Part 2
The Arabs, indeed, make very light of the offence, especially when committed with a beast; the Mahometans, also, are much addicted to the crime, (at least by the testimony of some travellers); yet I cannot see how that agrees with the account they give of the Upas tree of Java, which they affirm sprung up as a punishment for that sin; as appears by the following passage in the new Alcoran.
“The country round the tree was inhabited by people strongly addicted to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah; when the great Prophet, Mahomet, determined not to suffer them to lead such detestable lives any longer, he applied to GOD to punish them; whereupon GOD caused this tree to grow out of the earth, which, destroyed them all, and rendered the country for ever uninhabitable.”
From the best authority that can be gathered, this crime was first introduced into England about the year 1315, by a sect of heretics called Lollards; whose intent it was, among other most damnable doctrines to subvert the Christian faith; for from a note on the Parliamentary Rolls it is said, “_A Lollard has committed the sin not to be named among Christians_,” which seems to be the first authentic account of it in England. Many years previous to the reign of Geo. I. the sin was permitted without any exemplary punishment:—but about the 12th year of that reign a number of those wretches were apprehended, and convicted of the most abominable practices, some of whom were put to death; which gave a check to the evil for some time.
We will now come to the prevalency of the crime in the present age. About five and twenty years ago, there existed a society of the same order with the Vere-street gang, in the City of Exeter, most of whom were men of rank and local situation; they were apprehended, and about fifteen of them tried; and, though they were acquitted by the letter of the law, the enraged multitude was so convinced of their guilt; that without any respect to their rank, they burnt them in effigy.
About the same period, another disgraceful scene was exhibited in London, at Clement’s-lane, near the new Church in the Strand; (the exhibition of that crew is in the memory of many persons who may read these pages;) this scene was, if possible, more ridiculously wicked; for though it embraced all the turpitude of the Vere-street Coterie, yet the public indignation was in some measure for a moment allayed, by the grotesque appearance of the actors:—they were seized in the very act of giving caudle to _their lying-in women_, and the new-born infants personated by large dolls! and so well did they perform the characters they assumed, that, one miscreant escaped the vigilance of the officers and the examining magistrates, and was discharged as a woman!
I cannot pass this description of _ladies_, without making mention of another, usually entitled to an external tribute due to delicacy; for it seems that one, of no inconsiderable consequence to the dignity of the Coterie, is, by profession, a Chimney Sweeper and Nightman, an employment not ill appropriate to the delicate passions which constitute his amusement. This lump of diabolism resides west of Hyde-park corner; and some time ago married a little Catamite, called Miss Read, according to the rites of the Vere-street church; and, of course, did that which all good husbands will do, took his precious spouse to live in the house with him, the better to secure himself from the effects of cuckoldom: but it so happened, that this _sweet-scented enamorata_ has a wife, unfortunately for the poor woman recognized by the Canons of the Church of England; and, therefore, to pave the way for this little dung-hill, Venus, he was introduced as a young man who wished to board and lodge in a decent family; and three guineas per week was the stipulated price, which the poor deluded woman thought an acquisition to her family, and worthy her attention; little dreaming that this knight of the gully-hole regularly gave _Miss Read_ the money every week, in order that he might be considered as an honorable and punctual pay master! This miscreant is said to be worth several thousand pounds!—Now reader, put the money out of the question, and say what is he worth without it?
I have before observed, this short Treatise is not meant for anything like a detailed description of an hundredth part of the vast geography of this moral-blasting evil; but the time is near at hand that will afford a most ample display of this wide-spreading contagion;—which, dreadful and poisonous as the whole is to the ear of manhood, there is one feature more excruciating to my feelings than all the rest; and that is, the situation of women who are subject to all the indiscribable tortures inflicted upon them, by an unfortunate, ill-fated marriage with beings of this description, whose object in marrying is wholly the property they possess:—that a fine, elegant, perhaps beautiful woman, should be doomed to have her bed encumbered with a wretch, who loathes her person, squanders her fortune, and treats her with criminal contempt, to indulge damnable propensities, with (if I may be allowed the metaphor) the _scavengers of Sodom_! And yet the laws of the country afford her no redress, the abomination is no cause of divorce; yet if, on her part, she should listen to the voice of nature, and presume to convince the world that she feels the poignancy of her misery, and flies to the arms of a man who knows how to estimate her worth, the law, like a bull-dog, seizes on her indiscretion, and she is deemed unworthy the association of the virtuous part of sex! and doomed to pine out her life in the most aggravated species of celibacy. I must beg leave to illustrate this circumstance by an instance which occurred about six years ago.
