Accordingly they were let in upon me, and all that frolic and thoughtless gaiety in which those giddy creatures ​consume their leisure, made me envy a condition of which I only saw the fair side: insomuch, that the being one of them became even my ambition: a disposition which they all carefully cultivated; and I wanted now nothing but to restore my health, that I might be able to undergo the ceremony of the initiation. Nor was this worthy act of justice long delaid: I had it too much at heart, ​ Mr. H ——— had, about a fortnight before, taken into his service a tenant's son, just come out of the country, a very handsome young lad scarce turn'd of nineteen, fresh as a rose, well shap'd and clever-limb'd: in short, a very good excuse for any woman's liking, even tho' revenge had been out of the question; any woman, I say, who was disprejudic'd, and had wit and spirit enough to prefer a point of pleasure to a point of pride. Dixon, Wheeler Winston (3 December 2010). "Working Within the System: An Interview with Gerry O'Hara". Screening the Past. Yet, plain as Mrs. Brown's views were now come out, I had not the heart or spirit to open my eyes to them: still I could not part with my dependence on that beldam; so much did I think myself her's, soul and body: or rather, I sought to deceive myself with the continuation of my good opinion of her, and chose to wait the worst at her hands, sooner than being turn'd out to starve in the streets, without a penny of money, or a friend to apply to: these fears were my folly.

FANNY HILL - Project Gutenberg Australia

The novel consists of two long letters (which appear as volumes I and II of the original edition) written by Frances 'Fanny' Hill, a rich Englishwoman in her middle age, who leads a life of contentment with her loving husband Charles and their children, to an unnamed acquaintance identified only as 'Madam.' Fanny has been prevailed upon by 'Madam' to recount the 'scandalous stages' of her earlier life, which she proceeds to do with 'stark naked truth' as her governing principle. Browne, Ray Broadus; Browne, Pat (2001). The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Popular Press. p.273. ISBN 978-0-87972-821-2. Fanny Hill (Off-Broadway Musical, 2006), libretto and score by Ed Dixon, starring Nancy Anderson as Fanny. Giddy and intoxicated as I was with such satiating draughts of pleasure, I still lay on the couch, supinely stretch'd out, in a delicious languor diffus'd over all my limbs, hugging myself for being thus reveng'd to my heart's content, and that in a manner so precisely alike, and on the identical spot, in which I had receiv'd the suppos'd injury: no reflections on the consequences ever once perplex'd me, nor did I make myself one single reproach for having, by this step, completely enter'd myself of a profession more decry'd than disus'd. I should have held it ingratitude to the pleasure I had receiv'd, to have repented of it; and ​since I was now over the bar, I thought by plunging over head and ears into the stream I was hurried away by, to drown all sense of shame or reflection. After a sufficient length of dialogue, my bed-fellow left me to my rest, and I fell asleep, through pure weariness, from the violent emotions I had been led into, when nature (which had been too warmly stir'd and fermented to subside without ​allaying by some means or other) relieved me by one of those luscious dreams, the transports of which are scarce inferior to those of waking, real action.Presently, assuming more courage, and seeking some diversion from my uneasy thoughts, I ventured to lift up my head a little, and sent my eyes on a course round the room, wherein they met full tilt with those of a lady (for such my extreme innocence pronounc'd her) sitting in a corner of the room, dress'd in a velvet mantle ( nota bene, in the midst of summer), with her bonnet off; squob-fat, red-faced, and at least fifty. Although editions of the book have frequently featured illustrations, many have been of poor quality. [21] An exception to this is the set of mezzotints, probably designed by the artist George Morland and engraved by his friend John Raphael Smith that accompanied one edition. Sutherland, John (1983). Offensive Literature Decensorship in Britain, 1960–1982. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-389-20354-4.

Fanny Hill Summary | GradeSaver Fanny Hill Summary | GradeSaver

The Mayflower case highlighted the growing disconnect between the obscenity laws and the permissive society that was developing in late 1960s Britain, and was instrumental in shifting views to the point where in 1970 an uncensored version of Fanny Hill was again published in Britain.

