24 November

James Boswell conquers in armour

1762 Boswell records in his London Journal for 24 November a lusty adventure of the previous evening:

I picked up a girl in the Strand; went into court with intention to enjoy her in armour. But she had none. I toyed with her. She wondered at my size, and said if I ever took a girl’s maidenhead, I would make her squeal. I gave her a shilling, and had command enough of myself to go without touching her. I afterwards trembled at the danger I escaped.

By ‘danger’, of course, Boswell means venereal disease. No member, whatever its size, could hold out against the clap in those pre-antibiotic times. What, however, was the ‘armour’ that the whore neglected to carry with her? Rubber condoms would not be available for a century and galvanised rubber condoms for two centuries. The condoms that Boswell would have used were made of washable sheep-gut. One, long retired from battle, is on display at the Johnson House in London. It was fastened at the top by tape, to prevent mid-coitus slippage.

These contraceptive sacks dried out between use and needed to be moistened. Boswell elsewhere in his journal recalls dipping his ‘machine’ (as they were called) in the (filthy) water of the lake in St James’s Park before dipping his wick with another lady of the London night.