And in Page 19. says this Author, if Children were strictly forbid never to touch their Eyes or Nose, but with their Handkerchiefs, and that only upon very urgent Necessities; if likewise they saw every Body comply with this Custom, and it was counted abominable to touch them with their naked Hands, I can’t see why this might not be as shocking to them when grown up, as now the most guilty Denudations are to well bred People. Now this curious Observation upon the efficacy of Custom being introduc’d in a Paragraph treating of Modesty and Chastity, I appeal to all Persons of any sense or discernment, whether it does not imply, that all Modesty and Virtue is establish’d only by Custom, and whether it does not entirely destroy the notion of an innate Principle. This concludes his first Chapter, and I take it to be very evident, that under a Cloak of Divinity, this Author slily propagates Doctrines fatal to Religion, and highly reflecting on the Reputations of the Virtuous.
Chap. II. Page 25. In Women, he says, Self-pollution, if frequently practis’d, relaxes and spoils the retentive Faculty, occasions the Fluor Albus, an obnoxious, as well as perplexing illness attending that Sex, which upon account of the Womb, may draw on a whole Legion of Diseases; among other disorders, it makes them look pale, and those who are not of a good Complexion, swarthy and hagged. It frequently is the cause of Hysterick Fits, and sometimes by draining away all the radical Moisture causes Consumptions. But what it more often produces than either, is Barrenness, a misfortune very afflictive to them, because seldom to be redress’d; He seems to make very little difference between the fatal Consequences of Self-pollution in either of the Sexes, when it must be allow’d to be great, on duly considering the situation of the parts; the Male can with abundantly more ease effect a titillation on his external Testicles, than the Female facilitate the least pleasure in her Womb; and as the difficulty is greater, it must deter a constant practice, and consequently not be attended with Symptoms, equally direful. And I doubt not, but this Author would much rather see a Legion of Gallants waiting upon a Female, than one single act of Self-pollution, his Interest being more nearly concern’d in the vending of his Venereal Medicines.
Agreeable to this, in Page 46. Treating of Repentance, he goes on, it is not enough for Youth to renounce their Crime, without renouncing likewise all the approaches to it. All the several species of Impurity, and the defilements of either Body or Mind, all lewd Actions, wanton Glances, impure Thoughts and Desires, together with such familiarities as expose to Temptations, all obscene Discourse or Expressions, and which are contrary to Chastity. It is true this Renunciation may appear difficult at first, and will occasion no small trouble to those that have contracted a vicious Habit, of giving themselves up to all sorts of Passions: But People must couragiously resolve to overcome themselves, it being far better to deny themselves in those Things, and to cross their own Inclinations for a time, than by pursuing them to perish eternally. It is profitable that one of their Members should perish, and not that their whole Body should be cast into Hell. The tacking of this Quotation from Scripture, by a dispenser of Medicines, pretending only to cure Venereal Maladies, seems very plain and demonstrable to be done with a design of increasing Whoredom and Fornication, at the same time he pretends to lash the Crime of Self-pollution; what he can otherwise mean by the perishing of one Member, is to me a mystery; and in many other parts of his Treatise he slily insinuates Notions and Comparisons no way coherent, to promote his Profession of Quackism.
In Page 54. After he has inserted a pretended Letter from a Young Gentleman in the Country, setting forth the dreadful Miseries he labour’d under thro’ a frequent practice of Self-pollution, viz. repeating it eight Times an hour; our Author solemnly declares, that he concluded this Letter with requesting his Advice, and informing him that he never carnally knew any Person (I suppose meaning neither Man nor Woman) or defil’d himself otherwise, than by Self-pollution. Setting aside the very great suspicion of this, and the rest of the Letters in this Treatise being forg’d, there being no Names of the Writers, to whom directed, or any Dates to them, the Author Acts very inconsistently, in not setting forth the conclusion of the Letter relating to carnal knowledge in the Letter it self, but instead thereof, he imposes upon the World, his own Affirmation, as the only Authority. If he be himself the Author of those Letters, as I suppose he may, indeed it has equal sanction from his own Mouth deliver’d at another time, but if he be not the Inventer of those Bundles of Nonsense, certainly the Genuine Letter ought to be inserted verbatim to the end. And why he mentions that part of the Letter at all, unless it be with a secret Design of propagating other uncleanness more detestable as it brings a double Guilt, I cannot well understand, since he no where takes notice of the calamities attending Whoredom and Fornication, tho’ the Crimes are often repeated.
Towards the Conclusion of this Treatise, in Page 74. The more easily to impose upon the publick, a solemn Declaration is made, that he neither, has, or ever design’d to have the least Interest or share in the Profits, that now are, or hereafter may accrue from the sale of the Medicines; this seems to be an Evasion equally contriv’d to any of the foregoing; is it not easy to imagine, that, (tho’ his Performance is compos’d of stupidity) he is not himself the Author, even of that? And that this is not his Declaration, but that of the Writer of his insipid Treatise; and whether this be not a natural Construction, I submit to the Determination of all impartial Readers. There are several other Fallacies and Impostures, which might be trac’d through his trifling Performance, but I shall content my self with the particulars I have already examin’d: And as in Page 63. He mentions the Advice of Boccalini, given as an Antidote against Whoredom, viz. that Persons that way inclin’d should carry about with them, a well drawn Picture, of the most perfect and faultless Beauty that ever appear’d in Flesh and Blood, pencil’d over again with rotten Teeth, blear Eyes, and Noseless; and that whenever Desires of the Flesh stir, they would take a sober View of it, and seriously consider what they are about to do, and the Consequences, which no doubt would damp their Inclinations. I shall insert some particulars of this nature, which will give a more lively Idea of the Folly and Madness, and more effectually deter a pursuit of carnal Pleasures from Sir Roger L’Estrange’s Translation of Quevedo’s Visions.
