Harris’s List was a fascinating little volume, started in
1757 by one Samuel Derrick, as a venture to get himself out of debtor’s prison.
His lively descriptions of the ladies who made themselves available for a
gentleman’s amours proved so popular that the book was revised annually until
1795.
“Harris” often explains how a lady “fell into the life”. Miss
Char-ton of No. 12, Gress Street, “came of reputable parents…yet the address of
a designing villain, too soon found means to ruin her; forsaken by her friends,
pursued by shame and necessity; she had no other alternative...”
Miss Le-, of Berwick-Street, Soho, “was debauched by a young
counsellor, from a boarding-school near town, where she was apprentice.”
The majority of ladies featured in this entertaining
directory for the pleasure-seeking young buck, which abounds in witty
euphemisms, were in their teens or early twenties. For example, there is Miss
Townsend, 19: “the use of the needle first fired this lady’s imagination with
the use of a certain pin”.
Strong liquor was the preferred anodyne apparently. Miss
Godfrey, a commanding female, “will take brandy with any one, or drink and
swear, and though but little, will fight a good battle.”
It’s rather tragic to find women’s attractions (or
otherwise) delineated in detail:
“she is amorous to the greatest degree, and has courage
enough not to be afraid of the largest and strongest man that ever drew weapon
in the cause of love”.
“but a middling face, with large features, a coarse hand and
arm, and in stature short and clumsy”, but she is “an excellent bedfellow”.
“of a middle size, black eyes, plump made and her skin good”
“fine blue eyes that are delicious”.
We are told about good teeth and “sweet breath”, in a day
where these were rare.
We also find out what it may cost our young man about town
to enjoy a particular lady’s charms. One or two guineas appears the norm, with
here and there a more expensive luxury on offer.
The genteel Miss Le-, who was led into sin, is only
seventeen and “has a piece of the termagant about her”, but she commands three
or four guineas for her services, which include birching for those so inclined.
While Miss - of Wardour Street,
who is “but newly arrived” and “darts such irresistible glances as can scarcely
fail to engage the hearts of the beholders” will not accept less than five
guineas. Mrs Ho-fey, on the other hand, who “calls forth all her powers to give
delight with uncommon success” will happily settle for half a guinea.
A guinea (one pound, one shilling) seems a pathetic sum to
us, yet in today’s money is worth around £60. A lady’s maid was paid less than
that in a year, and no doubt worked a lot harder. The downside was the future.
There are very few females over thirty in Harris’s List. Assuming one could
avoid a dose of “the pox” or any other disease and live, what to do when the
charms of youth faded? How many of them were canny enough to salt away a
quantity of takings as insurance?
A few, one assumes, if they had garnered sufficient fortune,
might be lucky enough to marry. Others are mentioned as having moved into
brothel-keeping themselves. But the rest?
What happened to Sally Robinson,
who was given five shillings at the age of fifteen to cure her of the clap
“which she got from her deflowerer”? On the town in 1761, what hope had “a
tall, fat girl” of any kind of living thirty years later? Or Kitty Buckley, who
was one of the few older females and already 35 in 1761? She was “reported to
have ruined twenty keepers” because she was “as wicked as a devil, and as
extravagant as Cleopatra”. Since she had been in the bailiff’s hands about
three times a year, did she end her days in prison?
The life was pitiful, if there was nothing else, but there’s
no denying Harris’s List is a riveting read and has a lot to tell us about the
less glamorous side of life in the 18th century.
My heroine in An Undesirable
Liaison narrowly escapes falling into the prostitution trap:
In the
tradition of Regency Romance, scandals past and present unravel in the path of
destiny. Caught by an overwhelming attraction to her new employer, Florence
struggles against temptation. Can Jerome withstand Florence’s allure, when his
desire can only mean her ruin?
2 comments:
Fascinating Post, Elizabeth! I've tweeted it.
Thank you, Mimi. It's a fascinating little book!
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