacks, and must be reduc’d
by long and regular Sieges, such as few
Men have the Patience or Resolution to go
thro’ with.
Other Women, again, have the same Value
for their Reputation, and stand as much
upon the Puncto of Honour; but then they
are naturally of a very sanguine amorous
Disposition. A Woman of this Class may
not unjustly be compar’d to a Town well
garrison’d, but whose mutinous unruly Inhabitants
are strongly inclin’d to revolt and
let in the Enemy. Such Women, it’s true,
by extraordinary Care and Vigilance may
suppress these Mutinies; and Honour may
for a long while keep Inclination under,
but yet they are never perfectly safe; there
are certain Times and Seasons, certain unguarded
Hours, when Honour and Interest
are lull’d asleep, and Love has got the entire
Ascendant. Besides, altho’ we allow
Love and Honour to be pretty equal Combatants,
nay even granting, that in a Pitch’d
Battle, when they have muster’d up all
their Forces, Honour will have the Advantage,
and quell Inclination; yet, in the
Course of a long Civil War, it is Odds
but Love one Time or other obtains a Victory,
which is sure to be decisive: for Inclination
has this unlucky Advantage over
Honour, that, instead of being weaken’d,
it grows stronger by Subjection; and, like
Camomile, the more it is press’d down and
kept under, the sturdier it grows; or, like
Antæus, it receives fresh Vigour from every
Defeat, and rises the brisker the oftener it is
thrown. Whereas Honour once routed never
rallies; nay, the least Breach in Female
Reputation is irreparable; and a Gap in
Chastity, like a Chasm in a young Tree, is
every Day a Widening. Besides, Honour
and Interest require a long Chain of solid
Reasoning before they can be set in Battle-Array:
Whereas Inclination is presently under
Arms, the Moment Love has pitch’d his
Standard: For, as we find that the least
wanton Glance of a Lady’s Eye quickly
alarms a Man’s Animal Spirits, and puts the
whole Body Corporate into an unruly Ferment;
so, doubtless, the Female Imagination
is at least equally alert: and in such a
sudden Scuffle betwixt Love and Honour,
it is ten to one but the Enemy enters; for
the Gate of Chastity, like the Temple of
Janus, always stands open during these
Conflicts. It must indeed be granted, that
if the Loss of Honour was immediately to
succeed the Loss of Chastity, the Virtue of
these Women would be much stronger than
it is; but they flatter themselves with the
Hopes of Secrecy, and fancy that they have
found out an Expedient to purchase Pleasure
without the Expence of Reputation; by
this Means Honour is reconciled to Inclination,
or at best made to stand Neuter; and
then the Consequence is very obvious. In
short, a wanton Woman of Honour may
withstand a great many Attacks, and possibly
defend her Chastity to the very last; but
yet she is every Day in danger of being surpriz’d,
and at best will make but a very precarious
Defence.
A third Sort of Women, the very Reverse
of the preceding, have neither Honour
nor Inclination; that is to say, they have
neither the one nor the other to an equal
Degree with the rest of the Sex. These
Kinds of Women, who put a slighter Value
than ordinary upon their Characters, are generally,
in their Circumstances, either above
the World or below it; for when a Woman
has her Interest and Fortune depending
upon her Reputation, as all the middle
Rank of Womankind have, she is a Woman
of Honour of course. Interest, indeed,
is inseparable from Female Honour, nay, it
is the very Foundation of it; and Honour
and Interest, when they are consider’d
as Guardians to Chastity, are synonimous
Terms. The bare Puncto of Honour, when
abstracted from Interest, would prove but a
small Rub to Women in their eager Pursuit
of Pleasure: Thus we see the Conduct
of a Maiden Lady, how much more circumspect
it is whilst her Fortune in Marriage
is depending, than afterwards, when that
Point of Interest is secured by a Husband;
for all marry’d Women are above the
World, in so far as they are out of the
Reach of any Suspicions or Surmises, or
even a Probability of Incontinence; and
since they are not liable to be detected by
Pregnancy, there’s no other Sort of Conviction
able to prejudice them, but downright
ocular Demonstration: Which seems
to be the Reason why so many of them
take such Liberties, as if they were of
Falstaff’s Opinion, when he said, Nothing
but Eyes confutes me. Female Honour,
therefore, being so nearly ally’d and closely
annex’d to worldly Interest, we must
confine this Class of Women to two Sorts:
First, those whose Fortunes are independent,
and above being influenc’d by the
Censure of the World; and, secondly, those
who are far below the World, that they
either escape its Censure, or else are incapable
of being hurt by it. The first Sort lie
under this Disadvantage, that let their natural
Chastity be ever so great, the smallest
Spark of Desire is capable of being blown
up and rais’d to a considerable Pitch; whereas,
when a Woman is once arriv’d to Maturity,
that Portion of Honour which she
has acquir’d, is with Difficulty preserv’d, and
at best is incapable of any Improvement.
The second Sort are equally liable to have
their Passions rais’d, however low they may
be naturally, and besides lie under this farther
Disadvantage, that tho’ they cannot promote
their Interest by preserving their Chastity,
yet, if they have the least Spark of
Beauty, they will find their Account sufficiently
in parting with it. The Virtue, indeed,
of this Class of Women, seems chiefly
to depend upon the Degree of Beauty which
they stand possess’d of; for if they have
Charms sufficient to provoke young Men to
be at any tolerable Pains and Cost, their
Chastity can never hold out long, but must
infallibly surrender.
The fourth and last Kind of Women we
shall mention, are those who have a very
moderate Share of Honour, join’d to a very
amorous Constitution.
The Virtue of these Women is entirely
defenceless; and, as soon as a Man has removed
that little timorous Coyness, which
is natural to young Women in their first
Attempts, he may proceed with Confidence,
and conclude the Breach to be practicable;
for whatever Resistance he meets with afterwards,
will only enhance the Pleasure of
Conquest. Most Women, indeed, let them
be ever so fully resolv’d to comply, make
as great a Shew of Resistance as they can
conveniently counterfeit; and this the Sex
would pass upon the World for a kind of
innate Modesty: but it is very easily accounted
for.
As soon as Women have entertain’d any
Degree of Love, they make it their whole
Study to raise and maintain an equal Degree
of Passion in the Men; and they are very
sensible how far the bare Appearance of
Modesty will prevail to render them amiable.
The Pain they suffer in smothering
their Desires, is fully recompenced by that
secret Pleasure which a Lover’s Eagerness
gives them, because they esteem it a Proof
both of the Sincerity and Violence of his
Passion. A Woman is not, without some
Reason, afraid, lest a Man’s Love should diminish
after Enjoyment, and would gladly
bribe his After-Love, by the great Value she
seems to put upon her Chastity before she
makes him a Present of it.
Besides, not to mention the actual Pleasure
a Woman receives in Struggling, it is
a Justification of her in the Eye of the
Man, and a kind of Salvo to her Honour
and Conscience, that she never did fully
comply, but was in a manner forced into
it. This is the plain natural Reason why
most Women refuse to surrender upon Treaty,
and why they delight so much in being
storm’d.
Having thus taken a cursory View of the
Sex, in their several Classes, and according
to their several Circumstances, we may
conclude, preferring Truth to Complaisance,
that by far the greater Part of Womenkind
hold their Virtue very precariously;
and that Female Chastity is, in its own
Nature, built upon a very ticklish Foundation.
Hudibras has ludicrously plac’d the Seat
of Male-Honour, in the Posteriors, whereby
it is secur’d from any Attack in Front; but
Female Honour, notwithstanding the apparent
Safety of the Situation, like a Debtor’s
House upon the Verge of two Counties, is
liable to be attack’d both Ways; à parte
ante, & à parte post,
That the Seat of Honour in Females has
this double Aspect, like Janus bifrons, and
consequently that it is two Ways accessible,
has already been taken Notice of by almost
all the Writers upon this Subject;
but it is worth remarking here, that Lycurgus
had an Eye to it when he modelled
the Spartan Petticoat; for tho’ the Warmth
of the Climate obliged the Women to be
very open in that Part of their Dress, insomuch
that, if we believe Plutarch, in his
Comparison of Numa and Lycurgus, the
Habit which the Maidens of Laconia wore
came but to their Knees, and was open on
both Sides, so that as they walked their
Thighs appear’d bare; yet this wise Law-giver
would not permit them to make the
least Aperture, either in the fore or hind
Part of that Garment; rightly judging, that
those two sacred Avenues to a Maid’s Honour
ought to be guarded with the utmost
Caution.
For this same Reason the upright Posture
of the Body has always been esteem’d
the most decent; and it has ever been
the Mode, in all Countries, for Ladies to
cursey instead of bowing: for, tho’ a Female-Bow,
might seem a modest and coy Reclension
of the Body, with regard to the Person saluted,
yet it would occasion a very indecent Projection
to those who should happen to be
behind; especially since that dangerous Fashion
of Postern-Plackets has crept into the European
Petticoat.
But to return to our present Argument,
the Design of which was to prove the following
Syllogism.
The only way to preserve Female Chastity,
is to prevent the Men from laying
Siege to it: And this Project of the Publick
Stews is the only Way to prevent Mens
laying Siege to it: Therefore this Project
is the only Way to preserve Female
Chastity.
The former Part of the Proposition is, I
hope, sufficiently proved. It is, indeed, evident,
from the bare Consideration of the
Nature of Females, that if the Men are
suffer’d to go on, as they now do, in the
Pursuit of Pleasure, there is no possible Way
can be found out, effectually, to secure the
Virtue of any one Woman of any Rank, or
in any Station of Life. If a Woman is
handsome, she has the more Tryals to undergo;
if homely, and for that Reason seldom
attack’d, the Novelty of the Address
makes the greater Impression: If she is married,
it is odds but there’s a Failure at
home, and habitual Pleasures are not easily
foregone, especially when they may be enjoy’d
with Safety: If a Maid, her unexperienc’d
Virgin-Heart is capable of any Impression:
If she is rich, Ease and Luxury
make the Blood run mad; and Love, if
high-dieted, is ungovernable: If poor, she
will be the easier bribed, when Love and
Avarice jointly must be gratified.
In short, to sum up all, there is in the
Passion of Love a certain fatal Crisis, to
which all Womenkind are capable of being
wrought-up: The Difference of Virtue
consisting only in this, that it is very
hard to work a virtuous Woman up to this
Crisis, and requires a very unlucky Concurrence
of Circumstances: Whereas a Woman
without a good Stock of Virtue, must
have an unaccountable Series of good Fortune
if she escapes. But, virtuous or not
virtuous, when this Passion is once rais’d
to the critical Height, it is absolutely irresistible.
