great deal of pleasure". However, no sooner had he seen those who might have exposed his "power of securing the lads to himself", he flew into a rage and threatened to "spoil their diversion". Later that night, marshal lurked with several constables near Mother Clap's House in Fleet street, Holborn, knowing that a masquerade would be held as usual and he would be able to catch several sodomites dressed in woman's apparel, which he did. Next morning detainees stood before the Lord Mayor and were committed to workhouse, but before were ordered to walk through the streets on the way in their bizarre look:"Some were completely rigg'd in gowns, petticoats, head cloths, fine lac'd shoes, furbelow scarves, and masks. Some had riding hoods; some were dressed like shepherdesses, others like milkmaids with fine green hats..." etc. Some time later they were released after Hitchen's application to the Lord Mayor having been threatened by one of them for his previous adventures with them. The experience appeared too humiliating for one of them and in few days he died after the release. Wild completes the narrating with recommending the under-marshal and his expertise to anyone interested in "Sodomitish Academy". There is a mythologised approached as if Wild was caught after performing a violent jail break and stealing jewels from the installation ceremony for the Knights of the Garter, however, he was arrested and sentenced to death for receiving largely on the basis of William Field's evidence, who was Hitchen's former assistant and worked with Wild as well. Unsurprisingly, Wild had contributed to Hitchen's downfall mostly with his above described revelations of him. Downfall and sodomy arrest Newspaper reports or scores of satires of the eighteenth century provide substantial amount of information on thriving extensive gay subculture in the City of London of that period. So called "molly markets" for "picking up trade", among which Moorfields and St. James's Park were most notorious, certainly were not difficult to find. Not only did the open areas see "mollies', named so either according to the Latin word for "soft" or echoing a real name of many female immigrant prostitutes from Ireland, but most alehouses and coffee houses had a room out back for already agreed gay men, where they could find the privacy they sought. Thus, Molly houses were used for rendezvous every night by 30 to 40 men, predominantly from working class. However, the