He decided to "skip the heroes and heroines, to write a movie containing only villains and bawds," as he recalls in his memoir.
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Knox takes us through the lives of memorable seducers and their critics, in sometimes academic and sometimes rococo prose dappled with doges, coups de foudre, rakes, bawds, coquettes, coxcombs and procuresses — with guest appearances by members of the Frankfurt School sunning themselves in La Jolla.
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Jane Douglas ( – 10 June 1761), commonly known as Mother Douglas, was a brothel-keeper in mid-18th century London. Known at the time as "The Empress of the Bawds", her house in Covent Garden attracted customers from the higher echelons of society.
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During term-time, Cambridge University drama societies such as CUADC, Footlights and CUMTS use the theatre, as well as college drama societies. Outside term-time, the theatre is typically used by drama societies based in the city of Cambridge such as BAWDS, the Combined Actors of Cambridge and WriteOn.
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"There are in Stevens many moments rich in beauty", Robert Rehder writes, "but he does not want them to be too sweet and resists 'the bawds of euphony'".Rehder, p. 27 Stevens' fondness for American locale helps him temper many such moments. A poem like "The Jack-Rabbit" illustrates his affection for rural and frontier America and the native folk tradition, leaving no doubt that his poetry is rooted in America.
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The amassed neighbours told of further infamies, such as when whores "in the habit of a Gentlewoman began to propose a Health to the Privy Member of a Gentleman ... and afterwards drank a Toast to her own Private Parts". They complained that, such was the proliferation of bawds in the area around the house that the daughters of local families were assumed to be prostitutes by the men visiting the brothel. For her iniquities, Cresswell was "sett to Hard Labour" in prison.
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Alexander and his cronies do manage to entice brother Tim into a journey through the taverns of London, among cheaters, bawds, and prostitutes. Randall the Welshman has come to London to marry the same Widow sought by Bloodhound; though he has never met the woman, he is attracted by her reputation of wealth, youth, and beauty. Quickly, though, Randall switches his intentions to Moll Bloodhound. The Welshman is not without his charms: the Widow's maid Mary develops an infatuation for him.
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Cox was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey for the robbery of Boucher and hanged at Tyburn on 12 September 1690 in his 25th year. On the way to the gallows he was asked by the ordinary, Samuel Smith, if he wished to join the other condemned men in prayer. He responded by kicking Smith and the hangman out of the cart carrying him to the gallows. Samuel Smith recorded that: He was listed in James Caulfield's Blackguardiana: or, a dictionary of rogues, bawds, pimps, whores, pickpockets, shoplifters, &c.
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By the middle of the century Page had moved into property speculation, investing the money she made from her brothels. She built houses on the Ratcliffe Highway, north of Wapping, and around in residential areas near the Tower of London, the income from which supported her for the rest of her life.London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank, BBC4 2012 Like other high profile bawds such as Elizabeth Cresswell, Page was almost as famous as the politicians of her time.Carolyn Turgeon (2001) "Moll Flanders"; World Literature and Its Times: Profiles of Notable Literary Works and the Historic Events That Influenced Them.
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King Charles II patronised Cresswell's establishments, as he did those of Madam Damaris Page; he declared Cresswell's to be "a Sound organisation". She became as well known as the politicians of her time, largely shielded from legal proceedings by her extensive London network of clients across the court, the guilds and government. Her increasing immunity from prosecution furthered her stature as a hate figure, particularly with the many thousands of London apprentices who could not afford her bawds, and bound by the terms of their contracts, were forbidden to marry. The houses of Cresswell and Page were a target for the 1668 Bawdy House Riots that swept London.
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The Gazeteer was filled with satirical letters between such authors as Aristarchus, Tacitus, and T. Trueman, Esq. One such, a Canningite called Nikodemus, complained that without gypsies, "what would become of your young nobility and gentry, if there were no bawds to procure young girls of pleasure for them?" Those on Squires's side were not the only ones to come under such attacks; John Hill wrote a short song celebrating his and Gascoyne's role in the affair, and pictures of Canning in the loft, her bodice loosened to reveal her bosom, were readily available. Another showed Wells and Squires held aloft by a broomstick, an obvious allusion to witchcraft.
