Memoirs of Fanny Hill

Whilst I was edifying by these wholesome lessons, tea was brought in, and the young ladies, returning, joined company with us. Cole, that she, on account of her age, and I, on account of my titular maidenhead, should be excused, at least till I had undergone the forms of the house. My father and mother were, and for aught I know, are still, farmers in the country, not above forty miles from town: I had broken a china bowl, the pride and idol of both their hearts; and as an unmerciful beating was the least I had to depend on at their hands, in the silliness of those tender years I left the house, and, at all adventures, took the road to London.

How my loss was resented I do not know, for till this instant I have not heard a syllable about them. At length I sat down on a stile, wept bitterly, and yet was still rather under increased impressions of fear on the account of my escape; which made dread, worse than death, the going back to face my unnatural parents. I saw him come whistling behind me, with a bundle tied to the end of a stick, his travelling equipage. What his designs or ideas were, I know not: After some puzzle, the young fellow started a proposal, which I thought the finest that could be; and what was that?

We came presently, after having agreed on this notable expedient, to one of those hedge-accommodations for foot passengers, at the door do which stood an old crazy beldam, who seeing us trudge by, invited us to lodge there. Whilst we were in this quandary, the landlady takes the candle and lights us to our apartment, through a long yard, at the end of which it stood, separate from the body of the house.

For my part, I was so incredibly innocent as not even then to think much more harm of going to bed with the young man than with one of our dairy-wenches; nor had he, perhaps, any other notions than those of innocence, till such a fair occasion put them into his head. I was indeed too much disturbed with the novelty of my condition to be able to sleep; but then I had not the least thought of harm.

The young man, sliding his arm under my body, drew me gently towards him, as if to keep himself and me warmer; and the heat I felt from joining our breasts, kindled another that I had hitherto never felt, and was, even then, a stranger to the nature of. Then he took my hand, which he guided, not unwillingly on my side, between the twist of his closed thighs, which were extremely warm; there he lodged and pressed it, till raising it by degrees, he made me feel the proud distinction of his sex from mine.

But it was too late: How we agreed to join fortunes; how we came up to town together, where we lived some time, till necessity parted us, and drove me into this course of life, in which I had been long ago battered and torn to pieces before I came to this age, as much through my easiness, as through my inclination, had it not been for my finding refuge in this house: Her complexion, fair as it was, appeared yet more fair from the effect of two black eyes, the brilliancy of which gave her face more vivacity than belonged to the colour of it, which was only defended from paleness by a sweetly pleasing blush in her cheeks, that grew fainter and fainter, till at length it died away insensibly into the overbearing white.

Thus I had the full range of a spacious lonely house and gardens, situate at about half a mile distance form any other habitation, except, perhaps, a straggling cottage or so. Here I fell into a gentle breathing slumber, which stole upon my senses, as they fainted under the excessive heat of the season at that hour; a cane couch, with my work-basket for a pillow, were all the conveniencies of my short repose; for I was soon awaked and alarmed by a flounce, and the noise of splashing in the water.

But as I snatched a look, the first gleam that struck me was in general the dewy lustre of the whitest skin imaginable, which the sun playing upon made the reflection of it perfectly beamy. His face, in the confusion I was in, I could not well distinguish the lineaments of, any farther than that there was a great deal of youth and freshness in it.

Then the over-flowing water would make a separation between his breast and glossy white belly; at the bottom of which I could not escape observing so remarkable a distinction as a black mossy tuft, out of which appeared to emerge a round, softish, limber, white something, that played every way, with ever the least motion or whirling eddy. Then the luxuriant swell of flesh that rose form the small of his back, and terminated its double cope at where the thighs are sent off, perfectly dazzled one with its watery glistening gloss.

Not that I so much as knew precisely what was wanting to me: I was still gazing, with all the powers of my sight, on this bewitching object, when, in an instant, down he went. All this took up scarce the space of a few moments. The young gentleman was by me, kneeling, kissing my hand, and with tears in his eyes beseeching me to forgive him, and offering all the reparation in his power.

It is certain that could I, at the instant of regaining my senses, have called out, or taken the bloodiest revenge, I would not have stuck at it: I could not see this amiable criminal, so suddenly the first object of my love, and as suddenly of my just hate, on his knees, bedewing my hand with his tears, without relenting.

Leaving me then just only whilst he fastened the door, he returned with redoubled eagerness to his prey: I shall only add, however, that I got home without the least discovery, or suspicion of what had happened. Louisa, the brunette whom I mentioned at first, now took her turn to treat the company with her history. I have already hinted to you the graces of her person, than which nothing could be more exquisitely touching; I repeat touching, as a just distinction from striking, which is ever a less lasting effect, and more generally belongs to the fair complexions: I had, on that footing, been taken home, and was not six years old when this step-father died and left my mother in tolerable circumstances, and without any children by him.

As to my natural father, he had betaken himself to the sea; where, when the truth of things came out, I was told that he died, not immensely rich you may think, since he was no more than a common sailor. As I grew up, under the eyes of my mother, who kept on the business, I could not but see, in her severe watchfulness, the marks of a slip which she did not care should be hereditary, but we no more choose our passions than our features or complexion, and the bent of mine was so strong to the forbidden pleasure, that it got the better, at length, of all her care and precaution.

