The following Proposal is sent to be inserted in this Paper, as an Expedient humbly propos'd to the Legislature, for suppressing a Crime which is the most shocking Debasement of Human Nature.
It being too notorious, that there are vile Clubs of Miscreants in and about this City, who meet to Practise and Propagate the detestable Sin of Sodomy, a Crime which drew down the flaming Vengeance of God upon the City of Sodom, in a Day when they had not that Light which we are bless'd with now, 'tis humbly propos'd that the following Method may not only destroy the Practice, but blot out the Names of the monstrous Wretches from under Heaven, viz. when any are Detected, Prosecuted and Convicted, that after Sentence Pronounc'd, the Common Hangman tie him Hand and Foot before the Judge's Face in open Court, that a Skilful Surgeon be provided immediately to take out his Testicles, and that then the Hangman sear up his Scrotum with an hot Iron, as in Cases of burning in the Hand.
(SOURCE: Letter to the Editor of The Weekly Journal: or, The British Gazetteer, 14 May 1726.
CITATION: If you cite this Web page, please use the following citation:
Rictor Norton (Ed.), "A Modest Proposal, 1726," Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: A Sourcebook. 22 April 2000, updated 20 June 2008 <http://www.rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1726mode.htm>.
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