One of these horrid wretches got hold of a fine handsome boy, whom he met with in the Park; and took him to various houses, several times, for the most abominable purposes. The lad had the curiosity to watch him home; and having called many times without seeing him, the wife was induced to ask his business with her husband? when this young student in the cursed science told her, not only what his business then was, but what had already panned between them.—The woman, struck with horror, grief, and amazement, retired to her room, and was a corpse in an hour!
It has been observed by a learned Judge, that the proof of this crime ought to be the more clear, as it is the more detestable; that it ought to be strictly and impartially proved, and then as strictly and impartially punished. It is an offence, like that of rape, easily charged, but very difficult to be disproved;—the accusation should, therefore, be clearly and incontestibly made out; for if false, it deserves a punishment inferior only to that of the crime itself: and Sir M. Hale relates two very extraordinary cases of malicious prosecutions for rape, that happened within his own observation, and concludes thus; “I mention these instances, that we may be more cautious upon trials of offences of this nature, wherein the court and jury may with so much ease be imposed upon, without great care and vigilance; the heinousness of the offence many times transporting the judge and jury with so much indignation, that they are over-hastily carried to the conviction of the person accused thereof, by the confident testimony of sometimes false and malicious witnesses.”
I am led to the adoption of these observations of the learned Judge, by a perusal of the evidence given at the Old Bailey on the trial of Hepburn and White, before mentioned.—With respect to the abominable practices which several others were convicted of, there can be no doubt but that Hepburn and White participated in the extent of their guilt; but I am by no means satisfied with the proof of the _capital part_ for which they suffered, upon the evidence of James Mann, a Drummer, who himself was a _particeps crimines_: the notoriety of these wretches’ propensities in many other instances, perhaps, paved the way for the more ready admission of the witnesses testimony; but if that evidence had been stripped of the auxiliary accusations, it would most certainly have been received with a doubt sufficiently cogent to have acquitted them:—there are some inconsistencies in the evidence, and some cause for malignant motives in giving it; however, I have merely observed upon this case that no degree of abhorrence attached to the crime ought to interfere with the cool judgment of a jury;—who, I dare say, were satisfied with their verdict: but we have had so many instances of capital punishments resulting from uncontrolable indignation, created by the heinousness of offences, that in my mind the conviction of men charged with atrocious crimes, does not always arise from the inevitable proofs of their guilt. In this place it may be necessary to make a few observations upon the cases of several persons who have suffered death, transportation, and other punishments, upon accusations of extorting, or attempting to extort, money, under a threat of accusing the parties of Sodomitical practices; and as some have suffered death within these few years, upon convictions of this nature, I enquired of Cook, if he knew, or ever heard of any attack of that kind having been made upon innocent men? when he informed me, that the prosecutors he had heard of, so far from being innocent men, were all notorious Sodomites, of the worst description; and that he has known many instances of men being convicted for attempting to extort money under such threats, where the prosecutor has allowed the party an income sufficient to indulge them with every comfort during their confinement:—that one man is now in Newgate, who was sentenced to two years imprisonment, whose prosecutor regularly paid him a Guinea per week during the whole time! for it seems these wretches care not what it costs to convict, as, in their idea, it clears their character.
I have a letter now before me, from a miserable creature in Newgate, sentenced to transportation, whose story is briefly this:—
A gentleman, with whom he lived servant, discharged him without paying him his wages; upon which he wrote to his master, saying that if he did not pay him, he would go to Marlborough-street, the next day, and state his Sodomitical practices; upon which, the gentleman went himself to the office, and obtained a warrant, under the pretext of the man having threatened to charge him with Sodomy unless he gave him money:—he found means to convict the poor fellow, who had two witnesses, who would have proved the truth of his assertion; but they were kept out of the way by the master until the trial was over:—one of whom has since been with him in Newgate, and told him his master gave him _five pounds to keep out of the way_!
A variety of similar convictions have taken place; for these fashionable miscreants must wipe off the imputation, no matter by what means. In fine, it seems to have come to this, _that if a young man will not submit to Sodomy and hold his tongue_, _he must be hanged_.
I will now relate some remarkable instances that have come to my knowledge, some of them professionally. About thirty years ago, a handsome young man, named Donelly, an attorney’s clerk, was cursed with the importunities of the son of a noble earl, and from whom he received several sums of money; but his demands became too rapid for this sprig of nobility, who, from incapacity to answer them, was obliged to desist. Donelly, one evening, in Berkeley-square, met the elder brother, then Lord —, and mistaking him (from the great likeness) for his little paramour, addressed him in terms that induced the young nobleman to seize him, and take him before a magistrate:—he was capitally convicted, and ordered for execution. Under all these circumstances, he wrote to the noble Earl, the father, who instituted an inquiry into his son’s conduct; which caused the Earl immediately to apply to his Majesty for a free pardon for Donelly, which the Ordinary of Newgate communicated to him in the chapel, the Sunday previous to his intended execution.
