It will not be improper here to observe, that all these Changes in the Sex were most commonly said to be made from Women to Men; and I never could hear any Account whatsoever of Mens being chang’d into Women, but two or three, one of which happened here in London; the Story will not only be of use to our Purpose, but a merry one, and therefore take it briefly as follows: At a great Tavern in London[39], there lived, some few Years ago, two Drawers who were a considerable Time Servants in the House, and always lay together; one of them gets the other with Child, who was with a great deal of Shame and Confusion turn’d away, and oblig’d then to put on Womens Clothes. The Rumour of the Drawer’s being chang’d into a Woman made a great Noise all over the Neighbourhood, and very likely would have been recorded for Truth, if it had happen’d in an Age little earlier.
Here was a poor Girl whose Parents ignorantly believing she was a Boy from the Length of the Clitoris, dress’d her up, and employ’d her as such in the Business of Life; she no doubt believ’d herself so, until she was better instructed by her Fellow-Servant; and here is Matter and Foundation, altogether as probable and sufficient for Poets or Historians to build upon, as any heretofore taken notice of; and, in fine, hence it plainly appears, that it is with equal right, that human Nature may be said to be capable of admitting of two Natures Male and Female, in one Body, and of changing from one Sex to the other.
Another is told by[40] Caspar Bauhin. of a Child who was baptized as a Male, and was brought up a Taylor by Trade, went afterwards into the Army, and serv’d as a Soldier both in Hungary and Flanders, marry’d a Wife, and liv’d seven Years with her, at the End of which, our Soldier one Night rose from the Wife, complaining of great pains in the Belly, and in half an Hour, was delivered of a Daughter. When the Story came before the Magistrates, an Examination was made, and the poor Female Soldier confess’d herself of both Sexes, and that a Spaniard had cohabited with her once (only) in Flanders, by which she proved with Child; that the Wife had concealed her want of what might be expected from a Husband, with whom she never was able to act in any wise, during their (seven Years) living together.
The Author introduces this Story in the following Words[41]. ‘As the following History is of no small Importance in explaining the Nature of Hermaphrodites, I have translated it thus from the German Language.’ From which Words it appears, that he had a very just Notion concerning them, and was so far from making such things Prodigies, being well versed in the Knowledge of the Animal Structure, that he counts the History of this, and another Soldier whom Keckermannus gives an account of, sufficiently explicatory of the Nature of Hermaphrodites in general.
The Parents of these could have no other Motive for thinking these Creatures Boys, than the Length of the Clitoris; which is plain from their bearing Children when they came to Age; and if any thing of a Masculine Nature was in the Soldier, it could surely in seven Years Acquaintance have been exerted to the Gratification of a Wife, or would have produced some other Effects very different from that of being got with Child.
Chap. II.
An historical and critical Account of the Causes of Hermaphrodites.