Since therefore Female Virtue cannot effectually
be secured, but by preventing the
Men from laying Siege to it, it remains for
us to examine, if this Prevention can be effected
by any other Method than that of erecting
the Publick Stews, and whether or no
when erected, they will have the desired
Effect.
That young Men, in a good State of
Health, have their Desires towards Women
much stronger, and more violent, than for
the Enjoyment of any thing else in this
Life, is a Truth not to be contested. And
it is likewise as certain, that young Men
will gratify these Desires, unless the Legislature
can affix such a Penalty to the Commission
of the Fact, that the Apprehension
of the Penalty may give their Minds more
Uneasiness, than refraining from the Gratification.
Now there are but three Things which
Men fear in this Life, viz. Shame, Poverty,
and Bodily Pain, and consequently but three
Sorts of Punishments, which the Legislature
can inflict. The first of these, indeed,
might be omitted; for Shame is so
very little in the Power of the Laws, that
it hardly deserves the Name of a Penalty.
If the Pillory, and such like infamous Punishments,
are more terrible for the Shame
that attends them, than for the bodily Pain,
it is not because such a Posture of a
Man’s Body, with his Neck through a
Hole, is in itself ignominious, or that
any Law can make it so; but because it
publishes to the World, that a Man has
been prov’d to commit such a certain Action,
in its own Nature scandalous, which
he is asham’d to have thus publickly made
known. The truth is, “Honour and Dishonour
being only the different Opinions of
Mankind, as to the Good or Evil of any
Action; and these Opinions in the Mind
arising, as Dr. Clarke well observes,
from the natural Fitness or Unfitness of
the Actions themselves, cannot be alter’d
or determin’d by any Secular Force.” And
that they are entirely out of the Power
of the Legislature, is evident in the Instance
of Duelling; where a Man often receives
Honour for a Breach of the Law, nay
is forced to break it in Defence of his
Honour.
The utmost Scandal, therefore, which the
Laws can affix to any Action, is to make a
full and open Publication of the Fact: Now
it is evident that this Publication cannot
have a sufficient Influence over Mens Minds
to deter them from Wenching, a Crime
which meets with so favourable a Reception
in the Eye of the World, that young Men
are not asham’d to boast of it.
We must have Recourse then to a Fine, or
Corporal Punishment, or perhaps both. If
it is a Fine, it must be one of these three
sorts; either a certain determinate Sum for
every Offence, or, to make it fall more
equally, such a certain Portion of a Man’s
whole Substance, or else it must be such a
Sum as the Jury shall think sufficient to repair
the Woman’s Damages. The first is
impracticable because of its Inequality, with
regard to Mens different Fortunes. The second
would punish none but Men of Fortune.
And the third, in many Cases, would
be impossible; for Women are often ruin’d
by such as have it not in their power to
make them amends. But granting that a
Fine could be so happily contriv’d as to affect
all Men equally in their several Stations
of Life; and let us suppose this Fine considerable
enough, for so it must be, to deter any
moderate-spirited Man: yet still we lie under
a manifest Dilemma as to the Point of
Proof; for if the Proof is to depend upon
the Evidence of Eye-Witnesses, none but
Fools will be convicted; and let a Man be
ever so indiscreet, he that swears to rem in
re must have good Eyes, and be a good
Swearer withal. If, on the other hand, a
Man is to be convicted upon the sole Evidence
of the Woman, we run into greater
Inconveniences: for either a Woman is to
be recompenced for the Injury she has received,
or not; if not, there is no modest
Woman of common Sense, but will chuse
much rather to conceal her Weakness, than
expose it in publick Court so much to her
own Prejudice; and this too upon the sole
Motive of doing Prejudice to a Man, for
whom, in all Probability, she still retains an
Affection: So that no Man would be accus’d
but by such sort of Women as the Law can
never intend to favour or countenance.
And if the Woman is to receive this Fine,
either in Part or the Whole, by way of Reparation,
not to mention its being an actual
Encouragement to transgress, this Recompence
would only be a Means to promote
a Multitude of false Accusations; for what
Man could live with so much Circumspection,
that a Woman might not often have an
Opportunity to accuse him of such a Fact,
with very probable Circumstances, when there
is no Opportunity of detecting the Fallacy.
This Difficulty, indeed, is not to be got
over; and the Objection lies equally strong
against all sorts of Corporal Punishment,
Death itself not excepted. For if there are
so many false Indictments for Rapes, where
a Woman receives no Benefit by the Prosecution,
where she is liable to such cross Examinations,
and where the Possibility of the
Fact is so much doubted, that a Woman is
generally discountenanc’d, and must bring a
Number of probable concurrent Circumstances
before she can gain Credit: I say, if notwithstanding
these Discouragements, there
are so many malicious Prosecutions for
Rapes, that the Benefit of the Law in general
is much disputed, what may we expect
in the present Case, where a Woman has
nothing to do but acknowledge that she was
over-persuaded, and then all Difficulties vanish?
Besides, if such a Law was made,
setting aside that the Remedy would be
worse than the Disease, it is much to be
question’d if it prov’d any Remedy at all:
For what Fine can we propose as sufficient
to deter Men, when there are so many that
squander away their whole Fortunes upon
this sole Gratification? And what Corporal
Punishment, on this side Death, can we
find out equivalent to a Pox, which they
every day run the Risque of?
But no such Law, as yet, has been so
much as propos’d, altho’ Whoring has been
a very obvious Mischief ever since Laws were
in Being; therefore, without farther Argument,
considering the Wisdom of our Legislature,
that such a Law never has been
made, ought to be sufficient Reason for us to
judge it impracticable.
Since the Torrent of Lewdness, then, is
too strong to be opposed by open Force, let
us see if we can find out an Expedient to
divert it by Policy, and prevent the Mischief
tho’ we can’t prevent the Crime.
Most Authors, who have writ of Government,
have chose to express their Sentiments
by comparing the Public Body with the
Body Natural; and Mr. Hobbes, in his Leviathan,
has carry’d the Allegory as far as
it will go. To make Use of it in the present
Instance, we may look upon Whoring
as a Kind of Peccant Humour in the Body-Politic,
which, in order to its Discharge,
naturally seizes upon such external Members
as are most liable to Infection, and at the
same time most proper to carry off the Malignity.
If this Discharge is promoted by a
Licence for Publick Stews, which is a Kind
of legal Evacuative, the Constitution will
certainly be preserv’d: Whereas, if we apply
Penal Laws, like violent Astringents,
they will only drive the Disease back into
the Blood; where, gathering Strength, and
at last assimilating the whole Mass, it will
break out with the utmost Virulence, to the
apparent Hazard of those sound Members,
which otherwise might have escaped the
Contagion. As we may observe in a Clap,
where Nature of her own Accord expels the
noxious Humour thro’ the same Passages by
which it was at first receiv’d; but if we resist
Nature in this Discharge, and repel the
Venom by too hasty an Application of
Styptics, the Disease then turns to a Pox,
seizes the Vitals, and, to use Solomon’s
Words, like a Dart, strikes thro’ the Liver.
But, leaving Allegory as more proper
for Rhetoric or Poetry, than such serious
Debates, since this Project of the Public
Stews is the only Expedient now left for the
Preservation of Female Chastity, the Question
is, Whether or no this Expedient will really
answer the End propos’d?
To prove the Affirmative, requires no more
but that we look into ourselves, and examine
our own Passions; for Love ever was and
will be the same in all Men, and in all Ages.
The first amorous Emotions that young Men
feel, are violent; they are plagued with a
Stimulation, which raises a vehement Desire:
The Passion is strong, but then it is general;
it is Lust, not Love: And therefore the natural
Impatience of Lust will prompt them
to take the speediest way for present Gratification,
and make them prefer the ready and
willing Embraces of a Courtezan, before the
doubtful and distant Prospect of enjoying a
modest Damsel, whose Coyness will cost
so much Pains, as well as Time, to overcome;
and, when overcome, may probably occasion
a future Uneasiness, and give them more
Trouble after Enjoyment than they had before.
Besides this, if their first Affections should
happen to be engaged to a particular Object,
which is very rare; and that this particular
Object was in their Power to compass, which
is still rarer; yet there is naturally in Young-Men
a certain secret Shame, which attends
their first Sallies, and prevents their declaring
a private Passion, ’till it grows so violent, that
they are forced to give it Vent upon the Publick;
and by that means, get into a regular
Method of making themselves easy, without
doing their Modesty any Violence.
But tho’ the natural Bent of Men’s Minds
inclines them to an easy Purchase of Pleasure
in their first Amours, yet publick Whoring
lies at present under so many Disadvantages;
the Publick Women, for want of good Regulation,
are so infamous in their Principles and
Practice; the Places of Resort so vile, and
so scandalously imposing in the common Expence,
and lying under the Lash of the
Civil Power, so pester’d with the mercenary
Officiousness of Reforming Constables; and
which is worst of all, the Plague of Claps
and Poxes is so inevitable, that Men contrary
to their Inclinations are often forc’d to enter
upon private Intrigues, either without trying
the Publick, or after meeting with some Misfortunes
in the Tryal.
Now if we see daily so many Young Men,
who prefer the publick Commerce under all
these Disadvantages, what Success may we
not expect from this happy Establishment of
the Stews, when the Young Women’s Behaviour
will be regulated after a civil decent
Manner; when the Houses of Entertainment
will be so Commodious, and the Expence of
Accomodation so reasonable; when the horrid
Dread of Claps is entirely remov’d; and
when the Laws, instead of disturbing such
Assemblies, will be employ’d in their Protection,
to give them the greater Countenance
and Encouragement; surely we may hope for
a thorough Reformation.
But if these Considerations should not prove
fully effectual, and some Men should be so
obstinate as to persist in private Whoring, notwithstanding
these Inducements to the contrary;
we must then have Recourse to Legal
Force, and drive those who are too resty to be
led: For tho’ the Laws can’t prevent Whoring,
they may yet regulate it; the Quid is not in
their Power, but the Quomodo is. A Man must
eat, but he may be directed how to eat. The
strongest Curb can’t stop an unruly Horse, but
the weakest will serve to turn him: And the
smallest Stream is not to be obstructed, tho’ we
can change the Course of the greatest River.
So Love, tho’ ever so unruly and headstrong in
the general, changes the particular Object of
its Passion with the smallest Circumstance;
and legal Penalties are no trifling Dissuasives,
when the Laws don’t command Impossibilities.