Another case, something similar, occurred about the year 1781. The late Felix Macarty, of no slender notoriety, was attacked by the son of a noble Lord of the County of Surrey, on the staircase leading to the great room at the Royal Academy. Macarty, Irishman-like, did not much approve of any caresses connected with breeches; and was no way solicitous of keeping the affair secret: of course, the transaction made some noise. The prejudice against an Irish adventurer, as Macarty was termed, gave the transaction an interpretation that conveyed an idea that his intention was to extort money from the nobleman: however, a serious investigation took place with the father and neighbouring gentlemen, of whom Sir Francis Vincent of Stoke was one; when the young gentleman confessed the truth of Macarty’s charge, and was thereupon sent abroad;—Macarty had five hundred guineas given him, as a remuneration for what he suffered in his character. I had the particulars of this case from Sir Francis Vincent, who was, at that time, my client.
But I will close the gainful subject of enormous convictions, calculated to screen Sodomites, with a case fabricated only by the premier fiend of hell.
It is somewhat about the same period, that I was with Sir William Aldington, at Bow-street, about some business; when a gentleman of great worth (if such a wretch can be said to have any worth) was brought into the office by a soldier, named Cope, and changed with attacking him, with an intent to commit an unnatural crime. He stated, that the preceding evening, about half past eleven o’clock, he was stationed in the Park, under the wall of Marlborough-gardens; when this gentleman came up to him, and after some conversation, attempted to put his hand in his breeches; he thereupon seized him, pushed him into his box, and kept him there till the relief guard came;—that the gentleman did every thing he could to persuade him to let him go; he offered him his watch, and purse, containing seven or eight guineas, which he refused, and marched him down to the guard-room. This was the charge; now, intelligent reader, mark the defence!
On the magistrate’s asking the gentleman (who, to the disgrace of the profession, was an eminent Conveyancer) what could bring him into the Park at that hour, and in the most inclement evening that was ever felt?—he answered, that he was obliged to go to Buckingham-house to see a lady, from whom he wanted some information respecting the subject of a letter he was writing, and which he could not finish until he had procured it.
Sir William Addington,
“You could not have been admitted into Buckingham-house at that time of night, especially for the purpose of visiting a lady!—have you that letter about! you?”
To which he replied he had only just begun it.
Sir William Addington.—“Then, Sir, send for it in the state you left it.”
The answer was, ‘I do not recollect where I put it.’
Sir W. A.—“But after you had quitted Buckingham-house, admitting you had been there, how came you in that part of the Park where this soldier was stationed?”
‘I intended to have gone through the stable yard, but having missed it, I thought of going out at the Priory-gate.’
Sir W. A.—“Then why did you _not_ go out there? for this soldier’s box was considerably beyond that place!”—
Here a respectable gentleman of the profession came in, and very judiciously put an end to the examination, by entering into a recognizance for his client’s appearance: to whom the magistrate observed, he never heard so clear a case of guilt, even from the defendant’s own account.
Previous to the ensuing Westminster sessions Cope was sent on the Windsor duty; whether by collusion, or by the common routine of duty never transpired, further than strong suspicion upon the case. However, from either Cause, Cope, if he had possessed the ability of following up his charge by an indictment, had no opportunity; and, of course, _there_ the matter of complaint ended. But the dreadful wretch, not content with his good fortune in escaping the Pillory, in order to cleanse his pestiferous character, indicted Cope for falsely, maliciously, and diabolically charging him with an attempt to commit an unnatural crime.—Thunderstruck, when I heard of the audacious attempt to legalize such an atrocious offence, I went, in company with Mr. Bond, to hear the trial, if a trial it could be called:—but, to get rid of the odious and painful relation, it is only necessary to add, the poor ill-fated fellow was convicted, upon the testimony of the vile old Sodomite; and, if my memory is correct, the sentence of the Court was, that he should be confined in Tothill-fields Bridewell for five years, and stand in the Pillory once every year during that time. I may not be correct as to the number of times he stood in the Pillory, but I know it was more than once.
