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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    . morrow. (Their money is easily gained^nd(it is as willingly and X f readily spent p and it may be said to be all spent on drink; for, although they may occasionally spend part of it on the purchase of clothes, they are no sooner reduced to straitened circumstances, than these are sent to the pawnbroker's. (Th_eir^clamour for drink is incessanU; and(^very. ar.tifice is had recourse to _in order to obtain it.) ^Towever objiict^on^jjle^and immoral the life is which \ they leatl,\ there can be|no.doubtJthat_it is rendered much more T 1'^|5^^^\^'^^eful,^and mjseraJble in co^e^uence ofmtemperance.^ f HABIT OF LYING AMONGST PROSTITUTES, i Amongst the^oral defects)in the^haracter)of common women, Qying) holds a conspicuous place. No reliance can be placed on any thing they say, especially if the individual to whom they ad- dress themselves be a stranger, ^dissimulation has become so natural to them, that they fail to speak the truth even when it is ^^iyj for their own advantage^ l^f )they are (asked, ^hen they come to the Hospital,'^vherejthey? reside] ^they will mention any street^Ajut ii^the right orieA If they are asked how long they have been un- Avell, they make a statement equally far from the truth, (jf they j are tipsy.\md be told so,ithey will swear that they have not tasted / spirits for a month.) If the question be put to them,Qiow long they have been on the streetythey will answer) only a few weeks months^OT perhaps^hat they have never been public girls at all,)(^1 though ^t were weTT laiown that_jthey_haj. been common prostitutes for a number of years?^ (^Their wordsjai^, conductjore thus so completely at variance,Yand the^contradictions}are_fre- quently so obvious to themselvesy that one Avould be apt to ima- gine they would soon be affronted out of this bad habit, and com- pelled to speak the truth. Such a happy change, however, never results from an exposure of the falsehood; and thus they^o on^; from day to day,Aill lying^becomes^o much,jp,s it were,(^a part of their nature^thal^iothing will remove b^' cure it^ {The caus(^^'Qf^his bad habit in the character of prostitutes is very obvious. TheiiMvhole life is one_of^ciissimulation^and,'3ecep- tion^ and^ll their mental powers are put in force to invent false-