This Argument indeed, of Compulsion, is
in a manner supernumerary, and thrown in,
as it were, ex abundanti: For the Publick Stews
under this regular Oeconomy, will have so
much the Advantage of private Whoring,
whether we regard the Ease and Conveniency
of Enjoyment, or the Beauty and Variety of
Mistresses, that Men’s natural Inclinations will
sway them sufficiently without this superfluous
Constraint. If there is any Fear of Success,
the Danger lies on the other Side; and indeed
we have some Colour of Reason to apprehend,
lest the whole Body of Lewdness being turn’d
upon the Publick, there should want a sufficient
Supply of young Women to recruit the Stews;
which, by that Means, may run into a sudden
Dis-repute, and lose a Character that will be
difficult to retrieve. But however plausible
this Objection may seem at first Sight, we shall
find, upon a nearer View, that it only serves to
make the Excellence of this Scheme the more
manifest.
As there is constantly in the Nation, a certain
Number of young Men, whose Passions
are too strong to brook any Opposition: Our
Business is to contrive a Method how they may
be gratify’d, with as little Expence of Female
Virtue as possible. But the Difficulty lies in
adjusting this Matter, and gaging our young
Men’s Affections so exactly, that the Modesty
of one Woman may not be sacrifis’d, more
than is absolutely necessary for the Preservation
of the rest.
The Gallants of this Age, indeed, are not
quite so sturdy as that rampant Roman Emperor
who deflower’d ten Sarmatian Virgins in one
Night; but what we want in Constitution, we
make up in the Niceity of our Palates; as a
squeamish Stomach requires the greatest Variety
of Dishes: And some of our Youth are grown
such perfect Epicures in Venery, that they can
relish nothing but Virgins: They destroy, it is
true, a great deal of Beauty, by browsing only
upon the Buds.
But we ought not to judge of these Men’s
Abilities by the Number of Women they debauch,
no more than we should measure the
Goodness of a certain curious Gentleman’s Appetite
by his bespeaking several Dozen of young
Pigeons, when he only regal’d upon the Rumps:
Neither is it intirely from a Wantonness of
Fancy, or a luxurious Taste of Pleasure, that
Men indulge themselves in making this Havock,
but chiefly for their own personal Safety. Young
Girls are so giddy, thoughtless, and unexperienc’d,
and withal so fond of the Sport, at their first
setting out, that they seldom escape a Taint;
and a Man is not safe in being constant: Nay,
some Men are afraid of venturing even after
themselves. By this Means several likely
Women, that might do the Publick signal
Service, are in a short Time render’d useless:
And, by a modest Computation, we are put to
the Expence of as many virtuous Women in one
Year, as might reasonably serve the Nation six.
Now, the Publick Stews will regulate this
Affair so precisely, and with such critical Exactness,
that one Year with another, we shall not
have one Woman employ’d in the Publick
Service more than is absolutely necessary, nor
one less than is fully sufficient.
When this Project is first set on foot, the
vast Choice and Variety there is at present of
these Women, will give us an Opportunity of
making a very beautiful Collection; and will,
doubtless, for some Time, occasion a considerable
Run upon the Publick; so that Private Whoring,
the only Nursery of our Courtezans, may probably
remain too long neglected: For the whole
Body of our incontinent Youth, like a standing
Army, being employ’d in constant Action,
there cannot well be spar’d a sufficient Detachment
to raise the necessary Recruits.
But however true this may be, we shall
thereby suffer no Inconvenience; for if the
Supplies of young Women, which we may
reasonably expect from the Northern and
Western Parts of these Kingdoms, or from such
Places as are remote and out of the Influence
of this Scheme: I say, if these Supplies should
not prove sufficient to answer the Greatness of
the Demand, and that the Reputation of the
Stews upon this Account, should begin to flag,
why then the worst Accident that can befal,
is a gradual Relapse into our former State of
Private Whoring; and this no farther than is
just necessary and to recruit the Stews, and
thereby make them retrieve their former Character:
For every Woman who is debauch’d
more than is barely necessary, only brings so
much additional Credit and Reputation to the
Stews, and in some measure atones for the Loss
of her own Chastity, by being a Means to preserve
that of others; so that whenever the Tide
of private Lewdness runs too high, and exceeds
the just and ordinary Bounds, it must of Course,
by encouraging the Publick Stews, immediately
suffer a proportionable Ebb: That is to say,
it must be reduced again so low, that there will
remain but just a sufficient Quantity to supply
the Stews; which is as low, as in the Nature of
the Thing is possible.
I might here lavish out Encomiums, and
take Occasion to dwell upon those many Advantages
that will accrue to the Nation by this
admirable Scheme; but shall only take Notice
of this peculiar Excellence, which it has above all
other Schemes, that it necessarily executes itself.
But since the Necessity of debauching a
certain Number of young Women, is entirely
owing to the Necessity of supplying the Public
Stews; a Question may very reasonably arise,
whether this Project might not be vastly improv’d,
even to the total Extirpation of Private
Whoring, by an Act for encouraging the Importation
of foreign Women. This, I must confess,
deserves a serious Debate: for, besides the Honour
of our Females, which would be preserv’d
by such an Act, it might bring this farther
Advantage; That whereas most of our estated
Youth spend a great Part of their Time and
Fortunes in travelling Abroad, for no other End,
as it seems by most of them, but to be inform’d
in the French and Italian Gallantry; they
would then have an Opportunity of satisfying
their Curiosity in Foreign Amours, without
stirring out of London. But I shall leave the
Decision of this Matter to abler Pens, well
knowing, that a Truth of this Nature, which
carries so much the Air of Novelty, will require
much better Authority than mine to warrant it.
Let it suffice for the present, that I have fully
prov’d what I at first propos’d in this Treatise:
That Public Whoring is neither so criminal in
itself, nor so detrimental to the Society, as Private
Whoring; and that the encouraging of
Publick Whoring, by erecting Stews for that
Purpose, will not only prevent most of the
mischievous Consequences of this Vice, but
even lessen the Quantity of Whoring in general,
and reduce it to the narrowest Bounds which it
can possibly be contain’d in.
After what has been said, it may, perhaps,
appear somewhat odd to talk of Religious
Objections, as if either Christianity or Morality
could possibly object against a Scheme, which is
entirely calculated for the Welfare and Happiness
of Mankind. But since a great many
Men amongst us have entertained such whimsical
Notions of Religion, as to imagine, that in some
Cases, a Law may be unjust and wicked, tho’
it evidently promotes the Publick Good: as if
the right Enjoyment of this Life was inconsistent
with our Happiness in the next: I say,
since many Men of Understanding have suffer’d
themselves to be possess’d with this mistaken
Principle, I shall, as briefly as may be, answer
such Objections as can, with any Colour of
Reason, be offer’d.
First then, I expect to be attack’d with that
old moral Precept, of Not doing Evil that Good
may come of it. This may be answer’d with
another old Saying, equally authentic, and
more applicable to the present Purpose, that
of two Evils we ought to chuse the least. The
Case is this: A private Member of a Society,
may, doubtless, commit a Crime with a Design
to promote the Good of that Society, which was
partly the Case of Felton against the Duke of
Buckingham; and this evil Action may possibly
answer the Goodness of the Intention, but is
universally condemn’d as an unwarrantable Presumption;
and falls justly under the Censure of
doing a certain Evil, for the Prospect of an uncertain
Good. But as to the Legislature, there
is a wide Difference; for they, and they only,
are intrusted with the Welfare of the Society:
This Publick Welfare is, or ought to be, the
whole End and Scope of their Actions; and
they are fully impower’d to do whatever they
judge conducive to that End. If their Intentions
come up to this, they are certainly in their
Consciences acquitted: But as to the World,
their Actions, that is, their Laws, are judg’d
good or bad, just or unjust, according as they
actually prove beneficial or detrimental to the
Society in general: And therefore it is the
grossest Absurdity, and a perfect Contradiction
in Terms, to assert, That a Government may
not commit Evil that Good may come of it;
for, if a Publick Act, taking in all its Consequences,
really produces a greater Quantity of
Good, it must, and ought to be term’d a good
Act; altho’ the bare Act, consider’d in itself,
without the consequent Good, should be in the
highest Degree wicked and unjust.
As for Instance: A Ship performing Quarantine,
and known to be infected, is sunk by a
Storm; some of the Crew, half drown’d, recover
the Shore; but the Moment they land, the Government
orders them to be shot to Death.
This Action, in itself, is no less than a downright
unchristian and inhuman Murther; but
since the Health and Safety of the Nation is
secured by this severe Precaution, it is no Wonder,
if we allow the Action to be not only justifiable,
but in the strictest Sense of Morality Just.
Another Objection, or rather the same set
in a stronger Light, is, That altho’ the Welfare
and Happiness of the Community is, or ought
to be, the only End of all Law and Government,
yet since our spiritual Welfare is the
Summum Bonum which all Christians should aim
at, no Christian Government ought to authorize
the Commission of the least known Sin, tho’
for the greatest temporal Advantage.
To this Objection, I answer, That it is universally
allow’d as one of the greatest Perfections
of the Christian Religion, that its Precepts are
calculated to promote the Happiness of Mankind
in this World as well as the next; if so,
then it is a direct Arraignment of the Lawgiver’s
infinite Wisdom, i. e. a Contradiction to
assert, that, in Matters of Law and Government,
the Publick Breach of any Gospel Precept can
possibly be for the temporal Good of any Society
whatever: And therefore we may with Confidence
affirm, that no sinful Laws can be beneficial,
and vice versa, that no beneficial Laws
can be sinful. Now we have already given
sufficient Proof of the Benefit the Public would
receive by licensing the Stews, and therefore
ought to conclude such Licence lawful; but
lest the apparent Wickedness of the Stews,
should be objected against this general Reasoning,
it is fit that we examine this Matter a
little nearer.
Fornication is, no doubt, a direct Breach of
a Gospel-Precept, and is therefore a Sin; but
this Sin, barely as such, concerns the Government
no more than the Eating of Black-puddings,
equally prohibited in the same 8 Text. The
Reason is this: The Sin consists in a full Intention
to gratify a Lustful Desire; which Intention
the Legislature cannot possibly prevent:
Penalties indeed may deter Men from gratifying
their Desires, at the Expence of the Public, but
will rather increase than lessen the Desires themselves.
If it is argu’d, that the Sin of the
Intention is aggravated by being put in Execution,
so much the better for our Purpose; for
then the Argument stands thus:
Since the Sin of the Intention is entirely out
of the Legislature’s Power, the utmost they
can do, with regard to this Sin, is, to prevent
its being aggravated by actual Commission.
But the Public Stews, as we have already
prov’d, will prevent as much as possible this
actual Commission.
Therefore the Publick Stews will prevent as
much as possible this Sin.
Another Branch of this Objection, without
which the Objection itself would be of no
Force, is, that the authorizing of Public Stews
is a Public Encouragement for People to Whore.
