the Second, they are
only Places to meet and bargain in, to make Appointments, in order to
promote Interviews of greater Secrecy, and no Manner of Lewdness is
ever suffer'd to be transacted in them; which Order is so strictly
observ'd, that, bar the Ill Manners and Noise of the Company that
frequent them, you'll meet with no more Indecency, and generally less
Lasciviousness there, than with us are to seen at a Play-House.
Thirdly, the Female Traders, that come to these Evening-Exchanges, are
always the Scum of the People, and generally such, as in the Day-Time
carry Fruit and other Eatables about in Wheel-barrows. The Habits
indeed they appear in at Night, are very different from their ordinaray
ones; yet they are commonly so ridiculously gay, that they look more
like the_ Roman _Dresses of strolling Actresses, than Gentlewomens
Cloaths: If to this you add the Awkwardness, the hard Hands and course
Breeding of the Damsels that wear them, there is no great Reason to
fear, that many of the better Sort of People will be tempted by them._
_The Musick in these Temples of_ Venus _is perform'd by Organs, not out
of Respect to the Deity that is worship'd in them, but the Frugality of
the Owners, whose Business it is to procure as much Sound for as little
Money as they can, and the Policy of the Government, which endeavours
as little as is possible, to encourage the Breed of Pipers and
Scrapers. All Sea-faring Men, especially the_ Dutch, _are, like the
Element they belong to, much given to Loudness and Roaring, and the
Noise of Half a Dozen of them, when they call themselves Merry, is
sufficient to drown Twice the Number of Flutes or Violins; whereas with
one Pair of Organs they can make the whole House ring, and are at no
other Charge than the keeping of one scurvy Musician, which can cost
them but little, yet notwithstanding the good Rules and strict
Discipline that are observ'd in these Markets of Love, the Schout and
his Officers are always vexing, mulcting, and, upon the least
Complaint, removing the miserable Keepers of them: Which Policy is of
two great Uses; First, it gives an Opportunity to a large Parcel of
Officers, the Magistrates make use of on many Occasions, and which they
could not be without, to squeeze a Living out of the immoderate Gains
accruing from the worst of Employments, and at the same Time punish
those necessary Profligates, the Bawds and Panders, whom, tho' they
abominate, they desire yet not wholly
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