A Collection of Chirurgical TractsBeckett, William
Science
A Collection of Chirurgical Tracts
Beckett, William
Surgery
The Plan I would propose, is this: Let a hundred or more Houses be
provided in some convenient Quarter of the City, and proportionably
in every Country-Town, sufficient to contain two thousand Women: If a
hundred are thought sufficient, let a hundred _Matrons_ be appointed,
one to each House, of Abilities and Experience enough to take upon
them the Management of twenty Courtezans each, to see that they keep
themselves neat and decent, and entertain Gentlemen after a civil and
obliging Manner. For the encouragement of such _Matrons_, each House
must be allow’d a certain Quantity of all sorts of Liquor, Custom
and Excise free; by which Means they will be enabled to accommodate
Gentlemen handsomely, without that Imposition so frequently met with in
such Houses. Besides the hundred abovemention’d, there must be a very
large House set apart for an Infirmary, and Provision made for two able
Physicians, and four Surgeons at least. Lastly, there must be three
Commissioners appointed to superintend the whole, to hear and redress
Complaints, and to see that each House punctually observes such Rules
and Orders as shall be thought necessary for the good Government of
this Community. For the better Entertainment of all Ranks and Degrees
of Gentlemen, we shall divide the twenty Women of each House into four
Classes, who for their Beauty, or other Qualifications may justly
challenge different Prices.
The first Class is to consist of eight, who may legally demand from
each Visitant Half a Crown. The second Class to consist of six, whose
fix’d Price may be a Crown. The third Class of four, at half a Guinea
each. The remaining two make up the fourth Class, and are design’d
for Persons of the first Rank, who can afford to pay a Guinea for the
Elegancy of their Taste. To defray the Charges of this Establishment,
will require but a very moderate Tax: For if the first Class pays but
forty Shillings Yearly, and the rest in Proportion, it will amount to
above 10,000 _l._ a Year, which will not only pay the Commissioners
Salaries, Surgeons Chests, and other Contingencies, but likewise
establish a good Fund for the Maintenance of Illegitimate Orphans and
superannuated Courtezans.
For the better Government of this _Society_, it will be necessary that
the Mistress have an absolute Command in her own House, and that no
Woman be suffer’d to go abroad without her Leave. No Woman must be
suffer’d to lie in, within the House; nor any young Children admitted
under any Pretence. No Musick or Revelling to be allow’d in any Room,
to the Disturbance of the rest. No Gentlemen disorderly or drunk, to be
admitted at an unseasonable Hour, without the Consent of the Mistress:
And, in case of Violence, she must be empower’d to call the Civil Aid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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