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London Debating Societies: 'Which was more culpable in eating the forbidden Fruit, Adam or Eve?&

On the 19th of January, 1789 it was deemed that Eve was more culpable than Adam of eating the forbidden fruit among those at the Capel Court Debates.

Debating societies flourished within London in the early eighteenth century, inviting individuals of all genders and social class to participate in the discussion of topics ranging from love and marriage, government policy, moral issues and current events.

Whilst researching for 'Wylde at Heart' a range of debating topics from the year 1789 surprised me in their controversial yet quaint nature. Below is a small sample from the British History Online, but for the full listings for that year and many others please visit: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol30/pp246-273

January 1, 1789 Coachmakers Hall

'Is the Virtue of the Fair Sex most in Danger from the Influence of a bad Education, their natural Vanity, or from the extreme Sensibility of the Female Heart?' The World

January 5, 1789 Capel Court Debates

'Which is the true Characteristick of a Lady's Man, Wit, Courage or Politeness?' Daily Advertiser

January 7, 1789 Westminster Forum

'Does not the late fatal Event, and other Evils resulting from DUELLING, demand the Interposition of the Legislature to abolish the Practice?

Duelling is one of those Evils which arise from a Refinement of Manners. To investigate that fatal Rashness, which, through a mistaken Principle of Honour, has robbed Society of some of its brightest Ornaments, is an Employment which must display the Abilities of the Gentlemen who speak in the Westminster Forum to great Advantage.' Morning Post

January 15, 1789 Coachmakers Hall

'Is the Passion of Love productive of more Happiness or Misery to its Possessors?

Love is a Passion whose effects have puzzled the wisest Philosophers; by some it has been called the Spring from whence Virtue is often conveyed into resisting Nature; that it renders the Coward brave; and melts the hardiest Soul into a sense of Social Duty.' Daily Advertiser

January 21, 1789 Westminster Forum

'Which is the most powerful obligation of nature, Parental Affection, Filial Duty, or Conjugal Love?'

Morning Post

February 9, 1789 City Debates

'Is the Vanity of the Women, or the Depravity of the Men, the greater Cause of Female Ruin?

¶This Question was taken from a Memorandum written by the late unfortunate Dr. Dodd in a blank leaf of his Magdalen Book.'

Daily Advertiser

February 16, 1789 City Debates

'Are Dreams the effect of a roving Imagination, or the certain Indicators of future Events?

The Rev. Caleb Evans of Bristol, having mentioned in his Sermon an extraordinary Circumstance of a Lady's having dreamt she was dancing, died, and sunk into a Place of Torment (who upon going that evening to a Ball, actually died, as she had dreamt, induced the Managers to adopt the [above] Question. . .

A Letter from the Rev. Mr. Evans was . . . publickly read in this Society by his son.' Daily Advertiser

April 27, 1789 City Debates

'Can a Wife be reformed by Correction?' Daily Advertiser

August 27, 1789 Coachmakers Hall

'Would the establishment of liberty in France, be likely to prejudice or benefit the general interest of Great Britain?

The Debating Society, at Coachmakers Hall, Foster Lane, Cheapside, an institution established near a century, and allowed to be the most instructive and agreeable entertainment of any in this metropolis.'Daily Advertiser

October 1, 1789 Coachmakers Hall

'Does the Belief in Apparitions, the Influence of good and evil Spirits, and in judicial Astrology, discover a superstitious Ignorance, or a true Knowledge of Religion and Philosophy?

The Managers beg Leave to inform the Publick, that Information having been given to them of an Apparition lately appearing to a worthy Clergyman; and some wonderful Discoveries made a few Days since by a modern Astrologer, particularly to a Tradesman in Old-Street, who will attend, and a young Woman lately deceased, the Love of Truth, the grand actuating Principle of this Institution, has induced them to bring forward the above Question, to which they solicit the Attention of the Divine, the Philosopher, and every person who can speak from Experience on this Occasion.' Daily Advertiser

October 5, 1789 City Debates

'Was woman created inferior, equal, or superior to man?

Several Ladies of fashion were lately discoursing of the extra-ordinary abilities of a Lady who spoke in the City Debates, (for the information of some of our readers, it may be necessary to mention, that this is the original Debating Society, instituted more than half a century. . .). This produced a violent altercation upon the abilities of the sex in general, the power they possess over the actions of mankind, and the situation in which the first woman was placed.' Daily Advertiser

November 26, 1789 Coachmakers Hall

'Whose feelings are likely to receive the greatest delight, those of the banished husband, restored to a beloved wife, the mariner saved from shipwreck, or the slave who has regained his liberty?

This pleasing subject of debate is adopted at the request of the joyful wife of a long banished husband, who, in the course of a checquered life, has been a witness both of the feelings of a distressed mariner, and those of the poor captive freed from the miseries of slavery. A Gentleman many years the unhappy companion of an affectionate husband, who was torn from his wife, and confined in the Bastile; has promised to take a part in the debate on the subject.' Times

Citation: London debates: 1789', in London Debating Societies: 1776-1799, ed. Donna T Andrew (London, 1994), pp. 246-273. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol30/pp246-273 [accessed 16 August 2016].


Will she choose the faithful hero husband or the rogue and rakish lover?
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