If by People are meant those in the Stews,
I hope it will be thought no Crime to encourage
such People, rather to confine themselves to
the Practice of one Vice, than live by committing
a Thousand; especially when that one Vice
is what they would really practise, whether
they were encourag’d or not.
But if any imagine that this particular
Licence would be a general Encouragement to
the whole Nation, they are certainly mistaken.
For, as to the Men, they are already as bad as
they can be; if any Thing cures them, it must
be Satiety: Let them have full and free Leave
to take a Surfeit of unlawful Love, and they
will soon learn to prefer the Chaste Embraces
of Innocence before the bought Smile of
Harlots loveless, joyless, unindear’d casual
Fruition.
It is a right Observation, that Restraint does
but whet a Man’s Passions instead of curing
them.
Exuperat magis, ægrescitque medendo. Æn. 12.
And a late ingenious Author, who study’d Mankind,
speaking on this Subject, has these Words:
To put down Publick Stews, is not only to disperse
Fornication into all Parts, but, by the
Difficulty, to excite wild and wanton People to
this Vice.
It was observ’d at Rome, that in the full
Liberty of Divorces, there was not a single
Instance of one in fifty Years: And that Cato
long’d for his Wife again as soon as she was in
another’s Possession.
The Master of Love says positively,
Quod licet ingratum est, quod non licet acrius urit.
And Martial speaking to a married Rake,
B. 3. Ep. 68. says,
Cur aliena placet tibi, quæ tua non placet uxor?
Nunquid Securus non potes arrigere?
I pr’ythee tell me why a Wife
Thy am’rous Fancy never warms?
What! without Danger o’thy Life,
Cannot thy Cod-pice stand to Arms?
And again, B. 1. Ep. 74.
Nullus in urbe fuit tota, qui tangere vellet
Uxorem gratis, Cæciliane, tuam
Dum licuit: sed nunc, positis custodibus, ingens
Turba fututorum est. Ingeniosus Homo es.
There’s no Man, Cæcil, in the Town,
Would, gratis, have enjoy’d thy Spouse;
But how thou art so jealous grown,
Lord! what a Croud about the House!
You’ve lock’d her up, t’increase her Value;
In short, you are a cunning Fellow.
The Public Stews will not encourage Men to
be lewd, but they will encourage them to exercise
their Lewdness in a proper Place, without
disturbing the Peace of the Society, and with
as little Detriment to themselves as possible.
And, as to the Women, there’s not the least
Shadow of Encouragement: For no modest
Woman ever lost her Maiden-head with the dismal
Prospect of becoming a Public Courtezan:
And if a Woman is not modest, the licensing
of the Public Stews is no more an Encouragement
for her to practise, than the allowing a
certain Number of Hackney-Coaches every
Sunday is an Encouragement for the rest to ply;
when the very Licence, to some, expresly implies
a Prohibition of the rest.
Having now sufficiently proved the Institution
of the Public Stews to be a Political Good,
and answer’d all the religious Objections against
it; I shall conclude with observing, That I
have the Authority of Italy, the most Politic
Nation in the World, to back me in the first
Part of my Argument; and the Opinion of
Holland, one of the strictest Reformed Churches,
to vindicate me in the second; and that we
ourselves enjoy’d the Benefit of this Institution
till we were depriv’d of it by the over-hasty Zeal
of our first Reformers in the sixteenth Century.
The Public Stews were antiently kept in Southwark,
by an express Licence from the Government,
and open Permission both Civil and Ecclesiastical,
for they paid regular Taxes to the Lord-Mayor
of the City, and to the Bishop of the See.
We do not find that they were ever molested
’till the 25th of Edward the Third, when, in
the Parliament at Westminster, at the Request of
the Londoners, says Daniel, an Act passed, obliging
all Common Whores to distinguish themselves,
by wearing Hoods striped with divers Colours,
or Furs, and their Gowns turn’d inside out.
This, indeed, was but a Trifle to what they
suffer’d thirty Years after by Wat Tyler’s Rebellion.
In the fifth of Richard the Second, Wat
marched up from Dartworth, with a true Spirit
of Reformation, fully resolv’d to burn and
destroy every thing that oppos’d him: If the
Archbishop’s Palace at Lambeth could not escape,
there was little Mercy to be expected for the
Stews 9; besides, Whoring was not the least of
Wat’s Grievances: He began his Rebellion by
killing a Collector of the Poll-Tax for being
a little too brisk upon his Daughter; and his
Antipathy to the Stews was still increased, by
the Lord-Mayor’s shutting the City-Gates, and
denying him Entrance; for he could not revenge
the Affront more effectually, than by cutting
off so large a Branch of his Lordship’s Revenue.
In short, every thing concurred to the Destruction
of the Stews, and demolish’d they
were.
This Action, however, lost Tyler his Life;
for William Walworth, then Lord-Mayor, was
the very Man who struck him first off his
Horse in Smithfield: For which the King
knighted him, gave him 100 l. Pension, and
added the Dagger to the City-Arms.
Whilst Whoring was in this unsettled Condition,
the Bishop thought it a good Opportunity
to ingross the whole Profit of licensing
Courtezans, which occasion’d them fresh Trouble;
for John Northampton, who succeeded
Walworth, either piqued at the Bishop’s invading
his Right, or out of a real Reforming Principle,
for he was a Follower of Wickliff, commenced
a severe Persecution. He had his Spies and
Constables in every Street, to apprehend Strollers;
and such Women as were neither handsome nor
rich enough to bribe his Officers, were carried
through the Streets in great Pomp, with their
Hair shorn, and Trumpets and Pipes playing
before them. All this he did contrary to the
express Commands of the Bishop, who had
several Bickerings with him upon that Head.
This great Reformer John Northampton was,
from his troublesome Temper, nick-nam’d
Cumber-Town; and as he succeeded Tyler in
the Work of Reformation, so he had like to
have met with as bad a Fate: For two Years
after he was found guilty of High Treason,
without making the least Defence; had his
Goods confiscated, and was condemned to
perpetual Imprisonment 100 Miles from London:
Accordingly he was sent to Tentagil-Castle in
Cornwall.
This dreadful Cumber-Town being removed,
the Stews had Leisure to re-settle themselves under
the Protection of the Church; and enjoyed
an almost uninterrupted Tranquillity for 150
Years.
We find, indeed, an Act passed at Westminster,
in the 11th of Hen. VI. that no Keepers
of Stews, or Whore-Houses in Southwark, should
be impannelled upon any Jury, or keep a Tavern
in any other Place.
But the most sensible Blow they ever felt,
was the Invasion of the French-Pox. The
Spaniards had brought it from the Islands of
Florida to Naples, and the Army of Charles
VIII. when he conquer’d that Kingdom in
the Year 1495, transmitted it into France, from
whence it had a very quick Passage into England;
for there was an Act passed in the latter
end of Henry VII’s Reign, for expelling out
of the Stews all such Women as had the Faculty
of Burning Men.
However, we find they still continued in
good Repute in the Reign of Henry VIII.10
and yielded a considerable Revenue to the
Bishop of London; for Bucer, in one of his
Books against Gardiner, taxes him with it as
an heinous Crime, that he should receive most of
his Rents out of the Public Stews.
After this terrible Accusation, we may easily
guess what Quarter our Stews met with at the
Reformation. But now Bucer has got his Ends;
the Stews are destroy’d; those public Nusances are
demolish’d; Whoring is attack’d on all hands
without Mercy; and what then? Why, truly,
by mere Dint of Reforming, we have reduced
Lewdness to that pass, that hardly one Bachelor
in the Kingdom will lie with a Woman, if he
is sure that she’s not found; and very few modest
Women will suffer a Man to get them
with Child, unless he makes a Promise to marry.
In short, the Truth is, we are at this present
Writing as bad as we can be; and I hope I
have fairly shown how we may be better.
APPENDIX.
NUMBER I.
RICHARD RAWLINSON, L. L. D.
and R. S. S. in his Account of Southwark, 11
informs us, that next to the Bear-Garden
on the Bank-Side was formerly the
Bordello, or Stewes, so called from several
Licensed Houses for the Entertainment of
Lewd Persons, in which were Women prepared
for all Comers. They were subject to
several Laws and Regulations, and their Manner
of Life and Privileged Places, received
several Confirmations from the Crown.
In 1162, King Henry II, in a Parliament
held at Westminster, passed an Act, confirming
several Ordinances, Statutes, and old Customs
observed in that Place, amongst which the
following are remarkable:
That no Stew-Holder or his Wife, should
lett or stay any single Woman to go and come
freely at all Times when she listed.
No Stewholder to keep any Woman to board,
but she to board abroad at her Pleasure.
To take no more for the Woman’s Chamber
than fourteen Pence.
Not to keep open his Doors upon the Holy-days.
Not to keep any single Woman in his House
on the Holy-days, but the Bailiff to see them
voided out of the Lordship.
No single Woman to be kept against her
Will, that would leave her Sin.
No Stew-Holder to receive any Woman of
Religion, or any Mans Wife.
No single Woman to take Money to lie with
any Man, except she lye with him all Night,
till the Morrow.
No Man to be drawn or enticed into any
Stew-House.
The Constables, Bailiffs, and others, were
every Week to search every Stew-House.
No Stew-Holder to keep any Woman that
hath the perillous Infirmity of Burning, nor to
sell Bread, Ale, Flesh, Fish, Wood, Coal, or
any sort of Victuals.
Anno 1345, Stews were licenced by King
Edward III. Anno 1381, these Stew-Houses
belonged to William Walworth, Lord-Mayor of
London, who let them out to some Flemish Women,
and soon after they were plundered by Walter
Tyler, and the rebellious Kentishmen, when probably
they were put down, and again suffered, and
afterwards confirmed by Henry VI. In 1506,
King Henry VII. for some Time shut up these
Houses, which were in Number Eighteen, and
not long after renewed their Licence, and reduced
them to Twelve; at which Number they
continued till their final Suppression by Sound
of Trumpet, in 1546, by King Henry VIII,
whose tender Conscience startled at such scandalous
and open Lewdness. The single Women
who were Retainers to, or Inmates in, these
Houses, were excommunicated, not suffered to
enter the Church while alive, or if not reconciled
before their Death, prohibited Christian
Burial, and were interred in a Piece of Ground
called the Single-Women’s Church-Yard, set
a-part for their Use only. These Houses were
distinguished by several Signs painted on their
Fronts, as, a Boar’s-Head, the Crane, the
Cardinal’s Hat, the Swan, the Bell, the Castle,
the Cross-Keys, and the Gun.
NUMBER II.
An Attempt to prove the Antiquity of the
Venereal Disease, long before the Discovery
of the West-Indies; in a Letter
to Dr. James Douglass, M. D.
