Chapter V: Appendix

As I do not wish to bewilder the Judgments of my Readers, but to convince their Understandings,—and as I have, throughout my Letters, laid so much Weight on the Dangers which attend hurrying the Labours of Women, I cannot dismiss this Pamphlet into the World without endeavouring _clearly to demonstrate_ the Utility of allowing Nature _to adhere strictly_ to _her own_ Period for accomplishing the Birth.

Men, who have _not_ been _accustomed to thinking_;—but whose Lives have been spent in the various Occupations, or dissipated Pleasures of the World, by having been habituated daily to view the common round which Providence takes in the natural Events of Life, never felt their Wonder and Admiration excited by considering them in the Manner which is incumbent on reasonable, intelligent Beings. Those, on the other Hand, whose only _real_ Enjoyments proceed from a delightful Indulgement of the Soul in Contemplations on the astonishing Works of God, _divest_ themselves of _that Familiarity to them_ which the hourly Evidence of their Senses would otherwise have obscured—and render’d Matter for no rational Reflection.

Thus we are blind to the surprizing _progressive_ Change, which enlarges a new born Infant, to the size of Manhood! or a small Seed, to a large Tree!—If an Infant, _the day after its Birth_, was to walk round the Town, in compleat symmetry of Person, and six Feet high, would not the Miracle forcibly strike the Minds of the most thoughtless of our Species?—The difference is made only _by Custom_. Twenty Hours, and Twenty Years, are exactly the same in the Sight of God!—_My_ Amazement is excited by seeing the Change wrought _in twenty Years_, to the full in _as high a degree_, as the _same Sight_, in twenty _Hours_, would raise the Astonishment of an embroidered Maccaroni at Carlisle House, or, of an infinitely _more_ rational, esteemable Being; a poor, ignorant Labourer in the Fields!

The Work of Nature, _in Labour_, is one of it’s most extraordinary Acts!—Untill the Parts are _in some degree prepared_ by the miraculous Change effected in them _by the Labour Pains_, the Child could no more enter the World than it could fly into the Clouds!—Untill the Parts are _properly_ prepared, the Child cannot appear without _the most obvious_ Danger.

Every Pain has it’s Office,—it lubricates—it dilates. Where these Pains are _not_ violent—are _not_ quick in their Return—but are lingering, and tedious, they _plainly_ indicate that _the Woman requires great Preparation_—Nature is _gradually_, and by _the most gentle_ Means, forwarding _the Distension_—and if left _to herself_, will _not_ bring on the Birth till every thing _is accommodated to her Purpose_.

Men Midwives, seldom wait for Nature’s Moment. Women are objected to, because they are tedious—Men are extolled for their quickness. If Doctor ⸺ has two or three pregnant Ladies waiting, from whom he expects handsome Payments, he will _take Merit_ from hastening the Birth—and if any Accident happens from his Impatience, his Reputation is too well establish’d to suffer in the Eyes of Mankind—and the Misfortune is attributed to some of the common Casualties attending Labour, when it derived it’s Source _solely_ from the Doctor’s having brought the Child forward, _unnaturally_, before the Parts were pre-disposed, by a proper distension, for it’s Reception, and Passage. I fear two Ladies died lately owing to this very Practice. The Parts inflamed—the Inflammation spread by Sympathy—the Bowels mortified. If these Ladies had lain-in in the Country, and had employ’d common, plain Women, who pretended to no Knowledge but what they derived from Experience, it is a Million to one that the Ladies would now have been alive and well.

The Men-midwives not only give rise to Inflammations by bringing the Child before the Woman has felt _half the number of Pains_ which Nature intended _to predispose_ the Parts—but likewise by _their abominable Dilatations_. Can any Practice be more repugnant to common Sense, than that of irritating the exquisitely sensitive nervous Fibres of those Parts, by way of preparing them for Distension? The Men absolutely _counteract_ the very end they pretend to have in view, by Dilatation!—Friction must irritate—irritation must inflame—Inflammation must _contract_. It is no Wonder if Parts so nicely constructed—highly irritated for (perhaps) Hours, should inflame after the Birth, and be productive of the most dreadful Consequences!—Yet their _Officiousness_ recommends them to the Ladies!—I really cannot find Words to inform my Readers of every Circumstance I wish to relate. I start Hints—and leave them to pursue the Subject by an exertion of their own Reason.

I have now entirely done with all which relates to the Danger Women and Children run through _officious_, shameful _Impatience_. I have only to recommend one serious Reflection to those Husbands who think their Happiness would be interrupted by detecting any Infidelity in their Wives. I beg they will consider _the Advantages_ they give Men-midwives, in allowing them so many _favourable_ Opportunities of _extolling the personal_ Charms of the Ladies, _whose Beauties_ lie open to their _most curious_ Researches. No Men can possibly have _such critical_ Opportunities for engratiating themselves with the Fair. _Flattery, CRITICALLY applied_ to Women, has strange Effects. They can _accompany_ their Flattery with _irresistible_ Persuasives. The sacred Names of Religion and Honour _may_ be made _Subservient_ to their Purposes. The more they are pretended to be prized in their Estimation, the more _they may be urged in proof_ of the _bewitching_ Allurements, and _forcible_ Power of those hidden Beauties, which have obliterated every Remonstrance of Virtue, and stifled every Check of Conscience. The poor Woman’s _Pity_ is excited, when she views the strongest Principles of her “dear Man” overcome by _her_ Charms—she can only blame _herself_ for possessing _such provoking Temptations_—she is blinded by the Assistance of Nature—_her own Vanity_ turns Advocate for the Doctor, and acquits him of Villainy _during the Empire of Passion_; though the _return_ of Reason, _when too late_! discovers the Artifices which have accomplish’d her Ruin!

THE AUTHOR.

I hope Doctor Hunter will pardon _the latter_ part of the Reference, at the bottom of my second Letter. I fear I misrepresented him in attributing Infirmities to his share which I am inform’d he never yet has experienced. His _Abilities_ are great—and if a Man _must_ be employ’d, I think he may be called in with as much safety as any Man of his Profession.

☞ _As this Pamphlet recommends the employing of Women, the Publishers have taken some Pains to procure a List of those who are eminent in their Profession—and on the best information recommend the following Midwives to those Ladies who have too much Modesty to employ Men—and who are convinced by the preceding Pages that the Men are not so safe as Women._

Mrs. Nihell _Hay Market_

Mrs. Brooke } _Cross Key Court, Little Britain_
Mrs. Stephens }
Mrs. Lee }

Mrs. Harris _Mould Makers Row, St. Martin’s Le Grand_

Mrs. Reynard } _Bartholomew Close_
Mrs. Forrest }

Mrs. Smith } _Cow Lane, Snow-Hill_
Mrs. Page }

Mrs. Phillips _Garlick Hill_

Mrs. Andrews _Bush Lane, Cannon Street_

Mrs. Longbottom _Near Guy’s Hospital_

Mrs. Richardson _Westminster_

Mrs. Souden _Ratcliff Row, Old Street_

Mrs. Hall _Bunhill Row, Ditto_

Mrs. Barnet } _Somerset Street, White-Chapel_
Mrs. Larkin }

Mrs. Blunt _Swallow Str. Golden Sq._

Mrs. Lyttelton, _Amen-Corner, Paternoster Row_

FINIS.