England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [38]
In the morning, the Kelly girls had to don plain clothes to scrub the rooms (somewhat difficult with their three-foot hairdos) and wash the linen, an interminable task in a brothel. While most hygienic Londoners changed their sheets three times a year, one attraction of Kelly's was the cleanliness of both the sheets and the staff—one writer claimed that men went to prostitutes because they were cleaner than their wives. In the afternoon, Kelly girls retired to the parlor. No fire was lit until a client arrived, so they huddled with blankets over their opulent dresses, whiling away the hours gossiping and playing cards. Arguments broke out over men, clothes, and their positions in the hierarchy and sometimes descended into fights before the brothel bouncer or "bully man" broke it up. They all waited until the sound of a bell signaled the arrival of a gentleman.
Some clients were nervous first-timers escorted by friends, or drunken men on a spending spree. Others were jaded regulars or dissolute debauchees. St. James was still buzzing about the recent death of Mr. Damer, the privileged only son of Lord Milton. Damer visited a bagnio and commanded twelve of the most handsome women of the town to be brought to him, with "all manner of delicacies." He locked the door, "made them undress one another, and, when naked, requested them to amuse him with the most voluptuous attitudes. About an hour afterwards, he dismissed them, and then, drawing a pistol from his pocket, immediately put an end to his existence."2
In the receiving room, Kelly discussed prices and requirements, and the gentleman either took a girl immediately or a servant led him through to the salon. Candles were lit, the fire quickly kindled, and the girls stuffed their blankets and cards under the sofas and arranged themselves beguilingly. Buzzing with ideas borrowed from erotic novels such as John Cle-land's Fanny Hill, the men settled down as the girls served them wine and fine meats and took turns dancing or singing. Arlington Street also entertained rich, independent women who came to watch the show. The evening usually began with civilized chatter, music, and flirting, but it could turn rowdy: one army captain and his men broke china and mirrors there seven nights in a row.
Emma had a chance to refine her natural grace as she danced, sang, and perhaps played the guitar. "Lewd Posture," a form of erotic dance, was the most popular form of entertainment. The performer wore a light dance dress or less and drew shawls across herself as she performed twirls, extended her leg behind her, and bent and stretched while others played a guitar or sang. Sometimes the women danced in twos or in groups. The employees also staged impromptu plays or recited speeches, often tales of seduced women that filled the pages of bawdy contemporary books such as Nocturnal Revels, which allowed them to pretend to be ruined girls remembering their seduction while kneeling to beg for forgiveness. Other girls took men upstairs, sometimes up to three a night. One contemporary book instructed, "You must not forget to use the natural accents of dying persons…. You must add to these ejaculations, aspirations, sighs, intermissions of words, and such like gallantries, whereby you may give your Mate to believe you are melted, dissolved and wholly consumed in pleasure, though Ladies of large business are generally no more moved by an embrace, than if they were made of