Magdalenism : an inquiry into the extent, causes, and consequences of prostitution in Edinburgh / by William Tait.

  • Tait, William
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Magdalenism : an inquiry into the extent, causes, and consequences of prostitution in Edinburgh / by William Tait. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    cliildren of people in the working classes of societ^^ which will be shown by and by to be the principal reason why they resort to a life of prostitution. |>R0STITUTI0N AMONGST SERVANT^) AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY PURSUE IT. (^Prostitution amongstf^servarit^ is a very^gravated and unsus- pected^vil. j Strangers, and oftcn(characters opthe'worst dcscrip- tion^are ^y this mean^'(admitted into the houses of respectable families^where thefts, to a considerable extent, are not unfrequently committed. So many cases of this kind have come to the wri- ter''s knowledge, that he considers it his duty to disclose all that he knows to the public- of those unjustifiable practices, and by this means put many on their guard who are unconsciously exposed to this evil. It has already been observed, that there (Uiaj^jDe_about 300 servantsi ir(^ Edinl^irgh who dejiver^themselves up more or less to a life of clandestine prostitution^.) (Three hundred families] are 'tlius^^at the mercy of unprincipled domestics,) and ^e liable to have their property destroyed)or (carried off by individuals who have been admitted into their dwellings without their knowledge or consent.^ Were all who are admitted acquaintances of the girls, who are accessary to their entrance, there might be some plea in mitigation of the crime, or rather less danger of loss to the masters arising from it; but girls who are thus disposed, in jeneral admit only those whose names and callings are at first utterly unknown to them, ^heir object in preferring strangers is, that they run less chance of being detected in their evil con- duct,\ind(1.hat they may use greater liberties^ and(4)e enabled also to ctmceal their own names.^ (Although gMs do not in general admit the same individual oftener than once] (instances sometimes occur where improper intercourse is earned on by the same parties for a considerable period.^ Thus, a student of law was known to have slept in a gentleman's house with a servant, (who was left in charge of the premises,) for four months during summer, Avhilc the family were in the country ; and, during all that period, nei- X