Nature now pointed me strongly to more solid diversions, while all the stings of desire settled so fiercely in that little centre of them, that I could not mistake the spot I wanted a playfellow in. In time, however, I thought I had gained a prodigious prize, when figuring to myself that my fingers were something of the shape of what I pined for, I worked my way in for one of them with great agitation and delight; yet not without pain too did I deflower myself as far as it could reach; proceeding with such a fury of passion, in this solitary and last shift of pleasure, as extended me at length breathless on the bed in an amorous melting trance.

At length, however, a singular chance did at once the work of a long course of alertness. As soon as I was got into the bedchamber, I unlaced my stays, and threw myself on the outside of the bed-cloaths, in all the loosest undress. I thought then I could not put too much encouragement into my eyes and voice; I regretted no leading advances; no matter for his after-opinion of my forwardness, so it might bring him to the point of answering my pressing demands of present case; it was not now with his thoughts, but his actions, that my business immediately lay.

Finding then that his kisses, imprinted on my hand, were taken as tamely as he could wish, he rose to my lips; and glewing his to them, made me so faint with over-coming joy and pleasure that I fell back, and he with me, in course, on the bed, upon which I had, by insensibly shifting from the side to near the middle, invitingly made room for him. He is now lain down by me, and the minutes being too precious to consume in untimely ceremony, or dalliance, my youth proceeds immediately to those extremities, which all my looks, flushing and palpitations had assured him he might attempt without the fear of repulse: I lay then at length panting for the imminent attack, with wishes far beyond my fears, and for which it was scarce possible for a girl, barely thirteen, but all and well grown, to have better dispositions.

But when his hand, and touches, naturally attracted to their centre, made me feel all their wantonness and warmth in, and round it, oh! And now his waistcoat was unbuttoned, and the confinement of the breeches burst through, when out started to view the amazing, pleasing object of all my wishes, all my dreams, all my love, the king member indeed! Applying it then to the minute opening, for such at that age it certainly was, I met with too much good will, I felt with too great a rapture of pleasure the first insertion of it, to heed much the pain that followed: And who could describe those feelings, those agitations, yet exalted by the charm of their novelty and surprize?

I had not seen him: The rest you know. Here Louisa ended; and these little histories having brought the time for the girls to retire, and to prepare for the revels of the evening, I staid with Mrs. Cole till Emily came and told us the company was met, and waited for us. I was welcomed and saluted by a kiss all round, in which, however, it was easy to discover, in the superior warmth of that of the men, the distinction of the sexes. This was a signal for preparation, that the complaisant Mrs. Cole, who understood life, took for her cue of disappearing; no longer so fit for personal service herself, and content with having settled the order of battle, she left us the field, to fight it out at discretion.

My countenance expressed, no doubt, my surprise as my silence did my acquiescence. I was now embarked, and thoroughly determined on any voyage the company would take me on. The first that stood up, to open the ball, were a cornet of horse, and that sweetest of olive-beauties, the soft and amorous Louisa. The girl, spreading herself to the best advantage, with her head upon the pillow, was so concentred in what she was about, that our presence seemed the least of her care and concern. It soon came on when Louisa, in the ravings of her pleasure-frenzy, impotent of all restraint, cried out: By this time the second couple was ready to enter the lists: My gentle esquire came to acquaint me with it, and brought me back to the scene of action.

And, surely, never did one of her profession accompany her dispositions for the bare-faced part she was engaged to play with such a peculiar grace of sweetness, modesty and yielding coyness, as she did. When he had feasted his eyes with the touch and perusal, feasted his lips with kisses of the highest relish, imprinted on those all-delicious twin orbs, the proceeded downwards.

Her legs still kept the ground; and now, with the tenderest attention not to shock or alarm her too suddenly, he, by degrees, rather stole than rolled up her petticoats; at which, as if a signal had been given, Louisa and Emily took hold of her legs, in pure wantonness, and, in ease to her, kept them stretched wide abroad. Beauties so excessive could not but enjoy the privileges of eternal novelty. Her thighs were so exquisitely fashioned, that either more in, or more out of flesh than they were, they would have declined from that point of perfection they presented. In the mean time, we could plainly mark the prodigious effect the progressions of this delightful energy wrought in this delicious girl, gradually heightening her beauty as they heightened her pleasure.

It came on at length: Was not this a subject to dwell upon? Her gallant began first, as she stood, to disengage her breasts, and restore them to the liberty of nature, from the easy confinement of no more than a pair of jumps; but on their coming out to view, we thought a new light was added to the room, so superiourly shining was their whiteness; then they rose in so happy a swell as to compose her a well-formed fulness of bosom, that had such an effect on the eye as to seem flesh hardening into marble, of which it emulated the polished gloss, and far surpassed even the whitest, in the life and lustre of its colours, white veined with blue.

Refrain who could from such provoking enticements to it in reach? Her legs were perfectly well shaped and her thighs, which she kept pretty close, shewed so white, so round, so substantial and abounding in firm flesh, that nothing could offer a stronger recommendation to the luxury of the touch, which he accordingly did not fail to indulge himself in.

Then gently removing her hand, which in the first emotion of natural modesty she had carried thither, he gave us rather a glimpse than a view of that soft narrow chink running its little length downwards and hiding the remains of it between her thighs; but plain was to be seen the fringe of light-brown curls, in beauteous growth over it, that with their silky gloss created a pleasing variety from the surrounding white, whose lustre too, their gentle embrowning shade, considerably raised.