In the fifth Vision of the World, a Dialogue is begun between a Young Libertine, and a grave Old Gentleman; ‘says the Libertine, there past by a Lady of Pleasure, of so excellent a Shape, and Garb, that it was impossible to see her without a Passion for her, and no less impossible to look upon any Thing else so long as she was to be seen: They that had seen her once, were to see her no more: for she turn’d her Face still to new Comers: Her Motion was graceful and free, one while she’d stare ye full in the Eyes, under colour of opening her Hood, to set it in better order: By and by she’d steal a look at ye with one Eye, and a side Face, from the corner of her Vizor; like a Witch that’s afraid to be known when she comes from a Catterwal; and then out comes the delicate Hand, and discovers the more delicious Neck and Breasts, to adjust the Handkerchief or the Scarf; or to remove some other grievance that made her Ladyship uneasy. Her Hair was most artificially dispos’d into careless Rings; and the best Red and White in Nature was in her Cheeks; if that of her Lips and Teeth did not exceed it. In a word, all she look’d upon were her own; the Old Man opposing this Romance; says the Young Gentleman, he must be either Blind or Barbarous that’s proof against the Charms of so divine a Beauty; nor would any but a Sot let slip the blessed opportunity, of so fair an Encounter; that he that has her, has all that’s lovely or desirable in Nature: What lightning does she carry in her Eyes! What Charms and Chains in her Looks and Motions, for the very Souls of her Beholders! Was ever any Thing so clear, as her Forehead? Or so black as her Eye-brows? One would swear that her Complection had taken a Tincture of Vermillion and Milk: And that Nature had brought her into the World with Pearl and Rubies in her Mouth, to speak all in little, she’s the Master-piece of the Creation, worthy of infinite praise, and equal to our largest Desires and Imaginations.
‘Here the Old Gentleman interrupted the Young Libertine, and told him he was a Man of much Wonder and small Experience, and deliver’d over to the Spirit of Folly and Blindness. The Truth of it is, said he, that this prodigious Beauty of yours, hires all by the day; and if you did but see this Puppet taken to pieces, you would find her little else but Paint and Plaister. To begin her Anatomy at the head; you must know that the Hair she wears, is borrow’d of a Tire-Woman, for her own was blown off by an unlucky Wind from the coast of Naples; or if she has any left, she keeps it private, as a Memorial of her Antiquity; she is beholden to the Pencil for her Eye-brows and Complection: And upon the whole matter she’s but an old Picture refresht; all that you see of her that’s good, comes from distill’d Waters, Essences, Powders, and the like; and to see the washing of her Face would fright the Devil: She abounds in Pomanders, sweet Waters, Spanish Pockets, perfum’d Drawers; and all little enough to qualifie the poisonous Whiffs she sends from her Toes and Armpits, which would otherwise out stink Ten Thousand Pole-Cats: She cannot chuse but kiss well, for her Lips are perpetually bath’d in Oil and Grease; and he that embraces her, shall find the better half of her the Taylors, and only a stuffing of Cotton, and Canvas to supply the defects of her Body. What do you think of your ador’d Beauty now?’
And in another place of the same Author, the following account is given of a Visit to ill-favour’d Women; ‘some had their Faces so pounc’d and speckled, as if they had been scarified, and newly past the cupping Glass; with a World of little Plaisters, long, round, square; and briefly cut out into such variety, that it would have posed a good Mathematician to have found out another Figure; and you would have sworn, that they had been either at Cats-play or Cuffs: Others were scraping their Faces with pieces of Glass; tearing up their Eye-brows by the Roots like mad; and some that had none to tear, were fetching out of their black Boxes, such as they could get or make: Others were powdering and curling the false Locks, or fastning their new Ivory Teeth in the place of their old Ebony ones: Some were chewing Limmon-peal or Cinnamon, to countenance a foul Breath; and raising themselves upon their Ciopines, that their View might be the fairer, and their fall the deeper: Others were quarrelling with their Looking-glasses, for shewing them such Hags countenances; and cursing the State of Venice, for entertaining no better Workmen; some with their Hogs-grease and Pomatum, were sleeking and polishing their Faces; and indeed, their Fore-heads were bright and shining, though there were neither Suns nor Stars in that Firmament: And others were daubing one another, to take away the Heats and Buboes; so far does a Woman’s Wit and Invention carry her, to her own Destruction.’ And in another Vision lewd Women are justly call’d, the Devil’s Factresses.
This is a small Digression from my Subject, but as I was naturally lead into it, by the Treatise I have been examining, and it may tend to the discouragement of unlawful Pleasures, I hope it is excuseable. I now proceed to shew that the Author is mistaken in the Sin of Onan, and to demonstrate what was really his Crime.