The Histories of Some of the Penitents in the Magdalen House

Jennie Batchelor, Megan Hiatt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317303572
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

First published in 1759, this novel aims to promote the cause of the Magdalen House, a charity which sought to rehabilitate prostitutes by fitting them for a life of virtuous industry. It challenges long-standing prejudices against prostitutes by presenting them as victims of inadequate education, male libertinism and sexual double standards.

THE

HISTORIES

Of SOME of the

PENITENTS

IN THE

MAGDALEN-HOUSE,

AS

Supposed to be related by Themselves.

In TWO VOLUMES

In the corrupted Currents of this World,
Offence’s gilded Hand may shove by Justice:
And oft ‘tis seen, the wicked Prize itself
Buys out the Law: But ’tis not so Above;
THERE is no shuffling; THERE the Action
lies In his true Nature; and we ourselves compell’d,
Ev’n to the Teeth and Forehead of our Faults,
To give in Evidence. What then? What rests?
Try what REPENTANCE can: What can it not?

SHAKESP.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

Printed for JOHN RIVINGTON in St. Paul’s
Church-yard, and J. DODSLEY in Pall-mall.

M.DCC.LX.

PREFACE.

SOME apology may be judged necessary for a work which assumes real characters, tho’ in the title-page it acknowleges itself to be a fiction.¹

I have not indeed made free with the names of any of the Penitents; for tho’ some may imagine, that little ceremony is requisite towards persons who have broke thro’ all the forms of decency, and decorums of virtue, yet I cannot apprehend that that gives me a title to endeavour to bring those again on the stage of the world, who have, for so good a reason, retired from it: But I may perhaps be thought by others to have gone too far in making my imaginary persons assume their characters; and if I can find any excuse for myself, it must be in the motives which induced me to do so.

My first aim in the following work was to plead the cause of the Penitents in the Magdalen-House, who by many are represented as persons too intirely abandoned to guilt and infamy, to deserve relief, to which surely distress alone is a sufficient title. Judgment is not intrusted with us: ‘Every man must stand or fall to his own master.’² Shall We be more rigid than HE who knoweth the heart, and hath a right to our obedience? ‘He maketh his sun to shine on the just and on the unjust.’³ Virtue alone can merit our esteem; but misery deserves our pity, and indigence may claim our bounty.

Tho’ the profession of a prostitute is the most despicable and hateful that imagination can form; yet the individuals are frequently worthy objects of compassion; and I am willing to believe, that if people did but reflect on the various stratagems used at first to corrupt them, while poverty often, and still oftener vanity, is on the side of the corruptor, they would smooth the stern brow of rigid virtue, and turn the contemptuous frown into tears of pity.

Tho’ I do not pretend the following stories to be real facts, yet I think every one will see so plainly, that the incidents are not only probable, but such as must frequently have happened, as may lead them to acknowlege, that the first step into that way of life oftener proceeds from weakness than from vice; and that if the beginning of their misfortunes, or rather their crimes, have been owing to a want of steadiness in themselves in the practice of virtue, many of their sub sequent vices have arisen from the affectation of too overstrained a chastity in others, who, unlike their Maker, ever ready to accept the repentant sinner, and to heal the contrite heart, exclude them from the means of reformation, by hunting them out of every way of obtaining an honest subsistence, till the only alternative left them, is, either to owe their support to a continuance in vicious courses, or to die martyrs to chastity: A martyrdom, which, I fear, many of their severest censurers would find difficult; and yet, surely, to none can it be so hard, as to those whose consciences are burdened with a heavy crime; for ‘the sting of death is sin.’⁴ Therefore, to them it must appear with accumulated horrors; and despair will drive them into an increase of guilt, to avoid so early an appearance before the Judgment-Seat, from whence is no appeal.

Example affects more than precept; the latter piques our pride, the former interests our passions on its side. This known truth suggested to me the form of the following work; and if, by relating a series of probable events, I shall incline any woman so effectually to pity the frailty of one of her own sex, as to forgive the past, and enable the offender to efface her guilt⁵ by sincere repentance and a blameless life; if, I say, I can do this, I shall esteem myself extremely happy; nor shall I repine at the time I have bestowed on the following sheets, if I can only so far soften the obdurately virtuous, as to induce them to forbear the cruel endeavour of casting an odium on an institution which does so much honour to the present age; which will reflect never-fading glory on those who instituted it; and which will purchase for them rewards, that shall exist when time shall be no more.

