The Life Of Thomas Cooper

The last time he saw her alive was two nights earlier, on Saturday, August 4th - the same night Sickert was making sketches at Gatti's music hall near the Strand. Turner handed Martha a few coins, which she wasted on drink. For centuries, many people believed women turned to prostitution because they suffered from a genetic defect that caused them to enjoy sex for the sake of sex. There were several types of immoral or wanton women, some worse than others. Although concubines, mistresses, and good wenches were not to be praised, the greatest sinner was the whore. A whore was a whore by choice and was not about to retire from her "wicked and abominable course of life," Thomas Heywoode lamented in his 1624 history of women. "I am altogether discouraged when I remember the position of one of the most notorious in the trade," who said, " 'For once a whore and ever a whore, I know it by my self.' " Sexual activity was to be confined to the institution of marriage and had been ordained by God for the sole purpose of the continuation of the species ...»