The works of Mr. Thomas Brown, serious and comical : in prose and verse, with his remains in four volumes compleat; vol. IIBrown, Thomas
General
The works of Mr. Thomas Brown, serious and comical : in prose and verse, with his remains in four volumes compleat; vol. II
Brown, Thomas
English wit and humor -- Early works to 1800; Erotic literature -- Early works to 1800; Latin literature -- Translations into English
that bawding, of late years, which us’d to be a trade of itself, is now
grown scandalous, and very much declin’d by reason that midwives, like a
parcel of incroaching husseys, have engross’d the whole business to
themselves, to the starving of you experienc’d old ladies, who have
spent their days, and worn out their beauty in the service of the
publick; and ought in all equity to be the only persons, thought
qualifi’d for so judicious an undertaking, to support them in their old
age, when father time has stripp’d them of their charms, and their noble
faculties fail them; besides, I hear noblemen employ their own valets,
ladies their own waiting women, citizens wives one another, and all to
save charges, to the ruin of our poor sister-hood.
Alack a-day! what a pernicious age do you live in? that traders should
trust one another to buy their commodities, and all to save the expence
of brokerage. I fear, there are some instruments among yourselves, that
have been the main occasion of your being thus neglected. I shall
further proceed, to give you a little advice, which, if but duly
observ’d, may, I hope, in a little time, recover the antient state of
bawdery into a flourishing condition, and make it once more as reputable
a calling, as it was when clergymens widows, and decay’d ladies at
court, did not disdain to follow it.
Never neglect publick prayers twice a day, hear two sermons every
_Sunday_, receive the sacrament once a month, but let this be done at a
church where you are unknown; and be sure read the scriptures often, and
be sure fortify your tongue with abundance of godly sayings, let them
drop from you in strange company, as thick as ripe fruit from the tree
in a high wind; and whenever you have a design upon the daughter, be
sure of the mother’s faith, and ply her closely with religion, and she
will trust her beloved abroad with you in hopes she may edify; for you
must consider, there is no being a perfect bawd without being a true
hypocrite.
Always have a lodging separate from your house, in a place of credit;
where, upon an occasion, you may entertain the parents without being
suspected, and corrupt the minds of their children before they know your
employment: you must first pour the poison in at their ears, infect
their thoughts, and when their fancies begin to itch, they will have
their tails rubb’d in spite of the devil.
Whenever you have a maiden-head, be sure make a penny of the first
fruits, and at the second-hand let the next justice of peace have the
residue on free cost, tho’ you must give her her lesson, and present her
as a pure virgin; by this sort of bribery, you may win all the
magistrates in _Middlesex_; make _Hicks’s-hall_ your sanctuary, and gain
an useful ascendency over the whole bench of justices.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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