On the contrary, nothing was wanting to soothe, encourage, and soften the sense of their condition to them. Men know not in general how much they destroy of their own pleasure, when they break through the respect and tenderness due to our sex, and even to those of it who live only by pleasing them. To this I answered, without the least hesitation or mincing grimace, that had I not even contracted a kind of engagement to be at his disposal without the least reserve, the example of such agreeable companions would alone determine me and that I was in no pain about any thing but my appearing to so great a disadvantage after such superior beauties.

And take notice that I thought as I spoke. Cole, by the way, could not have given me a greater mark of her regard than in managing for me the choice of this young gentleman for my master of the ceremonies: I was now handed by him to the cock-pit of our match, where, as I was dressed in nothing but a white morning gown, he vouchsafed to play the male-Abigail on this occasion, and spared me the confusion that would have attended the forwardness of undressing myself: I now stood before my judges in all the truth of nature, to whom I could not appear a very disagreeable figure, if you please to recollect what I have before said of my person, which time, that at certain periods of life robs us every instant of our charms, had, at that of mine, then greatly improved into full and open bloom, for I wanted some months of eighteen.

My breasts, which in the state of nudity are ever capital points, now in no more than in graceful plenitude, maintained a firmness and steady independence of any stay or support that dared and invited the test of the touch. Then I was as tall, as slim-shaped as could be consistent with all that juicy plumpness of flesh, ever the most grateful to the senses of sight and touch, which I owed to the health and youth of my constitution.

My friend however, who for this time had alone the disposal of me, humoured their curiosity, and perhaps his own, so far that he placed me in all the variety of postures and lights imaginable, pointing out every beauty under every aspect of it, not without such parentheses of kisses, such inflammatory liberties of his roving hands, as made all shame fly before them, and a blushing glow give place to a warmer one of desire, which led me even to find some relish in the present scene. Then I plainly saw what I had to trust to: But so provokingly predisposed and primed as we were, by all the moving sights of the night, our imagination was too much heated not to melt us of the soonest: I did not now enjoy a calm of reason enough to perceive, but I extatically, indeed, felt the power of such rare and exquisite provocatives, as the examples of the night had proved towards thus exalting our pleasures: In the morning, after a restorative breakfast in bed, he got up, and with very tender assurances of a particular regard for me, left me to the composure and refreshment of a sweet slumber; waking out of which, and getting up to dress before Mrs.

Cole should come in, I found in one of my pockets a purse of guineas, which he had slipt there; and just as I was musing on a liberality I had certainly not expected, Mrs. Her denial, she observed, was not affectation of grimace, and proceeded to read me such admirable lessons on the economy of my person and my purse as I became amply paid for my general attention and conformity to in the course of my acquaintance with the town.

I observed with pleasure that the fatigues and exercises of the night had not usurped in the least on the life of their complexion, or the freshness of their bloom: He was full bent on keeping me to himself, for the honey-month at least; but his stay in London was not even so long, his father, who had a post in Ireland, taking him abruptly with him on his repairing thither. This event also created a chasm in our little society, which Mrs.

Cole, on the foot of her usual caution, was in no haste to fill up; but then it redoubled her attention to procure me, in the advantages of a traffic for a counterfeit maidenhead, some consolation for the sort of widowhood I had been left in; and this was a scheme she had never lost prospect of, and only waited for a proper person to bring it to bear with. But I was, it seems, fated to be my own caterer in this, as I had been in my first trial of the market. Now most certainly I was not at all out of figure to pass for a modest girl.

I had neither the feathers nor fumet of a taudry town-miss: He spoke to me; and this address from a stranger throwing a blush into my cheeks that still set him wider off the truth, I answered him with an aukwardness and confusion the more apt to impose, as there was really a mixture of the genuine in them. But when proceeding, on the foot of having broken the ice, to join discourse, he went into other leading questions, I put so much innocence, simplicity, and even childishness into my answers that on no better foundation, liking my person as he did, I will answer for it, he would have been sworn for my modesty.

There is, in short, in the men, when once they are caught, by the eye especially, a fund of cullibility that their lordly wisdom little dreams of, and in virtue of which the most sagacious of them are seen so often our dupes. Amongst other queries he put to me, one was whether I was married. I replied that I was too young to think of that this many a year. To that of my age, I answered, and sunk a year upon him, passing myself for not seventeen.

As soon then as I came to Mrs. The next morning, after an evening spent on his side, as we afterwards learnt, in perquisitions into Mrs. Cole alone had an inkling of his errand. Asking then for her, he easily made a beginning of acquaintance by be-speaking some millinery ware: Cole took notice that the first impressions I made on him ran no risk of being destroyed by those of Louisa and Emily, who were then sitting at work by me.

After vainly endeavouring to catch my eyes in re-encounter with his as I held my head down, affecting a kind of consciousness of guilt for having, by speaking to him, given him encouragement and means of following me , and after giving Mrs. Cole direction when to bring the things home herself, and the time he should expect them, he went out, taking with him some goods that he paid for liberally, for the better grace of his introduction.

The girls all this time did not in the least smoke the mystery of this new customer; but Mrs. Concluding from these premises, Mrs. She went then, at the hour appointed, to his lodgings in one of our inns of court, which were furnished in a taste of grandeur that had a special eye to all the conveniences of luxury and pleasure.