That there can be no objects so miserable, consequently so deserving of compassion, as those for whose relief this institution is designed, is surely past dispute. I confess it is beyond the reach of my imagination to conceive a state of such absolute wretchedness as that of the prostitute. In most conditions, from the vicissitude of all worldly events, as prosperity is checquered with some painful hours, and for a time obscured by unavoidable afflictions, so wretchedness is interrupted by casual blessings, and its gloom enlivened by some gleams of joy. But the prostitute’s life is divided between surfeiting riot, penury, disease, and infamy; continual transitions from one extreme to another, each almost equally distant from real happiness; surrounded with a variety of distresses here, and on the brink of eternal misery hereafter; their lives are a continual progression from one crime to another, and their deaths, in every circumstance, too horrible to relate.

Yet many appear unwilling to draw them out of this state of wretchedness; they shrink with horror at the mention of people so criminal, and hate them for the vices which should inspire us with a most ardent desire for their reformation. Were they less wicked, they would be less fit objects of compassion, and less require amendment.

A Being infinitely pure and perfect, was moved to pity by the sins of his creatures: Shall We then, whose offences are numberless, refuse our pardon and assistance to those, who may not more properly be termed fellow-creatures, than fellow-sinners, because their offences are of a deeper dye than our own? especially as the different degrees in which we rank our guilt and theirs may possibly proceed from self partiality: For if we take into our account their superior temptations, and inferior advantages towards the repressing them, the balance may not, to an All-seeing eye, appear in our favour. But if we are conscious of a real superiority in merit, let us be thankful to Him who gave it us, and by whom we have been preserved in that path wherein He first inclined us to walk; and while we lend our help to our stumbling fellow-creatures, let us petition Him who can turn the human heart, and change the will, to vouchsafe to guide them, during the remainder of their lives, in the road that leads to present peace, and future bliss. Let us not, by mean exultation, lose the benefit of our superior happiness; but rather increase our own, by imparting a portion of it to them; and not endanger our souls by pride, after having preserved them from sensuality.

The frivolous objections raised against the institution itself, have not given me much less concern. I have always been inclined to indulge an opinion, not peculiar to myself, that every one esteems virtue, tho’ temptations may lead them to neglect the practice of it; and that both from the secret suggestions of conscience, and the desire of being thought to approve what is highly praise-worthy, no one would deny to merit its just tribute of praise: But the institution of the Magdalen-House has taught me, that this debt is often paid with an unwilling mind, and with-held as long as a possibility of cavilling at it remains.

Those who dare not boldly refuse their approbation to benevolence, with timid treachery endeavour to conceal their want of it, under objections, which, tho’ void of force, since they are contrary to truth, still afford a lurking-place where malevolence hopes to hide itself, while it hangs forth the colours of prudence and sagacity, and sometimes assumes the name of rigid virtue. These pretend to fear, that this institution will prove an encouragement to vice, by offering the vicious an asylum: But this scarcely deserves an answer, being sufficiently confuted by this only consideration; that to be one of its inhabitants is certainly less eligible to a woman, who does not want to hide her head from shame, than the commonest service; and that to a person still viciously, or even gaily inclined, it would be the most dismal prison.

Others urge the improbability of a reformation. To amend the human heart, in opposition to its own inclinations, is indeed a difficult task; but whoever applies to this House, must, as far as their desire goes, and that is almost the whole way, be reformed already. If they are not led there by remorse, and some remains of unextinguished virtue, they are at least driven by a desire to seek shelter from the hatefulness of vice, or the horrors of its attendant miseries. Either motive is sufficient to reform the life, while secluded from temptation, and secured from distress and insult; and tho’ they are brought thither, not by sorrow for their sins, but for the consequences of them; yet, when every distraction from reflexion, and every impediment to conviction, is removed, the whisperings of conscience will be heard; and she, whose design extended no farther than the reformation of her conduct, will find her heart amended, and, from a decent behaviour, will proceed to purity of mind.

An earnest desire after a thorough change of life can only induce persons to ask for admission into a place where every hour is spent in the utmost contrariety to their former practices. I need not urge, that the charms of decency, the sober satisfaction arising from regularity of conduct, and the delights of virtue, must win upon the heart, since their inclinations appear already fixed; and it is highly improbable that they should decline in a place where every thing is calculated for their increase.