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Antipodean justice punishes the victims of disasters like fires and shipwrecks, with "Imprisonment, banishment, and sometimes death," to teach them to be more careful next time; and it rewards thieves, bawds, and even "The captain of the cut-purses" when they are old and can no longer practice their crimes. The shocked and chastened king Peregrine determines to reform and rectify his kingdom. Peregrine is presented with his wife Martha, dressed as his queen; he is told that she is the daughter of the last king of the Antipodes, and he must mate with her to secure his crown. Under the guidance of Doctor Hughball and Barbara Blaze, the couple retire to bed and consummate their marriage.
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The women's route into the sex trade, as described by the lists, is usually ascribed to youthful innocence, with tales of young girls leaving their homes for the promises of men, only to be abandoned once in London. Some entries mention rape, euphemistically described as women being "seduced against their will". Lenora Norton was apparently "seduced" in such fashion, her entry elucidating on her experience, which occurred while she was still a child. The "old urban legend" of young girls being apprehended from the crowd by devious bawds is illustrated by William Hogarth's A Harlot's Progress, but although in reality such stories were not unheard of, women entered into prostitution for a variety of reasons, often mundane.
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Careless, alongside many of the other notorious bawds of the early 18th century, may have inspired Mrs Cole in John Cleland's Fanny Hill. By early 1735 she had given up her house in Covent Garden (Jane Douglas took it over); she was drinking heavily and could not duplicate the success she had enjoyed as a prostitute when she attempted to run a brothel. She announced that she would be opening a "Coffee House" in Prujean's Court at the Old Bailey, but she herself acknowledged that the place was ill-situated for her business and in her advertisement practically begged her customers to continue to visit her. The Gentleman's Magazine announced in October 1739 that she had been buried from the poor house.
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They address Castlemaine as a prostitute herself and list the sites of the brothels where her fellows struggle. It is addressed as: > The Poor Whores' Petition to the most splendid, illustrious, serene and > eminent Lady of Pleasure the Countess of Castlemayne &c;: The humble > petition of the undone company of poore distressed whores, bawds, pimps, and > panders ... Signed by us, Madam Cresswell and Damaris Page, in the behalf of > our sisters and fellow sufferers (in this day of our calamity) in Dog and > Bitch Yard, Lukenor’s Lane, Saffron Hill, Moorfields, Chiswell Street, > Rosemary Lane, Nightingale Lane, Ratcliffe Highway, Well Close, East > Smithfield etc.University of Massachusetts archive, Politics, Literary > Culture & Theatrical Media in London : 1625–1725 "The Whores' Petition". Given her great experience in whoring, Lady Castlemaine would, they argued, be able to deeply sympathise with prostitutes across the city.
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Following the riot, a satirical petition began to circulate, addressed from Page and Cresswell and other London madams. Written to Lady Castlemaine, the King's lover, notorious for her own wild promiscuity, the brothel owners requested that the aristocrat act on the behalf of her 'sisters' and repay the madams for the rebuilding of their brothels, funded by the national tax coffers. They address Castlemaine as a prostitute herself, a great practitioner of "venereal pleasures", and list the sites of the brothels where her fellows struggle. It is addressed as: > The Poor Whores' Petition to the most splendid, illustrious, serene and > eminent Lady of Pleasure the Countess of Castlemayne &c;: The humble > petition of the undone company of poore distressed whores, bawds, pimps, and > panders ... Signed by us, Madam Cresswell and Damaris Page, in the behalf of > our sisters and fellow sufferers (in this day of our calamity) in Dog and > Bitch Yard, Lukenor’s Lane, Saffron Hill, Moorfields, Chiswell Street, > Rosemary Lane, Nightingale Lane, Ratcliffe Highway, Well Close, East > Smithfield etc.
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