were a source of irritation and I skimmed hastily through on the lookout for names. I saw there was an appendix entitled Incident & Anecdote , and without any real expectation turned to it. And struck gold.
The third entry ran to four pages under the heading An Educational Use of the Servant , and at the end of it I found,
A–––– E–, in the County of ––sex.
The Month of June in the Year of 1728.
Uxor studiosa scripsit .
It had to be. Academic caution always goes out of the window when I think I’m on to something and I just knew the piece was from Ardingley End, Essex. But the last three words made me gape. I was familiar with scripsit , meaning literally ‘wrote’, and for use after the author’s name at the end of a letter or document. Uxor studiosa , though, was a turn up for the book. Wife, of course, and not merely studying, but keenly so. ‘By the zealous wife’ might do as a translation. With a slightly unsteady hand I turned back the pages to read what she had written.
I am scarce one Month wed and my Husband’s Course of Lessons is underway in earnest. This Day we are gathered – that is my Abigail and I – in the Morning Room where a Space has been cleared for an Article of Furniture that I am most desirous of viewing in use. At last the Footmen enter – it is they shall play a vital Rôle in the Drama we are to witness – and bowing under its weight bring the Item to the Centre of the Floor. At first Sight it could be taken for a kind of Seat, possessed as it is of a slatted wooden Top curved as might fit the Shape of an Arse. Yet a Glance at the festooning Straps and the Timbers enclosing the four Legs that extend a Yard fore and aft suggests otherwise. Indeed, the Apparatus is concerned with posterior Matters, though not in the Mode of Sitting. One may rather be sure that when its Function has been discharged, that very Position will be one best avoided. For the thing is a Whipping-Bench, no less, made out of the finest Oak to a Plan drawn up by Sir Montague’s own Hand. It is unique to the House and I hope to see it become the Envy of the Circuit.
The Housemaid arrives who is to be the principal Subject of our Staging and casts a nervous Eye over the Frame. We ready her for the Event by removing the outer Garments, with the Observation that while there may be some trying Minutes, they will become as nothing in the final Consummation. From the Calves and Shoulders that have come into view, Martha is a well-built Girl and I tell her that having survived, as she has, the Strictest of Upbringings there will be nothing in today’s Exercise to cause her undue Alarm. She is reassured, it seems, and stretches over to embrace the Frame. I send Nabby to the left and together we cuff the bare Arms to the forward Struts. At the other end we take the hem of the linen Smock at each side and between us fold it up until it is able to be held under the broad Belt that I buckle tight across the lower Back.
What a Moon has risen on the Scene in response to our action! I catch my Servant’s eye and make with my Hands the form of the two resplendent Hemispheres that lie uncovered, but we stifle our giggling. I do not wish my Husband to surprise us in a state of foolish Levity, so we bend again to our Task. Now the Refinement of the design becomes apparent in the placing of the Straps that circle each Thigh close to the Knee. The Distance between their fixing Posts is such that when they are drawn tight the Legs pull apart into an inverted V. The Consequences of this are, it seems, apparent to our Volunteer who gives out an ‘Oh’, while her Muscles strain to undo what we have just done. It is to no avail. Despite the ripeness of the Buttock its lower portion is split wide to expose the pink Folds of the Quim.
‘Don’t fret, Martha,’ I say, ‘it is a pretty sight. And the Master tells me that once a young Woman has been warm’d she forgets to be shy.’ The words are opportune, for no