This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V. She %oes to Leon, puts a Cheat upon a Sharper; Chouses an Hypocrite; takes another Ramble; Steals an Ass; begs to buy a Locket; & puts afoul trick upon her kinsman. HERE is no-doubt but success puffs up the mind J_ and raises the thoughts; my late triumph made me conceit great matters of myself; I began to set up for a lady, and all that looked like the country seemed below me. Time was when I liked a bumpkin in a pair of leather breeches and clouted shoes, better than the nicest beau about the court; and would rather have accepted a treat of sullibub, or a present of a straw-hat, than a silk-gown, or a gold-locket. The greatest present I then thought could be made to a person of my degree, was a silver ring, and if it was gilt, I looked upon it as the highest generosity. But the world is altered, and I grew so lofty, that I valued a scarlet petticoat no more than if they had to be taken off of every hedge. Being thus enriched with the booty, and grown vain with success, I resolved to quit the country life, and take one loose in the city of Leon, which is but three leagues from Mansilla. It was in the month of August, when there is a great festival in that city, and therefore I ordered some kindred of mine to provide me a gentle she ass to serve me for a palfrey: they brought me one curiously accoutred with saddle and bridle, and I seeing her so fine, resolved to trick myself up, and daub my cheeks. I sent for white and red, and being little skilledjn that art, laid it on as if it had been with a trowel on a wall. This done I put on a scarlet petticoat, a satin waistcoat, a sky-colour mantle, with a velvet welt about it, and a close hood, and a fine veil along with me in my sleeve. Thus dressed, I mounted my steed and set...

This entertaining novel’s full title, which claims that it will show “All the Artifices and Strategems which the Ladies of Pleasure make use of for the Intreaguing and Decoying of Men,” suggests that it is a cautionary tale. And in fact, The London Jilt is presented as the memoir of a courtesan by an anonymous editor who justifies its publication as a warning to young men. Yet the narrative is remarkable for its time in allowing the “jilt” to speak for herself, and she tells the much more sympathetic story of a woman who turns to prostitution only after her father is cheated out of his estate and she is thrust into the world without resources. Her struggles are as much economic as they are sexual, and include encounters with a wide variety of amorous but unsatisfactory men. This Broadview edition provides a critical introduction, commentary, explanatory notes, and appendices that incorporate selections from related contemporary works, including Spanish picaresque novels in which the narrator is a woman.

Written by an international group of scholars, this edited collection provides an overview of the Spanish picaresque from its origins in tales of lowborn adventurers to its importance for the modern novel, along with consideration of the debates that the picaresque has inspired.