SIR,
THE Undertaking I am at present engaged
in, is to prove that the Venereal Disease
was known among us, much earlier than the
Æra, which has been generally assign’d for its
Rise by modern Authors; for it is believed it
was not known, at least in Europe, till about the
Year 1494. Notwithstanding which, I determine
to make it evident, that it was frequent
among us some Hundreds of Years before that
Date. I could mention several Physicians and
Surgeons of Eminence, who have been of the
same Sentiments, particularly, the Learned
Dr. Charles Patin, who has written a curious
Dissertation to prove the Antiquity of this
Disease, which is sufficient to excuse me from
the Imputation of having started a Novelty,
or being at the trouble of quoting antient Authorities
before taken notice of, from the most
ancient Writers of Medicine; as Hippocrates,
Galen, Avicen, Celsus, &c. and even the
Holy Scriptures. I shall therefore lay aside all
those foreign Aids and Assistances, and trace out
the Symptoms of the Disease, as they naturally
arise, from the first Infection to the last destructive
Period, and shew that, by searching
into our own Antiquities, we may be furnished
with Instances of the Frequency of the Distemper
among us, in all its respective Stages, before
ever our Modern Authors dream it had its Appearance
in Europe,
I shall begin with the first Degree of this
Disease, and prove from authentic Evidences, it
was anciently call’d the Brenning or Burning;
and that this Word has been successively continu’d
for many Hundreds of Years, to signify
the same Disease we now call a Clap; and
that it was not discontinu’d till that Appellation
first began to have its Rise. The most likely
Method to accomplish my Design, will be first
to examine those Records that relate to the
Stews, which were by Authority allowed to be
kept on the Bank-Side in Southwark, under the
Jurisdiction of the Bp. of Winchester, and
which were suppressed the 37th of Hen. VIII.
For it is impossible but, if there were any such
Distemper in being at that Time, it must be
pretty common among those lewd Women who
had a Licence for entertaining their Paramours,
notwithstanding any Rules or Orders which
might be establish’d to prevent its Increase:
But if we shall find that there were Orders
establish’d to prevent the Spreading of such a
Disease, that Persons might be secure from any
contagious Malady after their Entertainment at
those Houses (which were anciently 18 in
Number, but in the Reign of Hen. VII. reduced
to 12) we may then securely depend
upon it, that it was the Frequency of the Disease
that put those who had the Authority, under
a necessity of making such Rules and Orders.
For the same Powers, who granted a Liberty for
keeping open such lewd Houses, must find it
their Interest to secure, as much as possible, all
Persons from receiving any Injury there; lest
the Frequency of such Misfortunes should deter
others from frequenting them, and so the original
Design of their Institution cease; from the
entire sinking of the Revenues. Now I find
that, as early as the Year 1162, divers Constitutions
relating to the Lordship of Winchester,
(being also confirmed by the King) were to be
kept for ever, according to the old Customs that
had been Time out of Mind. Among which
these were some, viz. 1. No Stew-holder to
take more for a Woman’s Chamber in the Week
than 14 d. 2. Not to keep open his Doors upon
Holy Days. 3. No single Woman to be kept
against her Will, that would leave her Sin. 4.
No single Woman to take Money to be with any
Man, except she lie with him all Night till the
Morning. 5. No Stew-holder to keep any Woman
that hath the perilous Infirmity of Burning.
These and many more Orders were to be strictly
observed, or the Offenders to be severely punished.
Now we are assured, there is no other Disease
that can be communicated by Carnal-Conversation
with Women, but that which is Venereal,
by reason that only is contagious; and its evident
the Burning was certainly so: For, had
it been nothing else but some simple Ulceration,
Heat, or Inflammation, there would have been
no Contagion; and that affecting only the Woman,
could not be communicated by any Venereal
Congress, and so not infer a Necessity of
her being comprehended under the restraining
Article. These Orders likewise prove the Disease
was much more ancient than the Date
above-mentioned; because they were only a
Renewal of such as had been before established
Time out of Mind.
But to confirm this farther, I find that in the
Custody of the Bp. of Winchester, whose Palace
was situate on the Bank-side, near the Stews,
was a Book written upon Vellum, the Title of
which runs thus: Here begynne the Ordinances,
Rules, and Customs, as well for the Salvation of
Mannes Life, as for to aschew many Mischiefs
and Inconvenients that daily be lik there for to fall
out, to be rightfully kept, and due Execution of them
to be done unto any Person within the same. One
of the Articles begins thus: De his qui custodiunt
Mulieres habentes Nephandam infirmitatem.
It goes on, Item, That no Stew-holder keep noo
Woman wythin his House, that hath any Sickness of
BRENNING, but that she be put out upon the peyne
of makeit a fine unto the Lord of a hundred Shillings.
This is taken from the Original Manuscript,
which was preserv’d in the Bishop’s
Court, suppos’d to be written about the Year
1430. From these Orders we may observe the
Frequency of the Distemper at that Time;
which, with other Inconveniences, was dayly
like there for to fall out: and the Greatness of
the Penalty, as the Value of Money then was,
that is laid on it, proves it was no trifling or
insignificant thing.
But the bare Proof of there having been
anciently such a Disease as was called the Burning,
may be thought to be insufficient, unless we
were perfectly assured what it was, and how it
was in those Times described: I shall therefore
do it from an unquestionable Authority, which
is that of John Arden, Esq; who was one of
the Surgeons to King Richard II. and likewise
to King Henry IV. In a curious Manuscript
of his upon Vellum, he defines it to be,
a certain inward Heat and Excoriation of the
Urethra; which Description gives us a perfect
Idea of what we now call a Clap; for frequent
Dissections of those who laboured under that
Disease, have made it evident, that their Urethra
is excoriated by the Virulency of the Matter
they receive from the infected Woman; and
this Excoriation or Ulceration is not confined
to the Ostiola or Mouths of the Glandulæ
Muscosæ as has been lately thought, but may
equally alike attack any Part of the Urethra
not beyond the reach of the impelled malignant
Matter. The Heat before described, which
these Persons are sensible of, as well now as formerly,
is a Consequent of the excoriated Urethra;
for the Salts contained in the Urine must
necessarily prick and irritate the nervous Fibrillæ,
and excite a Heat in those Parts of the Urethra
which are divested of its natural Membrane;
which Heat will always be observed to be more
or less, as the Salts are diluted with a greater or
less Quantity of Urine; a thing I have often observed
in Persons who have laboured under this
Infirmity in hot Weather, when the perspirable
Matter being thrown off in greater Quantities,
the Salts bear a greater Proportion to the Quantity
of Urine, and thereby make its Discharge at that
Time so much the more painful and troublesome.
Thus we see this very early and plain Description
of this Disease among us, to be entirely
conformable to the latest and most exact Anatomical
Discoveries. Here is no Tone of the
Testicles depraved, according to Trajanus Petronius;
no Exulceration of the Parastatæ, according
to Rondeletius; no Ulceration of the
Seminal Vessels, according to Platerus; no Seat
of the Disease in the Vesiculæ Seminales, or
Prostatæ, according to Bartholin; nor in those
Parts and the Testicles at the same Time, according
to our Countryman Wharton and others,
who have falsly fixed the Seat of this Disease,
and whose Notions, in this respect, are now
justly exploded; but a single and true Description
of it, and its Situation, about 150
Years before any of those Gentlemen obliged
the World with their learned Labours.
Having, I hope, sufficiently made it appear,
the Burning was a Disease very early among us,
and given the Description of it, I shall proceed
to say something of the ancient Method that
was made use of to cure it. We are not to
expect the Measures our Predecessors, in those
early Times, made use of, should be calculated
for the removing any Malignity in the Mass
of Blood, or other Juices, according to the Practice
in Venereal Cases at this Time; because
they looked upon the Disease to be entirely
local, and the Whole of the Cure to depend
upon the Removal of the Symptoms: Hence
it was they recommended such Remedies as
were accommodated to the taking off the inward
Heat of the Part, and cure the Excoriations or
Ulcerations of the Urethra. The Process for
the accomplishing of this, I shall set down from
the before-mentioned John Arden, who wrote
about the Year 1380, His Words are as follow:
Contra Incendium. Item contra Incendium Virgæ
Virilis interius ex calore & excoriatione, fiat talis
Syringa (i. e. Injectio) lenitiva. Accipe Lac
mulieris masculum nutrientis, & parum zucarium,
Oleum violæ & ptisanæ, quibus commixtis
per Syringam infundator, & si prædictis admiscueris
lac Amigdalarum melior erit medicina.
There is no doubt but this Remedy, being used
to our Patients at this Time, would infallibly
take off the inward Heat of the Part, and cure
the Excoriations or Ulcerations of the Urethra,
by which means what issued from thence would
be entirely stopt: and this was all they expected
from their Medicines, forasmuch as they were
entirely unacquainted with the Nature of the
Distemper; and did not in the least imagine,
but if the Symptoms that first attack’d the Part
were removed, the Patient was entirely cured.
I shall now, as a farther Confirmation of
what I have advanced, proceed to prove, that by
this Brenning or Burning is meant the Venereal
Disease, by demonstrating that succeeding
Historians, Physical and Chirurgical Writers,
and others, have all along with us in England
used the very same Word to signify the Venereal
Malady. In an old Manuscript, I have,
written about the Year 1390. is a Receipt for
Brenning of the Pyntyl, yat Men clepe ye
Apegalle; Galle being an old English Word for
a running Sore. They who know the Etymology
of the Word Apron, cannot be ignorant
of this. And in another Manuscript, written
about 50 Years after, is a Receipt for Burning
in that Part by a Woman. Simon Fish, a
zealous Promoter of the Reformation in the
Reign of Hen. VIII. in his Supplication of
Beggars, presented to the King, in 1530, says
as follows, These be they (speaking of the Romish
Priests) that corrupt the whole Generation of
Mankind in your Realm, that catch the Pockes
of one Woman and bear them to another; that
be Burnt with one Woman and bear it to another;
that catch the Lepry of one Woman and bare it
unto another. But to make this Matter still
more evident, I am to observe, that Andrew
Boord, M. D. and Romish Priest, in the same
Reign, in a Book he wrote, entitl’d The Breviary
of Health, printed in 1546, speaks very particularly
of this sort of Burning; one of his
Chapters beginneth thus, The 19th Chapiter doth
shew of BURNING of an Harlot; where his
Notion of communicating the Burning is very
particular. He adds, that if a Man be Burnt
with an Harlot, and do meddle with another
Woman within a Day, he shall Burn her; and
as an immediate Remedy against the Burning, he
recommends the washing the Pudenda 2 or 3
times with White Wine, or else with Sack and
Water; but if the Matter have continued long,
to go to an expert Surgeon for Help. In his
82d Chapter, he speaks of two sorts of Burning,
the One by Fire, and the Other by a Woman
thro’ carnal Copulation, and refers the Person
that is Burnt of a Harlot to another Chapter
of his for Advice, what to do, yf he get a
Dorser or two, so called from its Protuberancy
or bunching out: For I find about that Time
the Word Bubo was mostly made use of, to
signify that sort of Swelling which usually happens
in pestilential Diseases.
