The Project Gutenberg eBook of Venus in Boston;, by George Thompson

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Venus in Boston;
A Romance of City Life

Author: George Thompson

Release Date: March 7, 2009 [eBook #28267]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VENUS IN BOSTON;***

E-text prepared by Woodie4, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg
Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustration.
See 28267-h.htm or 28267-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/8/2/6/28267/28267-h/28267-h.htm)
or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/8/2/6/28267/28267-h.zip)

VENUS IN BOSTON;

A Romance of City Life.

"Ah, Vice! how soft are thy voluptuous ways!
While boyish blood is mantling, who can 'scape
The fascination of thy magic gaze?
A Cherub-hydra round us dost thou gape,
And mould to every taste, thy dear, delusive shape."
BYRON'S CHILDE HAROLD

{First published 1849}

CONTENTS

VENUS IN BOSTON;

A Romance of City Life

INTRODUCTION 3

CHAPTER I. _The blind Basket-maker and his family._ 3

CHAPTER II. _Innocence in the Grip of Lust._ 7

CHAPTER III. _The Rescue._ 17

CHAPTER IV. _A night in Ann street._ 20

CHAPTER V. _The Chevalier and the Duchess._ 52

CHAPTER VI. _The Stolen Package._ 75

CHAPTER VII. _Showing the operations of Jew Mike._ 90

CHAPTER VIII. _The Chambers of Love._ 98

[Illustration: Frontispiece to _Venus in Boston_, 1850 edition. By
courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library.]

INTRODUCTION

I conceive it to be a prominent fault of most of the tales of fiction
that are written and published at the present day, that they are not
sufficiently _natural_--their style is too much exaggerated--and in
aiming to produce startling effects, they depart too widely from the
range