When this phenomenon of a trial was ended, Mr. Bond, the magistrate, and myself walked out of the court together, who exclaimed—“what do you think of this conviction?” To which I answered, I think as you do, that the jury ought to be taken out of the box, and hanged at the hall door. However, what can be said? but, alas, poor human nature! judges are but men, and juries subject to fallability! It may be supposed, that the prosecutor received every assistance that could be had: the late Mr. Bearcroft appeared, to give him a character: a character for what?—why, that he paid his debts, and that he would not pick a pocket; _and that he was never accused of committing a rape_! which seems to be the amount of character in every case, where a wretch is either prosecutor or defendant on similar occasions. However, we will now come to the touch-stone, which will, in a great measure, decide the purity of this old lecher’s character. It seems the horrid sacrifice made to purify his reputation, was not, in the opinion of sensible and discerning men, perfectly satisfactory, whether his penchant for breeches was not paramount to his affection for petticoats? And even Mr. Bearcroft was not without a slender portion of scepticism on the subject: for he remarked, in a company where some doubts were entertained which of the two ought to have been put in the pillory, Cope, or his prosecutor, “_D—n the fellow_! _now I think of it_, _I never remember his having a girl at college_!”—But, to put all doubts at rest, respecting this diabolical wretches’ guilt, it is only necessary to state, that he retired into the country, and attacked a farmer’s son; who seized, and took him before a magistrate, when he gave bail: but, foreseeing that he had a man to deal with who was under no military command, nor subject to any impediment for want of money, and too inflexible for any chance of being diverted from his steady purpose of prosecution, be wisely withdrew himself from England—to which place he has never returned.
I shall now conclude my observations on these hedious transactions with a relation of the unexampled oppression that Cook and his wife have been the objects of. With respect to his wife, she could not have participated in any transactions of her husband; she did not live in the odious house, or even visit it; and, therefore, her sufferings are not warranted by any plea:—and, indeed, whatever the man’s offences might be, he has most amply purged himself from all the criminal effects of it; and is surely entitled to the protection of the same law to guard his innocence, that was exerted to punish his offence. That I may be clearly understood in what I deem _acts of oppression_, I must state the ground that gave pretence to the proceedings against him.
The reader will recollect that Cook had been desirous of making a disclosure of the transactions for which he, and the others were convicted, with the names and rank in life of a great number of persons implicated; not only at his own house, but at many others, both private and public, the common depots of organized Sodomites; and having been defeated of this intention at the Secretary of State’s office, published the following Prospectus, in the form of a handbill, and distributed them among his customers, both noble and ignoble.
_Handbill_.
“Preparing for the Press, and speedily will be published,
“An exhibition of the gambols practised by the ancient lechers of Sodom and Gomorrah; embellished and improved with the modern refinements in Sodomitical practices, by the Members of the Vere-street Coterie of detestable memory.
“The facts in this publication are given and substantiated on oath, without regard to the rank or situation in life of the several actors in this diabolical drama. Peers, Footmen, and Foot-soldiers, will be held up to the indignation of mankind (aye and womankind to) in the several characters they acted, the hediousness of whose transactions petrify the reader.
“James Cook, the author of this pamphlet, with shame, confesses that he was an eye and ear witness to the execrable scenes of iniquity he relates, and, but for the damning proofs that put to confusion every attempt at contradiction, he would despair of gaining credit for an hundredth part of the odious tale he has to unfold. He is now in Newgate, undergoing a punishment for keeping the rendezvous of the miscreants; a punishment which ought, in strict justice, to have fallen to the lot of the characters whose infamy will shortly come under the cognizance of the public.
“N.B. It is said that the ghost of White, the drummer boy, lately executed for Sodomy, pays his nocturnal visits to old Moggy, the rump-rider, Park-street, exclaiming,
“Monster! amidst the din of infernal howl The fiends in hell will scramble for thy soul.”
The foregoing intimation caused some temporary abatement _of whiskered dalliance_; and the softer passions gave way to the spirit of revenge: the first fruits of which was a detainer for twenty-three pounds debt, lodged against him on the eve of his enlargement, after two year’s imprisonment, of which he had received a week’s notice:—the attorney who issued out the writ was applied to, and requested to give it to a Sheriff’s officer, to whom a sufficient bail-bond should be given, although the defendant denied owing the money. Such of my readers as are acquainted with the rules of practice will conclude with me, that the ends of justice, and the completion of an attorney’s duty would have been answered by this means; or, at least, any attorney who had not been _nursed by a Siberian Tartar_, would have thought himself justified by acceding to the proposition; but it was made to a wretch,
“whose parent was a rock, And fierce Hercanean tigers gave him birth.”
However, I see by the roll of attorneys, that the gentleman in question stands alone; and that Providence seems satisfied with the mischief done, by placing him there _solo_!—In my anxiety to procure food for my next number of legalized cormorancy, I made some inquiry respecting the general practice of this virtuous one, _et cetera_:—the answer I received from one professional gentleman was as satisfactory as laconic: “Did you ever see him?” I replied in the negative:—then, said he, “his heart is as ugly as his face; _and that is as ugly as Kit Chrishop’s_!”