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Jane Douglas
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. Early career Mother Douglas was born around 1698 to a well-to-do Edinburgh family named Marinet. She had three sisters and at least one brother, but nothing more is known of the family. By the time she was 17, she was already working as a prostitute in London under the name Douglas. She worked out of a house in St James's, Piccadilly and was praised by John Gay as "that inimitable Courtesan". She was on intimate terms with many influential people, both men and women, but had a particularly close friendship with John Williams (later 1st Earl FitzWilliam). At some point she took possession of the St James's house and began to work as a procuress, choosing girls for their elegance, pleasant manners, and sexual expertise. Covent Ga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is Scotland's List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, second-most populous city, after Glasgow, and the List of cities in the United Kingdom, seventh-most populous city in the United Kingdom. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the Courts of Scotland, highest courts in Scotland. The city's Holyrood Palace, Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchy in Scotland. The city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, Scottish law, literature, philosophy, the sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nocturnal Revels
''Nocturnal Revels'' is a 1779 two-volume book about prostitution in 18th-century London during the reign of George II. The title page introduces the book as "the history of King's-Place and other modern nunneries", with authorship by a "monk of the Order of St Francis", and "containing their he nunneries'mysteries, devotions and sacrifices, comprising also, the ancient and present state of promiscuous gallantry: with the portraits of the most celebrated demireps and courtezans of this period: as well as sketches of their professional and occasional admirers".''Nocturnal Revels: Or, the History of King's-Place, and Other Modern Nunneries'', Volumes I and II. M. Goadby, London (1779). Reprinted BiblioBazaar (2010). The Order of St Francis is a coded reference to the Hellfire Club, founded by Francis Dashwood, the club later renamed the Order of the Monks of Medmenham. The "modern nunneries" the author describes are contemporary high-class brothels. The book includes anecdotes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1700s Births
Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese magazine), a Japanese magazine Novels * ''Seventeen'' (Tarkington novel), a 1916 novel by Booth Tarkington *''Seventeen'' (''Sebuntiin''), a 1961 novel by Kenzaburō Ōe * ''Seventeen'' (Serafin novel), a 2004 novel by Shan Serafin Stage and screen Film * ''Seventeen'' (1916 film), an American silent comedy film *''Number Seventeen'', a 1932 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Seventeen'' (1940 film), an American comedy film *''Eric Soya's '17''' (Danish: ''Sytten''), a 1965 Danish comedy film * ''Seventeen'' (1985 film), a documentary film * ''17 Again'' (film), a 2009 film whose working title was ''17'' * ''Seventeen'' (2019 film), a Spanish drama film Television * ''Seventeen'' (TV drama), a 1994 UK dramatic short starring Christi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Foote
Samuel Foote (January 1720 – 21 October 1777) was a British dramatist, actor and theatre manager. He was known for his comedic acting and writing, and for turning the loss of a leg in a riding accident in 1766 to comedic opportunity. Early life Born into a well-to-do family,Hartnoll, p. 290. Foote was baptized in Truro, Cornwall on 27 January 1720.Britannica. His father, Samuel Foote, held several public positions, including mayor of Truro, Member of Parliament representing Tiverton and a commissioner in the Prize Office. His mother, née Eleanor Goodere, was the daughter of Sir Edward Goodere Baronet of Hereford.Murphy, p. 1104. Foote may have inherited his wit and sharp humour from her and her family which was described as "eccentric. ..whose peculiarities ranged from the harmless to the malevolent."Howard, p. 131. About the time Foote came of age, he inherited his first fortune when one of his uncles, Sir John Dineley Goodere, 2nd Baronet was murdered by another uncle, C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fanny Hill
''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure''—popularly known as ''Fanny Hill''—is an erotic novel by English novelist John Cleland first published in London in 1748. Written while the author was in debtors' prison in London,Wagner, "Introduction", in Cleland, ''Fanny Hill'', 1985, p. 7. it is considered "the first original English prose pornography, and the first pornography to use the form of the novel". It is one of the most prosecuted and banned books in history. The book exemplifies the use of euphemism. The text has no "dirty words" or explicit scientific terms for body parts, but uses many literary devices to describe genitalia. For example, the vagina is sometimes referred to as "the nethermouth", which is also an example of psychological displacement. A critical edition by Peter Sabor includes a bibliography and explanatory notes. The collection ''Launching "Fanny Hill"'' contains several essays on the historical, social and economic themes underlying the novel. Publi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cleland
