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.

    93/700 (page 63)
    of Husbandry and Trade, the first advertisements of this kind: 'A gentleman, thirty years old, who says he has a very considerable fortune, would like to marry a young gentlewoman, who has a fortune of about £3,000 and he is willing to make a proper contract on the matter.' ' A young man 25 years old, with a good business, whose father is ready to settle £1,000 on him, would like to make a suitable marriage. He has been brought up by his parents as a dissenter, and is a useful man.' It is clear that these first marriage advertisements do not forget the punctum saliens (on which I need not enlarge). Houghton attached to these advertisements the remark that if it were shown that he himself were disinterested and of great discretion and the inserters were of really good faith (which even to-day is very frequently open to question) these advertisements might prove themselves of great utility. Houghton's idea caught on, and especially from the middle of the eighteenth century marriage advertisements rapidly increased in number. A close study of them is most amusing. For in them once more a great deal of English eccentricity is to be seen. Readers will be interested to know what a few of these marriage advertise- ments are like. Archenholtz wrote: 6 One of the strangest British customs is the method of seeking a companion in marriage by means of advertisement in the newspaper. In August 1788 an advertisement appeared in London papers which easily outdid hundreds of others of a similar nature: it ran as follows: Advertisement for a Wife. Sir John Dimly, Bart., Lord of the Manor of Charleton near Worcester and of Henly Castle near Malvern Wells, wishes to make a contract of marriage with a young woman, and in the event of his death to settle on her £192,000 sterling, if she will take him for her husband. The young woman must possess a fortune [63]