From hence it appears, the Burning, by its
Consequents, was Venereal; since every Day’s
Experience makes it evident, that the ill Treatment
of the first Symptoms of the Disease,
either by astringent Medicines, or the removing
them by cooling and healing the excoriated
Parts, will generally be attended with such
Swellings in the Groin, which we rarely observe
to happen from any other Cause whatsoever.
I shall give a few more Instances of this
Disease being call’d the Burning, and conclude.
In a Manuscript I have of the Vocation of
John Bale to the Bishoprick of Ossory in
Ireland, written by himself, he speaks of Dr.
Hugh Weston (who was Dean of Windsor in
1556. but deprived by Cardinal Pole for Adultery)
as follows; “At this Day is lecherous
Weston, who is more practised in the Art of
Brech-Burning than all the Whores of the
Stews. And again, speaking of the same
Person, he says, “He not long ago brent a
Beggar in St. Botolph’s Parish. The same
Author says of him elsewhere, “He had ben
sore Bitten with a Winchester Goose, and was
not yet healed thereof; which was a common
Phrase for the Pox at that Time, because the Stews
were under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of
Winchester. Mich. Wood, in his Epistle before
Stephen Gardiner’s Oration de vera Obedientia,
printed at Rhoan, 1553. gives another Evidence
of the Burning. And William Bullein, a
Physician in the Reign of Queen Eliz. in a Book
he publish’d, call’d The Bulwark of Defence, &c.
printed in 1562. bringing in Sickness demanding
of Health what he should do with a Disease
call’d the French Pockes, Health answers, “He
would not that any should fishe for this Disease,
or to be bold when he is bitten to thynke thereby
to be helped, but rather to eschewe the Cause of
thys Infirmity, and filthy rotten Burning of
Harlots.
London, Feb. 4.
1717–18.William Beckett,
NUMBER III.
A Second Letter on the same Subject
to William Wagstaffe, M. D.
SIR,
BEFORE I engage farther, in proving
that the Venereal Disease, when it came
to be confirmed, was frequently known among
us some hundreds of Years before the Siege of
Naples: I shall endeavour to refute the Opinion
of those Persons, who believe it to have had
its Rise there, if any such shall remain. True
indeed it is, that there have not been wanting
several modern Authors, who have asserted it;
but I determine to make it appear to be an Error
as inconsiderately, and hastily received, as started
by some Chimerical Author; who, because
several Writers about that time, observing the
Disease to begin in the Pudenda, separated it
from another, with which it was before confounded,
must likewise take upon him to assert
its being a new Distemper, and to assign a certain
Time and Place for its Rise. Now one might
with all the Reason in the World expect, that
if the Disease had its Original there, it must
have been so certainly and infallibly known,
that there could have been no doubtful or uncertain
Opinions about it, but that the Physicians,
who resided in or near the Place, and those
more especially, who interested themselves so
far as to write of it, must have, all of them to
a Man, agreed upon the Certainty of a thing,
the Knowledge of the Truth of which was
so easily attainable. But on the contrary,
Nicholas Leonicenus, who was the first Italian
Physician, that wrote of this Disease, and who
lived at the very time, when Naples was besieged,
is so far from acknowledging it to have had its
Rise there, from the French Soldiers Conversation
with the Italian Women, and so little did he
know of its true Cause, that he does not allow
it to be the Consequent of impure Embraces.
About this time it was likewise, that Pope
Alexander the VIth engaged Gaspar Torella to
write of this Distemper. This Pope was in
League with Alphonsus King of Naples, against
Charles VIII. King of France, to prevent his
passing thro’ Italy, when he went to besiege
Naples; yet this Author is so far from allowing
it to have had its Original there, that he tells us,
the Astrologers were of opinion, that it proceeded
from I know not what particular Constellations.
Nor does Sebastianus Aquilanus, who lived at
that time, allow it to be any other than an ancient
Disease; or Antonius Scanarolius, who wrote
in 1498, which was but 4 or 5 Years after that
Siege. Nor do several other Authors, then
living, say one Word about this Neapolitan
Story. But it seems Ulricus de Hutten, a
German Kt. no Physician, positively affirms
this Disease to have had its Rise there; but how
he should come to know this, who lived at
such a distance from the Place, and they, who
were Physicians residing as it were upon the
Spot, be ignorant of it, will be as much credited,
as his following inconsistent Relation, which
will sufficiently prove, how little care he took
to be apprised of the Truth of what he wrote.
This very Author tells us, the Disease was unknown
till the Year 1493, or thereabouts; that
he himself had it, when he was a Child, and so
consequently that it was hereditary, or from the
Nurse. He Wrote his Book of this Distemper at
Mentz, where it was printed by John Scheffer in
4to, 1519. Now if we allow him to be but 27
Years of Age, when he wrote, (for he cannot be
suppos’d to be less, who before this took upon him
to cure his Father of the Venereal Disease, without
the Assistance of any Physician or Surgeon,)
he must have had the Distemper upon him,
according to his own Account, before ever it
was in being. Thus we may see, how Persons
may be impos’d upon by a hasty and inconsistent
Writer, no way qualified for such an Undertaking,
and greedily receive in Falshoods instead
of Truths, if they will not be at the Pains of
consulting the Original Writings of our Predecessors,
the only sure Method of overthrowing
such chimerical and imaginary Notions.
I have in my former Letters, to Dr. Douglass,
sufficiently I think proved that the first
Degree of the Venereal Disease was very common
among us some hundreds of Years before it
is commonly said to have been known in Europe;
there will be no Reason for any body to conceive
we were at that time in any measure Strangers
to it, when it came to be confirmed;
more especially, when we consider the Methods
of Treatment in those Times, which consisting
principally in topical Applications, many of
their Patients could not possibly escape having
it confirmed on them. Now when it was in
this confirmed State, the Writers of those early
times looked upon it as an entirely new Disease,
and not a Consequent of any Evil before contracted,
because they were not apprised, that the
first Symptoms being removed, and the Disease
to Appearance cured, it should afterwards discover
it self in such a manner, as should not seem
to have the least Analogy with the Symptoms,
that first attack’d a part which had been for a
considerable time free from any Misfortune.
But because the Symptoms are the only true
Characteristicks, whereby we are infallibly able
to know one Disease from another, it may be
expected, that I produce sufficient Authorities
to demonstrate they were all of them known
and described by ancient Physical and Chirurgical
Writers, just as they appear to be in the
Venereal Disease at this Day, if I would prove
that Disease to be of a much more ancient
Date, than is generally thought; and if I do
this, I cannot but think it will be satisfactory,
since we can have no other way of coming to a
Knowledge of any one Distemper, than by its
Symptoms. The Method of laying down the
exact Succession of them, will be impossible to
be reduced to any certain and infallible Rule,
there being so great a Variety of Causes, that
obstruct such a Regularity; for which Reason,
I shall take notice of them in such Order as they
most generally appear, which was upon no account
to be expected from our antient Writers,
insomuch as they mention every particular
Symptom by it self, not knowing but that they
were independent of each other, and that each
of them was a distinct Disease. However, the
proving these Symptoms were in being in these
early times, will be as strong an Argument to
prove the Antiquity of this Distemper, as if
they had been register’d in the most exact Order
of Succession, because we shall, upon the strictest
Examination, find they are peculiar to the
Venereal Malady only. I have, I hope, sufficiently
made it appear in my former Letter, that
the first Degree of this Disease was anciently
known among us by the name of Brening, or
Burning; and that it was the same Thing with
what we now call a Clap, The Symptoms,
which are usually its Concomitants, are the
Phymosis, and Parahphymosis, both which are
accurately described, and proper Remedies, for
them set down by John Arden, Esq; in another
Manuscript of his, curiously written upon
Vellum, and beautifully illuminated. The
imprudent Method of Cure of this first Degree
of the Venereal Malady, is sometimes attended
with a Caruncle in the Urethra, which was a
Disease very common among us anciently: For
not to mention other early writers, Arden gives
us the Case of a certain Rector, who had such a
Substance, like a Wart, growing in the Penis,
which he says frequently happens, and of another
which had such an Excrescence as big as a small
Strawberry, which (says he) proceeded from the
corrupted Matter remaining in the Urethra.
And indeed there is not any Symptom of the
Venereal Disease, that I find so often mentioned
as this of the Caruncle, insomuch that it seems
to have been more common in those early Times,
than at this Day. But this must be certainly
owing to the smooth and oily Remedies they
were continually injecting, which, by their
relaxing and softning the Fibres of the Part,
must necessarily dispose the Contexture of small
Blood Vessels, lodged at the bottom of the little
Ulcerations, to fill with nutritious Juices, and
to extend themselves so, as to form such fungous
Excrescences; and so solicitous were they for
removing these Inconveniences, that they made
use of several Ways by Corrosives and other
Methods, to accomplish this end; and a very
early Writer among us, has given a very methodical
and curious Tract on this Subject,
wherein he recommends the removing them by
the medicated-Candle, which we use at this Day,
and lays down divers other Instructions, in
relation to it, which makes it probably the best
Discourse on this Subject, that was ever yet
written. He takes notice of those contumacious-Ulcers,
which happen upon the Glans and the
neighbouring Parts, which we now call Shankers;
and the great Trouble our ancient Authors
found in attempting their Cure, sufficiently discover
them to have had their Original from a
Venereal Infection. These several Symptoms
of the Venereal-Malady our early Writers are
very full in their Accounts of, and others, when
the Disease was in a more confirmed State, to
which they appropriated particular Names,
perhaps more significant and expressive than
those imposed by modern Authors. Thus the
Buboes in the Groin they called Dorsers, which
I have given a Reason for before; and the Venereal-Nodes
on the Shin-Bones they termed the
Boon-haw, which gives us a perfect Idea, not only
of the Part affected, but after what manner it
was diseased; for the old English Word Hawe,
signified a Swelling of any Part. Thus for
instance, a little Swelling upon the Cornea, was
anciently called the Hawe in the Eye; and the
Swelling that frequently happens on the Finger,
on one side the Nail, was called the White-Hawe,
and afterwards Whitflaw. The Process this
Author recommends, for the Cure of the Boon
or Bone-Hawe, is by making use of a Plaister,
which had a Hole cut in the midst, to circumscribe
it; and applying a Caustic of unslacked
Lime, and black Soap incorporated together;
which Plaister and Bandage were to be secured
on the part 4 Hours, and longer, if that was
not found sufficient: After this he proceeds to
the separating the Slough, &c. This Practice
of his seems to have been found out by accident.