Cole, acting admirably the good old prating gossip, who lets every thing escape her when her tongue is set in motion, cooked him up a story so plausible of me, throwing in every now and then such strokes of art, with all the simplest air of nature, in praise of my person and temper, as finished him finely for her purpose, whilst nothing could be better counterfeited than her innocence of his.

Not but, in other respects, Mr. Norbert was not clear sighted enough, or that he did not perfectly know the town, and even by experience, the very branch of imposition now in practice upon him: Thus concurring, even precipitately, to the point she wanted him at, Mrs. At first, indeed, she did not care, said she, to have such doings in it.

However, on superior objections to all other expedients, whilst she took care to start none but those which were most liable to them, it came round at last to the necessity of her obliging him in that conveniency, and of doing a little more where she had already done so much. Cole had made me the mistress of an invention of her own which could hardly miss its effect, and of which more in its place. As soon as Mrs. Norbert, still dressed, sprung towards the bed, where I got my head under the cloaths, and defended them a good while before he could even get at my lips, to kiss them: Mean while, by the glimpse I stole of him, I could easily discover a person far from promising any such doughty performances as the storming of maidenheads generally requires, and whose flimsy consumptive texture gave him more the air of an invalid that was pressed, than of a volunteer, on such hot service.

My shift then he fairly tore open, finding I made too much use of it to barricade my breasts, as well as the more important avenue: I acted then all the niceties, apprehensions, and terrors supposable for a girl perfectly innocent to feel at so great a novelty as a naked man in bed with her for the first time. He scarce even obtained a kiss but what he ravished; I put his hand away twenty times from my breasts, where he had satisfied himself of their hardness and consistence, with passing for hitherto unhandled goods.

But when grown impatient for the main point, he now threw himself upon me, and first trying to examine me with his finger, sought to make himself further way, I complained of his usage bitterly: I did not know what I had done. I would get up, so I would. Finding thus my advantages, and that I had both my own and his motions at command, the deceiving him came so easy that it was perfectly playing upon velvet.

I was never so used in all my born days. I wondered he was not ashamed of himself, so I did. Pretending, however, to yield at length to the vehemence of his insistence, in action and words, I sparingly disclosed my thighs, so that he could just touch the cloven inlet with the tip of his instrument: It was on this foot that I solved to myself all the falsity I employed to procure him that blissful pleasure in it, which most certainly he would not have tasted in the truth of things.

Tired, however, at length, with such athletic drudgery, my champion began now to give out, and to gladly embrace the refreshment of some rest. Kissing me then with much affection, and recommending me to my repose, he presently fell fast asleep: True it is, that had he waked and caught me in the act, it would at least have covered me with shame and confusion; but then, that he did not, was, with the precautions I took, a risk of a thousand to one in my favour.

Eager, however, for the pleasure, as well of consummating an entire triumph over my virginity, he said everything that could overcome my resistance, and bribe my patience to the end, which not I was ready to listen to, from being secure of the bloody proofs I had prepared of his victorious violence, though I still thought it good policy not to let him in yet a while.

I answered then only to his importunities in sighs and moans that I was so hurt, I could not bear it. I was sure he had done me a mischief; that he had. At this, turning down the cloaths and viewing the field of battle by the glimmer of a dying taper, he saw plainly my thighs, shift, and sheets, all stained with what he readily took for a virgin effusion, proceeding from his last half-penetration: He then graciously granted me a respite, and the next morning soon after advancing, I got rid of further importunity, till Mrs.

Cole, being rang for by him, came in and was made acquainted, in terms of the utmost joy and rapture, with his triumphant certainty of my virtue, and the finishing stroke he had given it in the course of the night: Norbert, that he never once perceived that she did not want him to resort to her house, lest he might in time discover certain inconsistencies with the character she had set out with to him: Leaving me then to my much wanted rest, he got up, and Mrs.

Cole, after settling with him all points relating to me, got him undiscovered out of the house. After which, as I was awake, she came in and gave me due praises for my success. In the mean time, if I may judge from my own experience, none are better paid, or better treated, during their reign, than the mistresses of those who, enervate by nature, debaucheries, or age, have the least employment for the sex: Sometimes he would strip me stark naked on a carpet, by a good fire, when he would contemplate me almost by the hour, disposing me in all the figures and attitudes of body that it was susceptible of being viewed in; kissing me in every part, the most secret and critical one so far from excepted that it received most of that branch of homage.

I was then in that spruce, neat, plain dress which I ever affected, and perhaps might have, in my trip, a certain air of restlessness unknown to the composure of cooler thoughts. I looked at him with a beginning of anger and indignation at his rudeness, that softened away into other sentiments as I viewed him: Without more ado, he plants me with my back standing against the wall, and my petticoats up; and coming out with a splitter indeed, made it shine, as he brandished it in my eyes; and going to work with an impetuosity and eagerness, bred very likely by a long fast at sea, went ot give me a taste of it.

I straddled, I humoured my posture, and did my best in short to buckle to it; I took part of it in too, but still things did not go to his thorough liking: This he very glibly swallowed, on the notion of my being one of those unhappy street-errants who devote themselves to the pleasure of the first ruffian that will stoop to pick them up, and of course, that I would scarce bilk myself of my hire, by my not returning to make the most of the job. But when I got home and told Mrs. Norbert near a quarter of a year, in which space I circulated my time very pleasantly between my amusements at Mrs.