John Cleland (c. 1709, baptised – 23 January 1789) was an English novelist best known for his fictional '' Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'', whose eroticism led to his arrest. James Boswell called him "a sly, old malcontent". Publication of ''Fanny Hill'' John Cleland began courting the Portuguese in a vain attempt to reestablish the Portuguese East India Company. In 1748, Cleland was arrested for an £840 debt (equivalent to a purchasing power of about £100,000 in 2005) and committed to Fleet Prison, where he remained for over a year. It was while he was in prison that Cleland finalised ''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.'' The text probably existed in manuscript for a number of years before Cleland developed it for publication. The novel was published in two instalments, in November 1748 and February 1749. In March of that year, he was released from prison. However, Cleland was arrested again in November 1749, along with the publishers and printer of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Langford
Abraham Langford (1711–1774) was an English auctioneer and playwright. Life He was born in the parish of St Paul, Covent Garden. As a young man he wrote for the stage, and was responsible, according to the '' Biographia Dramatica'', for an 'entertainment' called 'The Judgement of Paris,' which was produced in 1730. In 1736 appeared a ballad-opera by him entitled 'The Lover his own Rival, as formed at the New Theatre at Goodman's Fields.' It was received indifferently, but was reprinted at London in 1753, and at Dublin in 1769. By 1747 Langford was in partnership with Christopher 'Auctioneer' Cock (d. 1748), and in 1748 succeeded him at the auction-rooms in the north-eastern corner of the Piazza, Covent Garden. These rooms formed part of the house where Sir Dudley North died in 1691, and were later the site of the Tavistock Hotel. The extent of Langford’s auctioneering business can be judged from the list of sales he organised in the month of April 1760 alone: Mr Arthu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Holmes (Royal Navy Officer)
Sir Charles John Holmes, KCVO (11 November 1868, Preston, Lancashire – 7 December 1936, Kensington, London) was a British painter, art historian and museum director. His writing on art combined theory with practice, and he was an expert on the painting techniques of the Old Masters, from whose example he had learned to draw and paint. Early life Holmes was the son of a clergyman, Charles Rivington Holmes, and Mary Susan Dickson. His uncle was Sir Richard Holmes, librarian at Windsor Castle. He attended Eton College from 1883 and attained a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1887. From 1889, Holmes worked as a publisher's and printer's assistant in London, first for his cousin Francis Rivington, then at the Ballantyne Press, and finally with John Cumming Nimmo. From 1896 to 1903, he was manager of the Vale Press, supporting Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon. Holmes also wrote an art column for the Athenaeum which he shared with Roger Fry. In 1903, Holmes marri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gonson
Sir John Gonson (died 1765) was an English judge for nearly 50 years in the early 18th century, serving as a Justice of the Peace and Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the City of Westminster. Gonson was a supporter of the Society for the Reformation of Manners, and was noted for his enthusiasm for raiding brothels and for passing harsh sentences. Gonson appears in contemporary court reports and newspaper articles, but is best known for having been depicted twice in ''A Harlot's Progress'', William Hogarth's series of paintings from 1731 and subsequent engravings from 1732. Gonson first appears in plate 3, leading three armed bailiffs into the boudoir of the protagonist, Moll Hackabout. The character of Moll is based on a real-life prostitute, Kate Hackabout, who was apprehended by Gonson in 1730 and sentenced to hard labour for keeping a disorderly house. Gonson appears again in plate 4, shown hanging from the gallows in graffiti, while Moll beats hemp in Bridewell Prison. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Society For The Reformation Of Manners
The Society for the Reformation of Manners was founded in the Tower Hamlets area of London in 1691.Reformation Necessary to Prevent Our Ruin, 1727 . The term "" then meant "" rather than . Thus its aims were the suppression of |
East Indiaman
East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vessels belonging to the Austrian, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, or Swedish companies. Some of the East Indiamen chartered by the British East India Company were known as "tea clippers". In Britain, the East India Company held a monopoly granted to it by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1600 for all English trade between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. This grant was progressively restricted during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, until the monopoly was lost in 1834. English (later British) East Indiamen usually ran between England, the Cape of Good Hope and India, where their primary destinations were the ports of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta. The Indiamen often continued on to China before returning to England via t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enthusiasm Delineated
In modern usage, enthusiasm refers to intense enjoyment, interest, or approval expressed by a person. The term is related to playfulness, inventiveness, optimism and high energy. The word was originally used to refer to a person possessed by God, or someone who exhibited intense piety. Historical usage The word ''enthusiasm'' originates from the Greek ἐνθουσιασμός from ἐν (en, “in”) and θεός (theós, “god”) and οὐσία (ousía, “essence”), meaning "inspired by god's essence". Applied by the Greeks to manifestations of divine possession, by Apollo (as in the case of the Pythia), or by Dionysus (as in the case of the Bacchantes and Maenads), the term enthusiasm was also used in a transferred or figurative sense. Socrates taught that the inspiration of poets is a form of enthusiasm. The term was confined to a belief in religious inspiration, or to intense religious fervor or emotion. From this, a Syrian sect of the fourth century was know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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