For he tells us, when he was a young
Practitioner, he having applyed both the Natural
and Artificial Arsenic to the Leg of a Man,
who was his Patient, it so mortified the Flesh,
as surprized him; but by proper Digestives, the
Eschar coming off, and leaving the Bone bare,
he scraped it with an Instrument for several
Days, and drest it with Incarnatives, designing
to have ingendred Flesh on it; but this proving
unsuccessful, he continued to scrape it, till he
observed it move under the Instrument; after
which having separated it, he found the Sore
covered with new Flesh, and that the Bone was
4 Inches in length, 2 in breadth, and very thick,
upon the Removal of which the Patient was
soon cured. Thus it’s probable this Observation
of this great Man led our Predecessors to practice
the very same Method; and we do at this
Day in our Hospitals treat the Venereal Nodes on
the Shins exactly as is here described, where we
observe the same Appearances, he so long before
took notice of; and it is not in the least to be
doubted, but the Boon-Haw and our Venereal
Nodes are the same Disease. By the Appearance
of some of the last of these Symptoms, we
infallibly judge the Patient has had the Infection
upon him a considerable time, and that
the Disease is making its gradual Advances, to
the corrupting and destroying the whole Frame
of the Body. That this was the Conclusion of
the Miseries of those Persons, who gave themselves
up to the deceitful-Delights and Entertainments
of lewd-Women, in those early-times
as well as now, I cannot better prove than by
those remarkable Instances you quoted from a
MS. in Lincoln-Colledge, in Oxon, Viz. Novi
enim ego Magister Thomas Gascoigne, licet
indignus sacræ Theologiæ Doctor, qui hæc scripsi
& collegi, diversos viros, qui mortui fuerunt ex
putrefactione membrorum suorum genitalium &
corporis sui; quœ corruptio & putrefactio, ut
ipsi dixerunt, causata fuit per exercitium copulæ
carnalis cum mulieribus. Magnus enim dux in
Anglia, scil. J. de Gaunt, mortuus est ex tali
putrefactione membrorum genitalium, & corporis
sui, causatâ per frequentationem mulierum.
Magnus enim fornicator fuit, ut in toto Regno
Angliæ divulgabatur, & ante mortem suam jacens
sic infirmus in lecto, eandem putrefactionem Regi;
Angliæ Ricardo secundo ostendit, cum idem Rex
eundem Ducem in suâ infirmitate visitavit; &
dixit mihi qui ista novit unus fidelis sacræ Theologiæ
Baccalaureus. Willus etiam longe vir maturæ
ætatis & de civitat. Londonii, mortuus est ex tali
putrefactione membrorum suorum genitalium, &
corporis sui, causatâ per copulam carnalem cum
Mulieribus, ut ipsemet pluries confessus est ante
mortem suam, quum manu sua propria eleemosynas
distribuit, ut ego novi, anno Dni. 1430. Now
what those Instances mentioned from Arden,
or these from Gascoigne, who was then Chancellor
of Oxford, could possibly be, but Venereal-Cases,
I would be obliged to any body to inform
me. Certain it is, no Disease was ever known
to be gotten by the carnal Conversation of Women,
which first attacked the Genitals, causing
a Corruption and Putrefaction of them, and
afterward of the whole Frame of the Body,
but that which is Venereal. For nothing is
more commonly known at this Day, than that
after the Venereal-Engagement with an impure
Woman, the Penis is the Part where the Scene
is first laid for the succeeding Tragical Appearances;
and there, and in the Neighbouring Parts,
do the Symptoms of the Disease, as its Retainers,
always first assemble, till the malignant Poison
taint the Blood and other Juices; which being
convey’d over the whole Frame of the human
Fabric, if not check’d, soon brings about its
total Corruption.
We do not indeed find the Disease mentioned
by Gascoigne, was distinguish’d by any particular
Name: But great Numbers must unavoidably
die of the Venereal-Malady at that time,
from the imperfect Knowledge of those who
had the Treatment of the first Degrees of it. It
must necessarily follow, therefore, that when the
whole Frame of the Body had receiv’d a Taint
from the Venereal-Poison, so as to occasion its
breaking-out in Scabs and Ulcers, almost all over
its Surface, it must generally be called by the
Name of some particular Disease, whose Appearances
had somewhat of an Affinity to it.
Now if we examine the Nature of all the
Diseases, that attack the Human Body, we
shall not find the Venereal-Malady, when it
arrives at this State, to bear a greater Similitude
to any than the Leprosy, as it is described by
the Ancients: Nay, so great was the Analogy
betwixt these Diseases supposed to be, that
Sebastianus Aquilanus has endeavoured to prove
from Galen, Avicen, Pliny, &c. that the Pox
is only one Species of the Leprosy; and Jacobus
Cataneus, a Writer almost as early as the Rise
of the Name of the Pox, tells us, ’tis not only
possible there may be a Transition from one of
these Diseases into the other; but that he saw
two Persons in whom the Pox was changed into
the Leprosy: That is, from having great Pocks
or Pustules on the Surface of their Bodies, from
whence the Pox is denominated, to have become
Ulcerous or Scabby. This particular State
of the Disease anciently put the Surgeons to a
great deal of Trouble: For they finding that
these Ulcers were of a very contumacious and
rebellious Nature, were obliged to make use of
great Numbers of Remedies, in order to conquer
the evil Disposition of them. But they
observed that all of them were useless, unless
Mercury was joined with them. Now the
dressing each particular Ulcer being so very
tedious, they ordered the Patients to daub the
Ointments over the Parts which were ulcerated;
which done, they were wrapt in Linnen Cloths
till the next dressing: But after a few Days they
were extreamly surprised, to find their Mouths
began to be sore, and that they spit very profusely;
but they tell us to their Astonishment,
that in a little time the Sores became healed,
and the Patients cured. And by this Accident
it was the Method of Salivating by Unction
was first discover’d, which is in so much use
among us at this Day. From these and some
other Instances I have given of the Industry and
Application of our Predecessors, and with what
Sagacity they applied every accidental Hint,
to the relieving their distressed Fellow-Creatures
from the Misfortunes they laboured under; we
ought to be led to the highest Esteem and Veneration
of them; and so much the more most
certainly forasmuch as they were principally
our own Country-Men, who, I can prove, not
only from several Persons coming from Foreign-Parts
to be cured of their Diseases here, but for
other Reasons, that they excelled most of their
Cotemporaries in the Divine Art of Healing.
Now altho’ those Foreign-Authorities, I before
mentioned, might be looked upon as sufficient
to convince any one, how our Ancestors blended
these two Diseases together; yet I shall prove
from our own Writers, long before those, that
altho’ the Pox was not only among us, but in
distant Nations, anciently confounded with the
Leprosy; yet, so exact were our Writers in their
Observations of the Infectious Nature of one
Species of that Disease, and describing the
Symptoms, as was sufficient to lead any Person
to the distinguishing between them, so as to
separate one Disease from the other. I shall
therefore first enquire into the manner how the
Leprosy was sometimes said to be gotten in those
early Times, and then examine the Symptoms
of the Disease, that attacked the Patient. John
Gadisden, a very learned and famous English
Physician, who flourished about 1340, in an
excellent Work of his, he entitles Rosa Anglica,
speaking de Infectione ex Coitu Leprosi, vel Leprosæ,
says as follows, Primo notandum quod ille qui
timet de excoriatione & arsura Virgæ post coitum
statim lavet Virgam cum aqua mixta aceto, vel
cum urina propria, & nihil mali habebit; and in
another Place speaking de Ulcere Virgæ, he says,
Sed si quis vult membrum ab omni corruptione
servare, cum a Muliere recedit, quam forte habet
suspectam de immunditie, lavet illud cum aqua
frigida mixta cum aceto, vel urina propria, intra
vel extra preputium. He likewise speaking still of
the Leprosy, recommends a Decoction of Plantain
and Roses in Wine, to be made use of by the
Woman immediately after the Venereal-Encounter;
upon which he tells us she will be secure.
From hence it is evident some of their Leprous
Women (as they call’d them) were capable of
communicating an infectious Malady to those
that had carnal Conversation with them; which
proves, the Pudenda of the Women must be
diseased, for as much as we are absolutely assured
Infections of that Nature only happen
when a sound Part comes to an immediate
Contact with a diseased one; for the Symptoms
always first display themselves in those Parts,
thro’ which the Virulency is first conveyed.
Now in a true Leprosy we never meet with the
mention of any Disorder in those Parts,
which, if there be not, must absolutely secure
the Person from having that Disease communicated
to him by Coition with Leprous-Women;
but it proves there was a Disease among
them, which was not the Leprosy altho’ it went
by that Name; and that this could be no other
than Venereal, because it was infectious; for
there is no other Disease that is capable of
being communicated this way but the Venereal-Disease,
seeing the Pudenda are only in that
Distemper so diseased as to become capable of
communicating their Contagion. I find the
learned Gilbertus Anglicus, who flourished about
1360, reasoning concerning the manner how
it is possible a Man should be infected by a
Leprous-Woman; where if we allow him to
call the Malignant Matter, which is lodged
in the Vagina [the Womans seed] we shall find
he acurately describes the very first Venereal-Infection,
by part of the virulent Matters being
received into the Urethra; from whence by the
Communication of the Veins and Arteries, it is
conveyed into the whole Body, after which
(says he) ensues its total Corruption. Let us
now examine the Symptoms of one sort of
their Leprosy, for it must be necessarily divided
into different Species, when another Distemper
was blended with it, in which we observe such
a diversity of appearances; and this I shall the
rather do in this Place, because it will furnish us
with the next Succession of Symptoms after
those already mentioned, as the Venereal-Ozænas,
the Ulcers of the Throat, the Hoarsness, the
proof of its being communicable from the Nurse
to the Child, by Hereditary-succession, &c. All
which we find to be true in the Venereal-Disease
at this Day. Our Country-Man Bartholomew
Glanvile, who flourished about 1360,
in his Book de Proprietatibus Rerum, translated
by John Trevisa Vicar of Barkley in 1398, tells
us, some Leprous-Persons have redde Pymples and
Whelkes in the Face, out of whom oftene runne
Blood and Matter: In such the Noses swellen and
ben grete, the virtue of smellynge falyth, and the
Brethe stynkyth ryght fowle. In another place he
speaks of unclene spotyd glemy and quyttery, the Nose-thrilles
ben stopyl, the wason of the Voys is rough,
and the Voys is horse and the Heere falls. Among
the Causes of this sort of Leprosy, he reckons
lying in the Sheets after them, easing Nature
after them; and others which the first Writers
on the Pox looked upon to be capable of communicating
that Contagion: Also, says he, it
comyth of fleshly lykeng by a Woman, after that
a Leprous-Man hathe laye by her; also it
comyth of Fader and Moder; ann so thys Contagyon
passyth into the Chylde as it ware
by Lawe of Herytage. And also when
a Chylde is fedde wyth corrupt Mylke
of a Leprous Nouryce. He adds, by what
ever Cause it comes, you are not to hope for Cure
if it be confyrmyd; but it may be somewhat hidde
and lett that it distroye so soone. Thus we see
how our Author, under the Name of one Species
of the Leprosy, gives a Summary of the Symptoms
of the Pox, and the several ways whereby
it is at this time communicated. Now when
these two Diseases were anciently blended
together, and passed under the Name of the
Leprosy only, it must be the real Cause why
that Disease seemed to be so rife formerly; for
two Distempers passing under one Name must
necessarily make it more taken notice of and
much more frequent; not but that much the
greater Number of those who were formerly
said to be Leprous were really Venereal, seems
to be very evident; for since that Disease has
been separated from the Leprosy, it has drawn
off such vast Numbers, that the Leprosy is
become as it were a perfect Stranger to us.