His sister, Lady L—— for whom he had a great affection, desiring him to accompany her down to Bath for her health, he could not refuse her such a favour; and accordingly, though he counted on staying away from me no more than a week at farthest, he took his leave of me with an ominous heaviness of heart, and left me a sum far above the state of his fortune, and very inconsistent with the intended shortness of his journey; but it ended in the longest that can be, and is never but once taken: Had he been in his senses to make a will, perhaps he might have made favourable mention of me in it.

I was then in this vacancy from any regular employ of my person, in my way of business, when one day, Mrs.

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Cole, in the course of the constant confidence we lived in, acquainted me that there was one Mr. But, what yet increased the oddity of this strange fancy was the gentleman being young; whereas it generally attacks, it seems, such as are, through age, obliged to have recourse to this experiment, for quickening the circulation of their sluggish juices, and determining a conflux of the spirits of pleasure towards those flagging, shrivelly parts, that rise to life only by virtue of those titillating ardours created by the discipline of their opposites, with which they have so surprising a consent.

Cole could not well acquaint me with, in any expectation of my offering my service: Cole, that determined me, at all risks, to propose myself to her, and relieve her from any farther lookout. My good temporal mother was, however, so kind as to use all the arguments she could imagine to dissuade me: Acquiescing then thankfully in it, Mrs. I stood now in no need of this preamble of encouragement, of justification: Accordingly the night was set, and I had all the necessary previous instructions how to act and conduct myself.

The dining-room was duly prepared and lighted up, and the young gentleman posted there in waiting, for my introduction to him. I was then, by Mrs. Cole, brought in, and presented to him, in a loose dishabille fitted, by her direction, to the exercise I was to go through, all in the finest linen and a thorough white uniform: As soon as Mr.

Barville saw me, he got up, with a visible air of pleasure and surprize, and saluting me, asked Mrs. Cole if it was possible that so fine and delicate a creature would voluntarily submit to such sufferings and rigours as were the subject of his assignation. His dress was extremely neat, but plain, and far inferior to the ample fortune he was in full possession of; this too was a taste in him, and not avarice.

After a competent preparation by apologies, and encouragement to go through my part with spirit and constancy, he stood up near the fire, whilst I went to fetch the instruments of discipline out of a closet hard by: Stooping then to untie his garters, he gave them me for the use of tying him down to the legs of the bench: Then I plainly perceived, on the cushion, the marks of a plenteous effusion, and already had his sluggard member run up to its old nestling-place, and enforced itself again, as if ashamed to shew its head; which nothing, it seems, could raise but stripes inflicted on its opposite neighbours, who were thus constantly obliged to suffer for his caprice.

My gentleman had now put on his clothes and recomposed himself, when giving me a kiss, and placing me by him, he sat himself down as gingerly as possible, with one side off the cushion, which was too sore for him to bear resting any part of his weight on. Cole was an eye-witness, from her stand of espial, to the whole of our transactions, I was now less afraid of my skin than of his not furnishing me with an opportunity of signalizing my resolution.

Then viewing me round with great seeming delight, he laid me at length on my face upon the bench, and when I expected he would tie me, as I had done him, and held out my hands, not without fear and a little trembling, he told me he would by no means terrify me unnecessarily with such a confinement; for that though he meant to put my constancy to some trial, the standing it was to be completely voluntary on my side, and therefore I might be at full liberty to get up whenever I found the pain too much for me.

All by back parts, naked half way up, were now fully at his mercy: But now raising me on my knees, and making me kneel with them straddling wide, that tender part of me, naturally the province of pleasure, not of pain, came in for its share of suffering: But still I bore every thing without crying out: You may guess then in what a curious pickle those soft flesh-cushions of mine were, all sore, raw, and in fine, terribly clawed off; but so far from feeling any pleasure in it, that the recent smart made me pout a little, and not with the greatest air of satisfaction receive the compliments, and after-caresses of the author of my pain.

As soon as my cloaths were huddled on in a little decency, a supper was brought in by the discreet Mrs. Cole herself, which might have piqued the sensuality of a cardinal, accompanied with a choice of the richest wines: I sat down then, still scarce in charity with my butcher, for such I could not help considering him, and was moreover not a little piqued at the gay, satisfied air of his countenance, which I thought myself insulted by. I got up then, and tried, by leaning forwards and turning the crupper on my assailant, to let him at the back avenue: What should we do now?

I was not, however, at any time, re-enticed to renew with him, or resort again to the violent expedient of lashing nature into more haste than good speed: Another peculiarity of taste he had, which was to present me with a dozen pairs of the whitest kid gloves at a time: Louisa and she went one night to a ball, the first in the habit of a shepherdess, Emily in that of a shepherd: I saw them in their dresses before they went, and nothing in nature could represent a prettier boy than this last did, being so fair and well limbed. But here was the stress of the joke: But, be that as it would, he led her to a coach, went into it with her, and brought her to a very handsome apartment, with a bed in it; but whether it was a bagnio or not, she could not tell, having spoken to nobody but himself.