In the mean time, the extension of my limbs, languid stretchings, sighs, short heavings, all conspired to assure that ​experienced wanton that I was more pleased than offended at her proceedings, which she seasoned with repeated kisses and exclamations, such as "Oh! what a charming creature thou art! —— what a happy man will he be that first makes a woman of you! ———— Oh! that I were a man for your sake ————!" with the like broken expressions, interrupted by kisses as fierce and falacious as ever I received from the other sex. Bates, Stephen. "Father Hill and Fanny Hill: an Activist Group's Crusade to Remake Obscenity Law". UNC / First Amendment Law Journal. 8 (2): 2.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland - Google Books Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure - John Cleland - Google Books

Nussbaum, Felicity (1995). "One part of womankind: prostitution and sexual geography in 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure' ". Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 7 (2): 16–41 – via Academic OneFile. It was pretty late in a summer evening when we reached the town, in our slow conveyance, though drawn by six at length. As we passed thro' the greatest streets that led to our inn, the noise of the coaches, the hurry, the crowds of foot passengers, in short, the new scenery of the shops and houses at once pleased and amazed me. In 1963, Putnam published the book in the United States under the title John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. This edition led to the arrest of New York City bookstore owner Irwin Weisfeld and clerk John Downs [11] [12] as part of an anti-obscenity campaign orchestrated by several major political figures. [13] [14] Weisfeld's conviction [15] was eventually overturned in state court and the New York ban of Fanny Hill lifted. [16] The new edition was also banned for obscenity in Massachusetts, after a mother complained to the state's Obscene Literature Control Commission. [10] Massachusetts high court did rule Fanny Hill obscene [17] and the publisher's challenge to the ban now went up to the Supreme Court. In a landmark decision in 1966, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Memoirs v. Massachusetts that Fanny Hill did not meet the Roth standard for obscenity. [18] When he had finish'd his stroke, and got from off her, she lay still without the least motion, breathless, as it should seem, with pleasure. He replaced her again breadthwise on the couch, unable to sit up, with her thighs open, ​between which I could observe a kind of white liquid, like froth, hanging about the outward lips of that recent opened wound, which now glowed with a deeper red. Presently she gets up, and throwing her arms round him, seemed far from undelighted with the trial he had put her to, to judge at least by the fondness with which she ey'd, and hung upon him. Literary critic Felicity A. Nussbaum describes the girls in Mrs Cole's brothel as "'a little troop of love' who provide compliments, caresses, and congratulation to their fellow whores' erotic achievements". [24]Novelty ever makes the strongest impressions, and in pleasures especially: no wonder then, that he was swallow'd up in raptures of admiration of things so interesting by their nature, and now seen and handled for the first time. On my part, I was richly overpaid for the pleasure I gave him, in that of examining the power of those objects thus abandon'd to him, naked, and free to his loosest wish, over the artless, natural stripling: his eyes streaming fire, his cheeks glowing with a florid red, his fervid frequent sighs, whilst his hands convulsively squeez'd, opened, press'd together again the lips and sides of that deep flesh-wound, or gently twitch'd the over-growing moss; and all proclaim'd the excess, the riot of joys, in having his wantonness thus humour'd. ​But he did not long abuse my patience, for the objects before him had now put him by all his, and coming out with that formidable machine of his, he lets the fury loose, and pointing it directly to the pouting-lipt mouth, that bid him sweet defiance in dumb-shew, squeezes in the head, and driving with refresh'd rage, breaks in, and plugs up the whole passage of that soft-pleasure-conduit, where he makes all shake again, and put once more all within me into such an uproar, as nothing could still, but a fresh inundation from the very engine of those flames, as well as from all the springs with which nature floats that recevoir of joy, when risen to its flood-mark. Gladfelder, Hal Fanny Hill in Bombay: The Making and Unmaking of John Cleland, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012 For me, I could bear to see no more: I was so overcome, so inflamed at this second part of the same play, that, mad to an intolerable desire, I hugg'd, I clasp'd Phœbe, as if she had wherewithal to relieve me: pleased however ​with, and pitying the taking she could feel me in, she drew me towards the door and opening it as softly as she could, we both got off undiscover'd, and she reconducted me to my own room, where unable to keep my legs, in the agitation, I was in, I instantly threw myself down on the bed, where I lay transported, tho' asham'd at what I felt. He staid with me that evening, and we had a supper from a neighbouring tavern, after which, and a gay glass or two, the maid put me to bed, Mr. H ——— soon follow'd, and notwithstanding the fatigues of the preceding night, I found ​no quarter nor remission from him: He piqu'd himself, as he told me, on doing the honours of my new apartment.