Those who are acquainted with our English History
well know the great Provision which was
anciently made throughout all England for
Leprous-Persons, insomuch that there was
scarce a considerable Town among us but had
a Lazar-House for such diseased. In a Register
which belonged to one of these Houses,
I find there were in Hen. the VIIIth’s time
6 of them near London, (viz,) at Knight’s-Bridge,
Hammersmith, Highgate, Kingsland, the Lock,
and at Mile-end, but about 40 Years before I
find but 4 mentioned: and in 1452 in the
Will of Ralph Holland, Merchant-Taylor,
registred in the Prerogative Office, mention is
made but of 3, which, with his Legacies to
them, are as follow. Item lego Leprosis de Lokes,
extra Barram Sti Georgii 20s. Item lego
Leprosis de Hackenay (which is that at Kingsland)
20s. Item lego Leprosis Sti Egidii extra Barram
de Holborn 40s, from which it is worth while
to note, that the Lock beyond St. Georges
Church, and that at Kingsland, are at this time
applyed to no other use than for the Entertainment
and Cure of such as have the Venereal-Malady.
Some of our learned Antiquaries
have been much concerned to know the Cause
why the Leprosy shou’d be so common in those
early times, and so little known among us now:
But I believe the Reason will be impossible to
be assigned, unless we allow, according to the
Proofs which I have already brought, that the
Venereal-Disease was so blended with it, as to
make up the Number of the diseased. It seems
to have been the same thing with them in
France as with us: For Mezeray tells us, that
the House of the Fathers of the Mission of
St. Lazarus, was formerly an Hospital for
Leprous-People, but that Disease being ceased
in this last Age (since the Pox has been separated
from it) these Lazar-Houses have been converted
to other Uses; and it may not be perhaps
foreign to my purpose to take notice that the
Writ de Leproso amovendo contained in the
Register of Writs was (according to Coke upon
Littleton) to prevent Leprous Persons associating
themselves with their Neighbours, who appear
to be so by their Voice and their Sores; and
the Putrefaction of their Flesh; and by the
Smell of them. Well then, let us examine
what Method was to be taken to prevent this
noysom and filthy Distemper, the Leprosy;
why truly that which would infallibly prevent
their getting the Pox after the usual Method,
and that was Castration. It is certain that
Eunuchs are rarely or never troubled with the
Leprosy, according to Monsieur le Prestre, a
Councellor in the Parliament of Paris, who
has these Words, Antipathia vero Elephantiasis
veneno resistit: Hinc Eunuchi & quicunque sunt
mollis, frigidæ & effeminatæ naturæ nunquam
aut raro Lepra corripiuntur, & quidem quibus
imminet Lepræ periculum de consilio medicorum
sibi virilia amputare permittitur. (Cent. I. Cap.
6. de Separatione ex causa Luis Venerea.) And
Mezeray says, he has read in the Life of Philip
the August, that some Men had such Apprehensions
of the Leprosy, (that shameful and
nasty Distemper) that to preserve themselves
from it, they made themselves Eunuchs. Now
it is highly probable that those Persons who
submitted to such a painful Operation, having
before observed, that those who gave themselves
up to a free and unrestrained use of Women,
fell at length under such unhappy circumstances;
and so found the only measures to preserve
themselves from it was to be disabled for such
engagements, which sufficiently proves this
Species of the Leprosy was infectious; and for
the reasons before assigned could be no other
than Venereal; for how the true Leprosy should
be prevented by such means will be, I believe,
impossible for any Person to determine. There
yet remains one very considerable Symptom of
the Venereal-Malady for me to take notice of,
because it is looked upon to be the most remarkable
in that Disease, which, is the falling
of the Nose; but since it has been already
proved, that this Disease when it had arrived to
such a pitch as to discover it self by those direful
Symptoms, as are the immediate forerunners of
this, was by the Ancients confounded with the
Leprosy, and called by that Name, it must be
among the Symptoms of that Disease we are
the most likely to meet with it, if any such
thing as the falling of the Nose was known
among them. Now the most likely Method
of coming to a certain Knowledge of the
Infallible Symptoms of the Leprosy of the
Ancients in its more confirmed State, is to consult
the Examinations those unhappy Persons
were obliged to undergo, before they were debarred
the Conversation of Human Society, and
committed to close confinement: But this being
a thing some Ages since laid aside, no Author
that I know of having the particular History of
it, I shall do it as briefly as I can from what
Remains I have met with in Records, and other
scattered Papers. First then, after the Persons
appointed to examine the Diseased had comforted
them, by telling them this Distemper
might prove a Spiritual Advantage; and if
they were found to be Leprous, it was to be
looked upon as their Purgatory in this World;
and altho’ they were denied the World, they
were chosen of God: the Person was then to
swear to answer truly to all such Questions as
they should be asked; but the Examiners were
very cautious in their Inquiries, lest a Person who
was not really Leprous should be committed,
which they looked upon to be an almost unpardonable
Crime: They considered the Signs
as Univocal, which properly belonged to that
Disease, or Equivocal, which might belong to
another, and did not, upon the appearance of
one or two Signs, determine the Person to be a
Lazar; and this I find to be the Case of the
Wife of John Nightingale Esq; of Brentwood
in Essex, who in the Reign of Edw. the IVth,
An. 1468, being reported to be a Lazare, and
that she did converse and communicate
with Persons in public and private Places, and
not (according to custom) retire herself, but
refused so to do, was accordingly examined by
William Hattecliff, Roger Marcall, and Dominicus
de Serego the Kings Physicians; but they
upon strict Inquiry adjudged her not to be Leprous,
by reason the Appearances of the Disease
were not sufficient: Some of the Questions put
to the Leprous-Persons, which will more fully
confirm what I have before advanced, I shall
now give as I transcribed them from an Ancient
Book of Surgery, yf there were any of his lygnage
that he knew to be Lazares and especially their
Faders and Moders; for by any other of their
Kynred they ought not to be Lazares, then ought
ye to enquire yf he hath had the Company of any
lepress Woman, and yf any Lazare had medled
with her afore him; and lately because of the
infect matter and contagyous filth, that she had
received of him. Also his nostrils be wyde outward,
narrow within and gnawn. Also yf his
lips and gummes are foul stynking and coroded,
Also yf his voice be horse, and as he speaketh in
the nose. Now the Signs which are here mentioned,
were looked upon to be Univocal: And
these were they who made the Examiners principally
determine the Persons to be Leprous;
but what Determinations any one would immediately
give from such Symptoms now, no
Person is surely ignorant of. But even these
certain appearances would not always satisfy
some Persons, if we may believe Fælix Platenus
in his Medicinal and Chirurgical Observations,
Lib. 3. who tells us, some did not look upon
them to be so, till they had an horrible aspect,
were hoarse and Noses fell. Likewise in the
Examen Leprosorum printed in the De Chirurgia
Scriptores Optimi, the Author speaking of
the Signs of the Leprosy relating to the Nose,
begins thus, Si nares exterius secundum exteriorem
partem ingrossentur, & interius constringantur,
& coarctentur, secundo si appareat cartilaginis in
medio corosio, et casus ejus significat Lepram
incurabilem. And the before mentioned John
Gadisden in his Chapter de Lepra says as follows,
Signa confirmationis etiam incurabiliter sunt
corrosio cartilaginis quæ est inter foramina &
casus ejusdem. Thus, Sir, have I proved we had
a Distemper amongus some hundreds of Years
before the Venereal-Disease is said to have been
known in Europe, which was called the Burning;
that this Burning was Infectious, and that it
was the first Degree of the Venereal Disease;
that this being common at that time, from their
Method of Treatment; the Pox must be
unavoidable: That it had exactly the same Appearances
it has now, altho’ they were generally
called by different Names, that the Ancients confounded
it with the Leprosy; that the vast
Numbers of Leprous-Persons among us, before
the Venereal-Disease was separated from it,
and the small Number we observe at this Time,
is a flagrant Proof of the former; that in describing
the Symptoms of the Leprosy, they give
us those of the Venereal Malady; and, by mentioning
how it is communicated, they describe
the Ways by which the Pox is gotten at this
Day; that such Remedies were by them
recommended to prevent the first Attack
of the Leprosy, as are at this Time in
Use to prevent the first Symptoms of the Pox;
and that the falling of the Nose, which has been
look’d upon to be the most remarkable Symptom
of the Venereal-Disease, was commonly observed
in what they called the Leprosy in former Ages.
I am, Sir,
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Return to transcriber’s notes
Corrections:
Opporunity —> Opportunity
dedeparted —> departed
Subscripton —> Subscription
cosiderable —> considerable
themseves —> themselves
Releif —> Relief
Contract —> Contact
the to —> to the
thickned —> thickened
swell —> smell
Sypmtoms —> Symptoms
lacreated —> lacerated
apppears —> appears
Dictinction —> Distinction
accont —> account
Risqne —> Risque
Mischeif —> Mischief
abstemions —> abstemious
Speices —> Species
Expence —> Experience
Circnmstances —> Circumstances
disconntenanc'd —> discountenanc'd
accure —> accrue
hereditay —> hereditary
Iches —> Inches
ovt —> out
ths —> the
Farnce —> France
Hnmour —> Humour
Liqour —> Liquor
articutately —> articulately
recieve —> receive
Mischeifs —> Mischiefs