And now and excess of timidity succeeded to an excess of confidence, and she thought herself so much at his mercy and discretion, that she stood passive throughout the whole progress of his prelude: This she related to Mrs. Mine was that I could not conceive how it was possible for mankind to run into a taste, not only universally odious, but absurd, and impossible to gratify; since, according to the notions and experience I had of things, it was not in nature to force such immense disproportions.

Initially, there was no governmental reaction to the novel. However, in November , a year after the first instalment was published, Cleland and Ralph Griffiths were arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects.

Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

As the book became popular, pirate editions appeared. It was once believed that the scene near the end, in which Fanny reacts with disgust at the sight of two young men engaging in anal intercourse, [10] was an interpolation made for these pirated editions, but the scene is present in the first edition p. In the 19th century, copies of the book sold underground in the UK, the US and elsewhere.

The book eventually made its way to the United States. In , a Massachusetts court outlawed Fanny Hill. The publisher, Peter Holmes, was convicted for printing a "lewd and obscene" novel. Holmes appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He claimed that the judge, relying only on the prosecution's description, had not even seen the book. The state Supreme Court wasn't swayed. The Chief Justice wrote that Holmes was "a scandalous and evil disposed person" who had contrived to "debauch and corrupt" the citizens of Massachusetts and "to raise and create in their minds inordinate and lustful desires.

In , after the failure in of the British obscenity trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover , Mayflower Books, run by Gareth Powell , published an uncensored paperback version of Fanny Hill. The police became aware of the edition a few days before publication, after spotting a sign in the window of the Magic Shop in Tottenham Court Road in London, run by Ralph Gold.

An officer went to the shop, bought a copy and delivered it to Bow Street magistrate Sir Robert Blundell, who issued a search warrant. At the same time, two officers from the vice squad visited Mayflower Books in Vauxhall Bridge Road to determine whether copies of the book were kept on the premises. They interviewed the publisher, Gareth Powell, and took away the five copies there. The police returned to the Magic Shop and seized copies of the book, and in December Ralph Gold was summonsed under section 3 of the Obscenity Act.

By then, Mayflower had distributed 82, copies of the book, but it was Gold rather than Mayflower or Fanny Hill who was being tried, although Mayflower covered the legal costs. The trial took place in February The defence argued that Fanny Hill was a historical source book and that it was a joyful celebration of normal non-perverted sex—bawdy rather than pornographic.

The prosecution countered by stressing one atypical scene involving flagellation, and won. Mayflower decided not to appeal. The Mayflower case highlighted the growing disconnect between the obscenity laws and the social realities of late s Britain, and was instrumental in shifting views to the point where in an uncensored version of Fanny Hill was again published in Britain. This edition was also immediately banned for obscenity in Massachusetts, after a mother complained to the state's Obscene Literature Control Commission. Massachusetts that Fanny Hill did not meet the Roth standard for obscenity.

Justice Douglas cited 5 primary defenses of the ruling:. The art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann recommended the work in a letter for "its delicate sensitivities and noble ideas" expressed in "an elevated Pindaric style". Many editions of this book have contained new illustrations, often depicting more of the novel's sexual content.

Distributors of the novel such as John Crosby were imprisoned for "exhibiting [not selling] to sundry persons a certain lewd and indecent book, containing very lewd and obscene pictures of engravings". Sellers of the novel such as Peter Holmes was imprisoned and charged with "did utter, publish and deliver to one [name]; a certain lewd, wicked, scandalous, infamous and obscene print, on paper, was contained in a certain printed book then and there uttered, [2] published and delivered by him said Peter Holmes intitled "Memoirs of a Woman Of Pleasure" to manifest corruption and subversion of youth, and other good citizens None of the story's scenes have been exempt from illustration.

Illustrations of this novel vary from the first homosexual experience to the flagellation scene. Editions of the book have frequently featured illustrations, but they have often been of poor quality. Frances "Fanny" Hill is a rich Englishwoman in her middle age, who leads a life of contentment with her loving husband Charles and their children. The novel consists of two long letters which appear as volumes I and II of the original edition addressed by Fanny to an unnamed acquaintance, who is only identified as 'Madam.

Fanny's account begins with the loss of her parents at the age of 14 followed by a journey to London, and ends with her union with Charles about five years later. The intermediate narrative is filled with many sexual experiences, which are described with vividness, whimsy, wit and humour.

Metaphors and similies are used to describe sexual organs and activities. The plot was described as 'operatic' by John Hollander , who said that "the book's language and its protagonist's character are its greatest virtues. The first letter begins with a short account of Fanny's impoverished childhood in a village in Lancashire.

She loses her parents to smallpox, arrives in London to look for domestic work, and gets lured into a brothel. If I could go back in time and track Cleland down for a nice chat, I'd smack him in the face with a clipboard and watch him like a hawk till he'd read through the list clipped there in its entirety. Better yet, I'd take a woman and a man back with me, both of them less concerned with feminism issues to an unholy extent than I, and let the conversings about the genders commence.

Maybe then, perhaps, I'd figure this author out. An abridged version of the following. If you've seen my review If I could go back in time and track Cleland down for a nice chat, I'd smack him in the face with a clipboard and watch him like a hawk till he'd read through the list clipped there in its entirety. If you've seen my review of Delta of Venus , you know I take erotica seriously. That whole spiel about increasing respect and social justice and all that jazz?

