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" The Hell-Fire clubs : "
Evelyn Lord
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BL
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| Record Number
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582279
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| Doc. No
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GBA875625b411498
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| Main Entry
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Lord, Evelyn
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| Title & Author
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The Hell-Fire clubs : : sex, Satanism and secret societies /\ Evelyn Lord
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| Publication Statement
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New Haven [Conn.] ;London :: Yale University Press,, c2008
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| Page. NO
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xxix, 247 p., [16] p. of plates :: ill., maps ;; 25 cm
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| ISBN
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9780300116670 (ci : alk. paper)
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: 0300116675 (ci : alk. paper)
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| Bibliographies/Indexes
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Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-242) and index
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| Contents
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Prelude to the fires of hell -- Gentlemen's clubs, journalistic hacks, the mohocks and change -- The Hell-Fire clubs -- Interlude abroad : the grand tour, dilettanti and divans -- The Medmenham friars -- Essay on woman : the friars exposed -- Public men and private vices -- Scotland and the fires of hell -- Beefsteaks, demoniacs, dalkey, colonial America
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| Abstract
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"The Hell-Fire Clubs scandalised eighteenth-century English society. Rumours of their orgies, recruitment of prostitutes, extensive libraries of erotica, extreme rituals and initiation ceremonies circulated widely at the time, only to become more sensational as generations passed. Evelyn Lord sets aside the exaggerated gossip about the secret Hell-Fire Clubs and brings to light the first accurate portrait of their membership (including John Wilkes, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Prince of Wales), beliefs, activities and the reasons for their proliferation, first in the British Isles and later in America, quite possibly under the auspices of Benjamin Franklin." "The Hell-Fire Clubs operated under a variety of titles, but all attracted similar members - mainly upper-class men with abundant leisure and the desire to shock society. Just how the clubs emerged and flourished, their various phases, which first involved violence as an assertion of maleness, religious blasphemy and later sexual indulgence, and the counter-movement that eventually suppressed them are the story of this book. Uncovering the facts behind the legends, The Hell-Fire Clubs also opens a window on the rich contradictions of the Enlightenment period." --Book Jacket
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| Subject
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Hell Fire Club (Medmenham, England)
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| Subject
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England, Social life and customs, 18th century
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| LC Classification
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DA485.L67 2008
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