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_.
[9] On the Feast of _Corpus Christi_, or the 13th of _June_, the
Commons of _Kent_ brake down the STEW-HOUSES near _London-Bridge_,
at that Time in the hands of the Frowes of _Flanders_, who had farmed
them of the Mayor of _London_. STOW’s Chron. p. 285.
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_.
[10] In the latter end of _March_ (Anno Reg. _Hen._ VIII. 36) “the
_Stewes_ on the Bank-side of the _Thames_, in _Southwark_, was put
down, by the King’s Commandment, which was proclaimed by sound of
Trumpets, no more to be privileged, or used as a common Bordell, but
the Inhabitants of those Houses, to keep good and honest Rule, as in
all other Places of the Realm. STOW’s Chron. p. 591.
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_.
[Illustration]
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.
[11] See _Aubrey’s_ Natural History and Antiquities of _Surrey_,
_8vo._ Vol. v. p. 221.
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_.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
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. WILLIAM BECKETT,
1717–18.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
NUMBER III.
_A Second Letter on the same Subject to_ WILLIAM WAGSTAFFE, M. D.
_SIR_,