Some wheeled in smirking pairs; With the mincing step of a
demirepThough Jones had no reason to imagine the lady to have been of the vestal kind when his amour began; yet, as he was thoroughly ignorant of the town, and had very little acquaintance in it, he had no knowledge of that character which is vulgarly called a
demirep; that is to say, a woman who intrigues with every man she likes, under the name and appearance of virtue; and who, though some over-nice ladies will not be seen with her, is visited (as they term it) by the whole town, in short, whom everybody knows to be what nobody calls her.
The furnished room received its latest guest with a first glow of pseudo-hospitality, a hectic, haggard, perfunctory welcome like the specious smile of a
demirep. The sophistical comfort came in reflected gleams from the decayed furniture, the raggcd brocade upholstery of a couch and two chairs, a footwide cheap pier glass between the two windows, from one or two gilt picture frames and a brass bedstead in a corner.
So they went on talking about dancers, fights, drinking,
demireps, until Macmurdo came down and joined the boys and the conversation.
BIRDS OF PREY: Liverpool Roller Birds Pandora Peroxide and Tinkerhell (above) and (left) Sarah Stansfeld, Mahli 'Cat Atrophy' Jalland, Kelly McBride and Lyndsay Young Pictures: Sakura Zilla GET IN THE RINK: Carnage on the track The Roller Birds including Flis 'Disco-Carnage' Mitchell, Georgina Bailey, Jade 'Metal-Alchemist' Ng, Lyndsay Young, Corey Maim, Ruth '
Demirep' Newton, Natasha Price, Izzie 'Nauti-Kill' Litwin, Kitty Von-Vixen, Mahli 'Cat Atrophy' Jalland, Fiona Campbell, Samantha Joanne Hewitt, Stephanie 'Tinkerhell' Fox, Alice Byrne and Frances De Navarro Picture: Sakura Zilla
The honest thief, the tender murderer, The superstitious atheist,
demirep That loves and saves her soul in new French books-- We watch while these in equilibrium keep The giddy line midway: one step aside, They're classed and done with.
In March 1812, journalist Leigh Hunt was severely punished for calling the Regent "a violator of his word, a libertine over head and ears in debt and disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of gamblers and
demireps, a man who has just closed half a century without one single claim on the gratitude of his country or the respect of posterity" (The Examiner 22 March 1812).