The First Sexual Revolution

choi

The first sexual revolution | Pleasure Principles; How morality became personal in 18th-century England. Economiwst, Feb 11, 2012.
http://www.economist.com/node/21547230
(book review on Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex: A history of the first sexual revolution. Allen Lane, 2012)

Note:
(a)
(A) fornication (n): "consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other — compare ADULTERY"
www.m-w.com
(B) fornication
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fornication
("The definition is often disputed. In modern usage, the term is often replaced with the more judgement neutral terms premarital sex, sex before marriage or extramarital sex"; section 1 Etymology)
(b) buggery
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buggery
(Bulgarian)
(c) Philip Larkin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Larkin
(1922-1985; an Englishman)

Larkin is a pet form of Lawrence.
(d) Regarding Mary Latham.
(A) Jonathan Turley, Adultery, in Many States, Is Still a Crime. USA Today, Apr 25, 2010.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opi ... 6-column26_ST_N.htm
("About two dozen states still have criminal adultery provisions. While prosecutions remain rare, they do occur. * * * In 1644, Mary Latham and James Britton were hanged for their adultery in Massachusetts")

(B) Dorothy A Mays, Women in early America: Struggle, survival, and freedom in a new world. ABC-CLIO Inc, 2004, at pages 12-13.
http://books.google.com/books?id ... mp;lpg=PA12&dq="mary+latham"+puritan&source=bl&ots=1FZGM4AbCi&sig=5QflDKsw0cmCV66NH9A0ZjJ19M8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mShJT5_QBOne0QGt--XgAg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q="mary latham" puritan&f=false

Quote:

"Adultery became a capital offemse in 1632. Although dozens of adultery cases were subsequently prosecuted in New England courts, only three cases have come to light where the offending couples were put to death. The journal of [Massachusetts] Governor John Winthrop tells of the case of Mary Latham and James Britton, who were executed for adultryy in 1643. Mary Latham had been spurned by the young man she hoped to marry and hastily married an elderly man out of revenge. She proceeded to have numerous affairs, but only her liaison with Britton had the required number of witnesses to prove adultery.

"The Latham case was unusual, because Puritans were reluctant to punish adulterers by death in all but the most egregious cases. It is likely that Mary Latham's confession to having more tjhan a dozen affairs hardened the attitude of her judges. Although a couple might escape the death penalty, it was common for them to be subjected to the terror of the gallows. Women were often sentenced to stand upon the gallows with a rope about their necks for a period of several hours, usually wearing a sign detailing their crime.

(C) John D'Emilio and Estelle B Freedman, Intimate Matters: A history of sexuality in America. 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press, 1997, at pages 11-12
http://books.google.com/books?id ... mp;lpg=PA11&dq="mary+latham"+puritan&source=bl&ots=i1-NZA5Qkv&sig=vPYBIpw6oyCTAgPumDJEKVXub7I&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sDxJT8OHGcHw0gG2zYitDg&ved=0CG8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q="mary latham" puritan&f=false
("But New Englanders monitored sexual crimes more extensively and more systematically than did residents of the southern colonies. * * * The law in New England] confirmed the importance of sexual morality. By enacting the death penalty for adultery, sodomy, and rape, the colony of Massachusetts Bay equated these acts with other capital offenses such as treason, murder, and witchcraft. Although capital punishment rarely, in fact, took place, in an extraordinary case, such as that of Mary Latham, it did. This eighteen-year-old woman had confessed to adultery with twelve men and to calling her elder husband a cuckold. In 1645 the Massachusetts court ordered her to be executed by hanging")

(e) Kitty Fisher
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Fisher
(Born Catherine Marie Fischer; died 1767; a prominent British courtesan)
(f) hellfire (n): "the eternal fire of hell that tortures sinners"
(g) The book review stated, "It was everyone’s business to bear down on illicit sex."

bear down on: "to weigh heavily on : BURDEN"
(h) louche (adj; French, literally, cross-eyed, squint-eyed, from Latin luscus blind in one eye; First Known Use 1819):
"not reputable or decent"
(i) Charles II of England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England
(1630-1685; reign 1660-1685; Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no children, but Charles acknowledged at least 12 illegitimate children by various mistresses. As illegitimate children were excluded from the succession, he was succeeded by his brother James)
(j) amanuensis (n; Latin, from (servus) a manu slave with secretarial duties):
"one employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript"
(k) The review said, "For Boswell and many of his contemporaries, morals were 'an uncertain thing.'"

moral (n):
"2 plural
a : moral practices or teachings : modes of conduct
b : ETHICS"
(l) The Beggar’s Benison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar's_Benison

puissant (adj): "POWERFUL"
(m) pewter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewter
(a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin)
(n) bawd (n):
"1 obsolete: PANDER
2 a: one who keeps a house of prostitution : MADAM"
(o) William Hogarth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hogarth
(1697-1764; an English painter)
(p)
(A) A Harlot’s Progress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Harlot's_Progress
(B) harlot (n; French herlot beggar, vagabond): "PROSTITUTE"
(q) Samuel Richardson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Richardson
(1689-1761; an English writer; best known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740), Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1753))
(r) Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798)