Still relevant, sadly so when considering this piece appeared in That's years ago, 18th century stuff alongside the likes of Voltaire and Swift and we're still mucking around in slut shaming. This is a classic written by a dead white male two and a half centuries ago, and it's chock full of feminism!

Second wave feminism at that! While it may have done the job more than years ago, these days people like their porn with a little more Now that I think about it, a great deal of today's Fifty Shades of Grey readers don't actually mind if the biology's a little off so long as there's plenty of writhing and fingering and whipping, which this work has in full.

The only difference really is Cleland's constant hitting home the fact that, while women have different equipment, they have the same need for pleasure and more importantly respectful pleasure, whomever the companion they happen to be with. Now that's something that could put modern readers off. Men know not in general how much they destroy of their own pleasure when they break through the respect and tenderness due to our sex, and even to those of it who live only by pleasing them.

Less problematic and more absurd were the multiple male orgasms business: Also, the synonyms for penis. I'm not even going to go into that. If you want a list, the book's been around for a while.

Spoilers abound and may even be carefully categorized. Besides all that, not only does Fanny Hill like sex so long as her partner's not an asshole, she likes educating herself! No wonder the unabridged version's been taken to trial as recently as , as god forbid a woman reconcile body and mind so ardently. While I'm at it, have some more breakdowns of female stereotypes: Silks, laces, earrings, pearl necklace, gold watch, in short, all the trinkets and articles of dress were lavishly heap'd upon me; the sense of which, if it did not create turns of love, forc'd a kind of grateful fondness, something like love; a distinction it would be spoiling the pleasure of nine tenths of the keepers in the town to make, and is, I suppose, the very good reason why so few of them ever do make it.

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View all 19 comments. Apr 07, Duane rated it really liked it Shelves: By 18th century standards it was literary smut. Even by today's standards it is bawdy. Fellow GR reviewer Jessica called it "lovely filthy filth". It has survived the centuries though and still finds itself in print and apparently still being read by hundreds of Goodreads members.

Having become an orphan at 16, Fanny is taken to London by a "benefactress" who abandons her as soon as she arrives. The girl was immediately spotted and picked up by a madam, who immediately began to put a price on virginity. A delightful friend and a few sessions of voyeurism will suffice to instruct her.

Fanny falls in love with her first lover, also reciprocal love. But the father of the latter takes her away from the country: Fanny then has no other resources than to prostitute again. The aut Having become an orphan at 16, Fanny is taken to London by a "benefactress" who abandons her as soon as she arrives. The author seems rather fascinated by virginity, and as Fanny can only lose her once, the caliber of the gentlemen will grow, to give the illusion every time. Likewise, the other women whom the young girl meets will not fail to tell her their story of their first time.

The narrative is sometimes moralistic: The writing is quite successful, neither vulgar nor precious. However, one has the impression that the author has not managed to disentangle himself from the morality of his time. Jun 22, Jan-Maat added it Shelves: A strikingly repetitive book - certainly not a novel, with a curious jolly hockey sticks air to it. Structured as the memoirs of an innocent young girl, written in letters to a lady, from the countryside who is tricked into a life of prostitution of the decorous type in respectable brothels not the wandering about Covent Garden type.

It has a good deal of admiring descriptions of penises follows and the noun vermilion is frequently used to describe the vulvas seen during the course of her work. This is not a work in the realist tradition, clients apparently pay up, prostitutes don't get beaten up, pregnancy and disease aren't worries. Nor is there any character development unless that is a euphemism for the loss of virginity, or anything much you could call a plot.

It is the work of a man imagining himself as a prostitute - a situation which he finds thoroughly enjoyable in a jolly kind of way, with the particular bonus of being able to see lots of big penises. The meat of the book - a very loose collection of disconnected episodes - is extra-textual, and that is imagining Cleland's sexuality. At the beginning of the first part of the book Ms Hill is broken into the work of being a prostitute, at the beginning of the second part her self and some other young women I believe that child prostitution flourished for obvious reasons in 18th century London, not that you would ever suspect it from this book since they are young, but not that young set up their own brothel and take turns relating how they lost their virginity.

At the end of either the first or the second part - it's really not important which - Ms Hill settles down with a handsome, wealthy young man who has a very large penis. In-between are various encounters with clients who almost invariably have large penises. One would have to be particularly generous to regard this as constituting a plot. It's self indulgent I suppose self-evidently, it is a work of pornography after all , but it's repetitive nature makes the book eventually boring and comes to limit the extent to which it even could be used as a one hand read.

There is a very limited range of sexual acts described and the most interesting moment is the narrator's shock when a man and a woman actually undress, as most of the sex described involves only loosening clothing and opening it at strategic points.

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This book left me with the impression that 18th century sex was less interesting than I might have otherwise imagined. Certainly less interesting than suggested by the Edinburgh club whose members had to contribute clippings of their mistresses' pubic hair to make a ceremonial wig.

No wonder people drank so much. View all 7 comments. There is a saying — Curiosity killed the cat. It seems I was wrong and all that prudeness we know about is due to 19th century, mainly Victorian period. So, for one of most banished books in history as Wikipedia informs us Fanny Hill is not even very revo There is a saying — Curiosity killed the cat. So, for one of most banished books in history as Wikipedia informs us Fanny Hill is not even very revolutionary. However, with all the fuss around it, the main question one might ask is about Fanny Hill literary traits.

