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.