We soon, however, discovered that they care little about the looks of their paramours, for not only are the majority of such men coarse and satyr-like in feature, but these women, generally speaking, have even a latent contempt for the class of public performers who are wont to trick their persons out to the best possible advantage. Again, it is not honour, nor dignity of character, nor chivalry of nature, nor energy of disposition, nor generosity of temperament that they think the highest attributes of man; for the fellows with whom they cohabit are mean and base to the last degree, selfish as swine, idle as lazzaroni, and ruffianly even as savages in their treatment of females.
In a word, it is power and courage that make up the admirable with woman in her shame; and hence the great proportion of what are termed “fancy men” {prostitutes’ lovers} are either, as we have said, prize-fighters, or private soldiers, or cab-drivers, or thieves, or coiners, or indeed fellows who are distinguished either for their strength, or “pluck,” or their adventurous form of life.[*]
Mayhew, a son of a wealthy London solicitor, was a writer. He was one of the founders in 1841 of the popular magazine Punch. Mayhew’s friend Douglas Jerrold was a successful, well-connected London author and a contributor to Punch. In 1844, Mayhew, then 31 years old, married Douglas Jerrold’s 19-year-old daughter, Jane. They were a match made within the norms of the elite Victorian mating market.
Shortly after Henry Mayhew and Jane Jerrold married, Henry suffered acute financial troubles and had to declare bankruptcy. Upset with Henry’s apparent financial mismanagement, his father disinherited him. Henry and Jane had their first child, a girl, about this time. They subsequently had another child, a son named Athol. Henry Mayhew never regained financial security. Henry and Jane’s marriage failed and they separated sometime after 1850.