In the same study, David Lodge says: What usually prevents it from doing so is that it is unrealistic rather than nonrealistic: A curiosity, a useful document in the history of porn there must be a history of porn, surely? I was amused by the moralistic finale, though, so contrary to the obvious message that you can have the cake and eat it too.

View all 12 comments. Feb 25, Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly rated it really liked it.

Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure/Letter the First/Part 2

An outstanding allegorical work. Using tales of sex, John Cleland managed to portray the common fate of women: First person narrator here is the young and beautiful Fanny Hill. This is the story of her poverty as an orphan, the innocence of her virginity, her corruption in a brothel, her languid life as a mistress, her defiant infidelities and wild sexual abandon, and finally her red An outstanding allegorical work.

This is the story of her poverty as an orphan, the innocence of her virginity, her corruption in a brothel, her languid life as a mistress, her defiant infidelities and wild sexual abandon, and finally her redemption, after getting rich courtesy of a rich man who fell for her then died and finding her true love. The story of each and every woman's life. Central to these lives is the uneradicated evil against which women all over the world, since time immemorial, had struggled, and continue to struggle: Presently he guided my hand lower, to that part in which nature and pleasure keep their stores in concert, so aptly fasten'd and hung on to the root of their first instrument and minister, that not improperly he might be styl'd their purse-bearer too: Jan 25, Christina rated it it was ok Shelves: A rather repetitive and primitive story of a young naive girl who arrives in London without any money or family to take care of her and who have to endure a lot of hardship before finally finding her true love.

The hardship, however, is mostly in the form of a lot of sex which she finds a lot of pleasure in - this is truly a book where the means are more important than the end and the means are described in detail, unfortunately these details are more or less the same, repeated over and over, on A rather repetitive and primitive story of a young naive girl who arrives in London without any money or family to take care of her and who have to endure a lot of hardship before finally finding her true love.

The hardship, however, is mostly in the form of a lot of sex which she finds a lot of pleasure in - this is truly a book where the means are more important than the end and the means are described in detail, unfortunately these details are more or less the same, repeated over and over, only the metaphors used in describing them varies, basically. This also means that the plot is virtually non-existing, the end is unbelievable and there's just enough to serve as the string to tie the sexual encounters together with - rather like modern day porn.

Furthermore, most of the women in this book are rather weak creatures, waiting to be swept of their feet by a ny man who happens to come along and who by persuasion and mild use of force always gets what he wants - and in thus surrendering, the women invariably discover their own pleasure in these borderline rapes. It is very obvious that this was written by a man and that even though our heroine, Fanny, are rather competent and at least one other woman can manage her own business, it is clear that the author's opinion of women is not the highest - which I think was rather typical of the time.

But porn really hasn't changed much over the last couple of centuries This is one of the early erotic novels and intellectually, I can appreciate this book - but I read for the joy of it and this was for the most part lacking in this book - rather ironically, one could say.

Fanny Hill - Wikipedia

View all 6 comments. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is often referred to as Fanny Hill and is considered one of the first pornographic novels in the English language. The book went on to become so popular that pirated editions were sold underground. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure tells the story of an orphaned fifteen year old with no skill and very little education named Fanny Hill. She leaves her village to find employment in London, where she is hired by Mrs. Fanny believed her employment was legitimate and that she would be working as a maid but she discovered that Mrs. Brown ran a brothel and intended to sell her maidenhead.

She eventually falls in love and runs away with a man named Charles. I do not want to go into too much detail about the plot of this book; in fact I have only covered the very first part of the story. Cleland plays out all types of sexual fantasies while he is locked away; the novel pretty much covers everything you can think of sexually. The all-important one in this book was losing her maidenhead, which was sold to at least three different clients. However there is something deeper going on within the pages of Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.

This novel kept getting banned until in the United States; it was the introduction of the Miller test which finally lifted its banning. The Miller test is a three prong obscenity tested used in the United States Supreme Court to determine if something should be labelled as obscene. The work is considered obscene if all three conditions are satisfied and I am going to quote the law here so you better understand the Miller test. The ban was lifted because Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure holds literary and artistic value and rightly so.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure is a stunning book to read, the proses are elegant but I also found it fascinating how many erotic fiction tropes comes from this one book. I have not read many erotic novels, but from what I know and read, there is a lot that this genre needs to thank John Cleland. This was a fascinating exploration into the origins of erotic fiction and sex scenes in literature and ultimately I am glad to have read Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure.

It is not that often that I associate steaming sex scenes with literature of the 18th century, so it is good to know that people were deviant back then. Despite all the fantasies, I think John Cleland wanted to look at how important love is when it comes to pleasure seeking. This review originally appeared on my blog: Sep 21, Sheri rated it really liked it Shelves: So I'm not really sure where to go here. I have a ton of thoughts but not really sure how best to organize.

On one hand, I am astounded by the blatent language and content given that this was published in Some of it makes fifty shades look tame although if you read my review of that, my complaint there was that it really wasn't as graphic as advertised. I was also pleased while simultaneously offended at the progressive description of female sexuality. Especially after reading such cr So I'm not really sure where to go here. Especially after reading such criticisms as Moran and Greer, this is a book written by a man over years ago in which he credits women with active sexual desire.

However, I was offended by the fact that the portrayal did not come across as accurate. Instead, it really does read like a bad porno movie.