Sexual meaning of chimney and chimney sweeps in the 18th century?

[Garson O'Toole]

The following reference has an entry for "chimney" that contains a
relevant example in the 18th century and multiple examples from
earlier centuries. The link below goes to near the beginning of the
"chimney" entry. On the next page Masquerade Ballad (c. 1720; Farmer
III.233) is given as an example.

Citation: 1994, A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in
Shakespearean and Stuart literature by Gordon Williams, Continuum
International Publishing Group. (Google Books limited view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=2XtWDhgljvkC&q=%22placing+la+casa%22#v=snippet&

Google Books contains a collection that includes Masquerade Ballad.

Citation: [1720 date given for Masquerade Ballad] 1897, Merry Songs
and Ballads: Volume 3 edited by John S. Farmer, Privately Printed for
Subscribers Only.

Your Chimney-Sweepers with an Air.
Cry, sweep your Chimneys clean:
And shou'd you meet a Scavenger,
He'd tell you what they mean.

http://books.google.com/books?id=8KfhAAAAMAAJ&q=chimney#v=snippet&

On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 12:36 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Sexual meaning of chimney and chimney sweeps in the 18th century?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A correspondent on another list asks:
>
>>While I have heard that in some places , it was considered lucky to
>>see a chimney sweep, and especially lucky for a bride,  I have not
>>come across other  sexual connotations of chimney sweeps nor
>>chimneys.  Recently, I read a study in  which it was a claimed
>>that  chimney sweeping was   18th century  slang for sexual intercourse.
>>Have others come across this meaning  in literature? Or sexual
>>meanings for chimneys in general in the 18th century?
>
> Of course, sweeping a chimney does immediately evoke the image of
> intercourse (my correspondent seems a bit naive), not much different
> from the locomotive entering the tunnel in the Leslie Nielson -
> Priscilla Presley move ("Naked Gun 33 1/3"?).  But I and she would be
> interested in 18th century use.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org