A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern.

  • Iwan Bloch
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of English sexual morals / by Ivan Bloch ; translated by William H. Forstern. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    86/700 (page 56)
    sure sign of increasing civilisation. On these grounds Smith- field may raise a claim to rank as a place of special advance in refinement, for at its Market the price of women has lately risen from half a guinea to three guineas and a half1.' On 12th April 1817, at Smithfield Cattle Market, Jouy saw a man, in the middle of a large crowd, struggling to put a rope round the neck of a young and pretty woman, who offered violent resistance. The noise attracted the attention of a constable, who arrested them both and took them before the magistrate. The man excused his conduct on the grounds of his wife's infidelity, and she could not refute the charge. There was nothing for the magistrate to do except to deplore the barbarous scene and to caution the man to keep the peace in future. The woman was acquitted and both were released with the mildest warning2. I shall give a few examples of this shocking ceremony, from which will be seen what slight value a woman had in England. 6 A farmer', so Archenholtz related, e some time ago, living in an English county, advertised the loss of his horse in a London newspaper, and offered the finder a reward of five guineas. Curiously enough it happened that his wife too ran away the next day, and the farmer in the same paper offered a reward for her recovery—of four shillings! 3' A labourer in Oxford sold his wife to a bricklayer for 100 shillings. He led her into the market-place, as usual by a rope, which he held on to until he had pocketed the money, whereupon he handed her over to her new husband and wished him the best of luck. A similar incident occurred in Essex where a man sold his wife and two children for half-a-crown. The ceremony was performed to music and the mother was obliged to walk three times round the 1 Finck, loc. cit., Vol. II, pp. 47-48. 2 Jouy, loc. cit., Vol. II, p. 319. 3 Traits from the Character of English Criminals, p. 49. [56]