Part 11

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.