I have met with some who ridicule the Magdalen-House as a fruitless undertaking, on a supposition that it is intended as a prevention of the vice to which it owes its inhabitants; and indeed, if, contrary to all reason, they imagine this to be the design of the institution, they may well apprehend it will prove useless.

I fear that is a vice which can never be suppressed, while he, who seduces a woman into guilt and shame, and abandons her to disease and poverty, obtains no other appellation by such villainy, than that of a man of gallantry; while he may be called a man of honour, tho’ he breaks thro’ ties of truth, faith, and humanity, in the destruction of one, whose greatest weakness was believing him incapable of the vileness to which she falls a sacrifice; too late perceiving, that the only charm he found in innocence, was the means it gave him to effect its ruin, by its unsuspicious credulity.

If the man who lives in the open profession of a sin, which is one of the most pernicious to society, and the most destructive to his own soul; for we are assured upon divine authority, that ‘no such shall enter into the kingdom of heaven;’⁶ if such a man shall be caressed by his own sex, whose rights he is ever ready to invade, and admired by the other, whose temporal and eternal destruction are his constant aim; can we wonder that he goes on, in uninterrupted schemes, to add to the measure of his iniquity; and to increase the number of wretches, whose souls and bodies are to be sacrificed to his dissolute principles, or meaner vanity?

The laws reach only part of the crimes which disturb society; public censure and discountenance is a punishment in which every one may be judge and executioner; and were they properly inflicted, would prove most powerful towards effecting a general reformation; but while we spend all our censure on folly, which should only excite our compassion, and suffer vice, the proper object of hatred and contempt, to escape with impunity, if it has rank and fortune to support it, we cannot hope to see the successfully wicked reclaimed. All that the best man can do, is, as far as possible, to repair the ravages others commit; and to endeavour to bring back to peace those souls whom they have involved in all the depths of misery.

This is the noble design of the institutors of the Magdalen-House: ‘They have been eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame;’⁷ for they have dissipated the worst of blindness, that of the mind; they have let in upon it the light of truth; and led the wavering wandering steps into the paths of peace and virtue. ‘They have delivered the poor that cried, and those who had none to help them; the cause that they knew not, they have searched out. When the ear heareth them, it shall bless them; and when the eye seeth them, it shall witness to them.’⁸ To whom can it more properly be said at the great and tremendous day of judgment, ‘I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye cloathed me; I was sick, and ye visited me:’⁹ For inasmuch as these acts of humanity are done to the meanest of his creatures, we are assured our merciful Creator will accept them as done to Himself.

No person will dispute the use of Hospitals which are instituted for the relief of corporal distempers; but of much higher benefit is that intended to heal the soul; and not only to abate temporary pains, but to save from eternal torments.¹⁰

Amongst the greatest nation the world ever saw, the preservation of the life of a citizen was judged an action deserving public honour, and a crown was placed on the head of him who had thus merited the thanks of the republic. How much greater reward might these gentlemen justly claim; for they at once preserve great numbers from a pernicious life, and an untimely death, and, by restoring them to industry and order, render them useful members of society?¹¹

With disinterested joy I behold their great desert, while I can only, at an humble distance, pray for their success, and please myself with hopes, that they will receive such contributions, as shall enable them to extend their charity to all who shall desire to partake of the benefits it offers.

And now, gentle reader; for gentle I must wish you to be, that from your good nature I may hope for a favourable reception of the following imperfect sheets; after I have declared that my design has been to write in defence of Penitents, give me leave to say, that I shall esteem myself peculiarly happy, if I can have any share in preventing one person from standing in need of penitence. To instruct, as well as to amuse, should be the highest ambition of the species of writers, among whom, by this attempt, I have ranked myself.

Many have given directions to the world how to read history; nor have the other branches of learning been left without rules for the method of turning them to greater advantage. If I may be permitted to be so methodical, upon that species of writing which seems generally to owe its rise to the wild wanderings of the wildest of things, the imagination; I will venture to give directions for re...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Select Bibliography
• Note on the Text
• The Histories of Some of the Penitents in the Magdalen-House, as Supposed to be related by Th emselves (1760)
• Endnotes