The Women-Hater's Lamentation
Feb. 27th, 2010 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anteros_lmcThe previous post on the persecution of mollies in 18th century Britain and Holland mentioned a 1707 broadside ballad called "The Women Hater's Lamentation". I've come across several mentions of this particular ballad. I seem to recall that Burg references it in Boys at Sea and I'm sure I've seen it somewhere else as well. Rictor Norton has a transcription on his site Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England and here it is:
The Women-Hater's Lamentation
or
A New Copy of Verses on the Fatal End of Mr. Grant, a Woollen-Draper, and two others that Cut their Throats or Hang'd themselves in the Counter; with the Discovery of near Hundred more that are Accused for unnatural dispising the Fair Sex, and Intriguing with one another. To the Tune of, Ye pretty Sailors all.
I.
Ye injur'd Females see
Justice without the Laws,
Seeing the Injury,
Has thus reveng'd your Cause.
II.
For those that are so blind,
Your Beauties to despise,
And slight your Charms, will find
Such Fate will always rise.
III.
Of all the Crimes that Men
Through wicked Minds do act,
There is not one of them
Equals this Brutal Fact.
IV.
Nature they lay aside,
To gratifie their Lust;
Women they hate beside,
Therefore their Fate was just.
V.
Ye Women-haters say,
What do's your Breasts inspire,
That in a Brutal way,
You your own Sex admire?
VI.
Woman you disapprove,
(The chief of Earthly Joys)
You that are deaf to Love,
And all the Sex despise.
VII.
But see the fatal end
That do's such Crimes pursue;
Unnat'ral Deaths attend,
Unnat'ral Lusts in you.
VIII.
A Crime by Men abhor'd,
Nor Heaven can abide
Of which, when Sodom shar'd,
She justly was destroy'd.
IX.
But now, the sum to tell,
(Tho' they plead Innocence)
These by their own Hands fell,
Accus'd for this Offence.
X.
A Hundred more we hear,
Did to this Club belong,
But now they scatter'd are,
For this has broke the Gang.
XI.
Shop-keepers some there were,
And Men of good repute,
Each vow'd a Batchelor,
Unnat'ral Lust pursu'd.
XII.
Ye Women-Haters then,
Take Warning by their Shame,
Your Brutal Lusts restrain,
And own a Nobler Flame.
XIII.
Woman the chiefest Bliss
That Heaven e'er bestow'd:
Oh be sham'd of this,
You're by base Lust subdu'd.
XIV.
This piece of Justice then
Has well reveng'd their Cause,
And shews unnat'ral Lust
Is curs'd without the Laws.
CITATION AS REQUESTED: Rictor Norton (Ed.), "The Woman-Hater's Lamentation, 1707", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 1 Dec. 1999 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/hater.htm>.
Btw in his introduction at the url above Norton states that the fact that the persecuted men were bachelors "...suggests that they did in fact possess a gay identity, that is, they were not bisexuals..." Personally I do not believe that "gay identity" and bisexuality are mutually exclusive.
or
A New Copy of Verses on the Fatal End of Mr. Grant, a Woollen-Draper, and two others that Cut their Throats or Hang'd themselves in the Counter; with the Discovery of near Hundred more that are Accused for unnatural dispising the Fair Sex, and Intriguing with one another. To the Tune of, Ye pretty Sailors all.
I.
Ye injur'd Females see
Justice without the Laws,
Seeing the Injury,
Has thus reveng'd your Cause.
II.
For those that are so blind,
Your Beauties to despise,
And slight your Charms, will find
Such Fate will always rise.
III.
Of all the Crimes that Men
Through wicked Minds do act,
There is not one of them
Equals this Brutal Fact.
IV.
Nature they lay aside,
To gratifie their Lust;
Women they hate beside,
Therefore their Fate was just.
V.
Ye Women-haters say,
What do's your Breasts inspire,
That in a Brutal way,
You your own Sex admire?
VI.
Woman you disapprove,
(The chief of Earthly Joys)
You that are deaf to Love,
And all the Sex despise.
VII.
But see the fatal end
That do's such Crimes pursue;
Unnat'ral Deaths attend,
Unnat'ral Lusts in you.
VIII.
A Crime by Men abhor'd,
Nor Heaven can abide
Of which, when Sodom shar'd,
She justly was destroy'd.
IX.
But now, the sum to tell,
(Tho' they plead Innocence)
These by their own Hands fell,
Accus'd for this Offence.
X.
A Hundred more we hear,
Did to this Club belong,
But now they scatter'd are,
For this has broke the Gang.
XI.
Shop-keepers some there were,
And Men of good repute,
Each vow'd a Batchelor,
Unnat'ral Lust pursu'd.
XII.
Ye Women-Haters then,
Take Warning by their Shame,
Your Brutal Lusts restrain,
And own a Nobler Flame.
XIII.
Woman the chiefest Bliss
That Heaven e'er bestow'd:
Oh be sham'd of this,
You're by base Lust subdu'd.
XIV.
This piece of Justice then
Has well reveng'd their Cause,
And shews unnat'ral Lust
Is curs'd without the Laws.
CITATION AS REQUESTED: Rictor Norton (Ed.), "The Woman-Hater's Lamentation, 1707", Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. Updated 1 Dec. 1999 <http://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/hater.htm>.
Btw in his introduction at the url above Norton states that the fact that the persecuted men were bachelors "...suggests that they did in fact possess a gay identity, that is, they were not bisexuals..." Personally I do not believe that "gay identity" and bisexuality are mutually exclusive.
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Date: 2010-02-28 11:58 am (UTC)It's like a very special issue of Nuts tackling the subject of women's disparity in pay...
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Date: 2010-02-28 12:42 pm (UTC)Off to look at more houses now. Joy of joys.
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Date: 2010-02-28 02:47 pm (UTC)Hope it's going well!