Saturday, January 23, 2016

Tinder in the 19th Century

The Rev. Joshua King, called in, and examined.
“You are clergyman of the parish of Bethnal-green?
The rector of that parish.”
"Is the manner in which those houses are conducted particularly disorderly?"
“I have reason to believe it is; the Seven Stars and Three Sugar Loaves are a receptacle for suspicious characters, at hours when all other public-houses are closed; and at the Sun, a club significantly termed a cock and hen club, has been, and I believe still is held.”
“In which boys and girls meet?”    
“Yes, and get drunk and debauch one another.”
(Report from the committee on the state of the police of the metropolis: with the minutes of evidence, London, 1816.)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Probably a much worse idea at the then-current levels of contraception and medical knowledge though.

Attempting to be a Skeptical Thinker said...

It's always interesting to see how biology impresses itself on society and human behavior. I like Scott Adam's "moist robot" analogy. Our brains are just along for the ride to produce the rationalizations for the behaviors that biology demands of us.