463 - We Are Never Brief

On today’s episode, Karen and Georgia cover the story of Irish courtesan Peg Plunkett.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:06Georgia Hardstark?

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• 0:10Karen Kilgariff?

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• 0:12Georgia Hardstark?

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• 0:24Georgia Hardstark?

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• 0:29Karen Kilgariff?

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• 0:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Audible, stories that speak to you. Goodbye.

• 0:38Speaker 02

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• 1:08Georgia Hardstark?

  Hey, we have some exciting podcast news.

• 1:11Karen Kilgariff?

  That's right. You might remember that a few weeks ago, we had to say goodbye to our beloved movie podcast, I Saw What You Did.

• 1:17Georgia Hardstark?

  But what we couldn't tell you at the time is that Millie DeCherico is coming back with an all-new movie podcast called Dear Movies, I Love You. Her co-host, Casey O'Brien, was the producer of I Saw What You Did, and the two became friends through their shared love of movies.

• 1:30Karen Kilgariff?

  And now, on their new show, they'll be talking about the latest blockbusters, cult classics, and everything in between. They're gonna have guests, they're gonna play games, they're gonna chop it up.

• 1:39Georgia Hardstark?

  So after this episode, stick around so you can hear the trailer for our newest Oscar-worthy podcast, Dear Movies, I Love You.

• 1:45Karen Kilgariff?

  And after you listen to the trailer, head over to the Dear Movies, I Love You feed and click Follow so you don't miss the world premiere on January 28th.

• 1:53Georgia Hardstark?

  And don't forget to follow Dear Movies, I Love You on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 1:59Karen Kilgariff?

  Get ready to obsess over all things movies.

• 2:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Yay!

• 2:01Karen Kilgariff?

  Yay!

• 2:02Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye.

• 2:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Listener note: Today's episode was recorded on October 27, 2024.

• 2:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Hello.

• 2:27Karen Kilgariff?

  Hello.

• 2:28Georgia Hardstark?

  And welcome.

• 2:29Karen Kilgariff?

  To My Favorite Murder.

• 2:30Georgia Hardstark?

  That's Georgia Hardstark.

• 2:31Karen Kilgariff?

  That's Karen Kilgariff.

• 2:33Georgia Hardstark?

  And we're about to podcast into your ears.

• 2:36Karen Kilgariff?

  You ready for this one? I bet you are.

• 2:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Are?

• 2:39Karen Kilgariff?

  Good question mark.

• 2:40Georgia Hardstark?

  Press play, I hope.

• 2:41Karen Kilgariff?

  You'd, yeah. You know, you started it.

• 2:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. You started it.

• 2:46Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, we're gonna finish it.

• 2:48Georgia Hardstark?

  We're about to finish it.

• 2:49Karen Kilgariff?

  Are you ready?

• 2:51Georgia Hardstark?

  All right, today's a shorty episode.

• 2:53Karen Kilgariff?

  That's right. I mean, not to immediately get in your face, listener, but we have spoiled you over the years of doing these 25 fucking minute intros just to entertain ourselves.

• 3:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 3:06Karen Kilgariff?

  But most podcasts just start.

• 3:07Georgia Hardstark?

  But sometimes we need to do just a podcast.

• 3:10Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's what we're gonna do today. And I will tell you right now.

• 3:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 3:17Karen Kilgariff?

  A story that I think you're gonna like. It's about a badass 18th century sex worker from Dublin, Ireland, who challenged both gender norms and social norms at a time when doing so was completely unheard of. This is the story of Irish courtesan Peg Plunkett.

• 3:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Peg, yes.

• 3:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Get ready. Main sources used for today's story are an article published on a WordPress blog called F Yeah History by a writer named Natasha Tidd. And the article is called "The Brilliant and Ballsy Life of Ireland's Favorite Courtesan, Peg Plunkett." And also, another source is an article from the Women's Museum of Ireland website entitled Peg Plunkett, Proffle Madam. And that article was written by Karen Moynihan. And the rest of our sources are in our show notes.

• 4:09Georgia Hardstark?

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• 4:12Karen Kilgariff?

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• 4:21Karen Kilgariff?

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• 4:47Georgia Hardstark?

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• 5:04Karen Kilgariff?

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• 5:12Georgia Hardstark?

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• 5:15Karen Kilgariff?

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• 6:16Karen Kilgariff?

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• 6:26Karen Kilgariff?

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• 7:20Karen Kilgariff?

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• 7:25Georgia Hardstark?

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• 7:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 7:34Karen Kilgariff?

  All right, so Margaret Plunkett, who goes by the nickname Peg, plays it close to the chest about the details of her life overall. So basically, there's a real good ending that I won't spoil, but she is the reason we know so much about her life. But of course, she doesn't basically tell anybody her exact date of birth or exactly how old, you know, she is, anything like that.

• 7:59Georgia Hardstark?

  She controls the narrative.

• 8:00Karen Kilgariff?

  In a very empowering and mysterious way in terms of her age. So we don't know the exact year of her birth. It's believed to be sometime between 1727 and 1742. But her memoirs do give some insight into her upbringing. She was born to a pair of first cousins. She's one of eight surviving children out of.

• 8:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Twenty-two.

• 8:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Holy shit.

• 8:27Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, that's how we like to do it, the Irish.

• 8:29Georgia Hardstark?

  Eight out of twenty-two.

• 8:31Karen Kilgariff?

  And eight surviving, which is like the grief of losing more than half of your children is just like, yeah, how did people do it back then? So Peg grows up as a witty, fun-loving girl in Westmeath, in the Irish countryside. It's the time of famine, but her father is a wealthy landowner, so Peg actually gets to enjoy a nice life and gets a good education. She is expected, of course, to find a suitable husband with a stable job, move out of the family home, and then, you know, with her husband, raise some children and build her own family. Not a particularly exciting plan to peg. She's not necessarily all that into it,

• 9:13Karen Kilgariff?

  but she has watched her two older sisters follow this path. It doesn't seem that bad, so she accepts the trajectory, basically because she doesn't have any other choice. Like, that's what it was for women. But all that changes after a fever infects her family. Peg manages to avoid infection, so her father sends her to live with an uncle until everyone hopefully recovers. But by the time she returns, the illness has taken both her mother and her older brother. And her grief-stricken father is left in shambles. He is too emotionally and mentally unwell to care for his family, so he appoints his next oldest son, Christopher, to become the head of the household.

• 9:54Karen Kilgariff?

  But where Peg's father was a kind and respectable man, Christopher is a power-hungry monster. So instead of using the family's money to take care of his siblings or for the dowries his unwed sisters need to find prospective husbands, he just spends it all on himself.

• 10:12Karen Kilgariff?

  He indulges in fancy clothing, food, drink, all of it. And then at home, he is a tyrant, especially to Peg and her sisters, who are now forced to do all the household work. When any man tries to ask for one of their hands in marriages, Christopher shuts them down. He keeps the dowry money for himself, and also, he wants to keep the sisters in his home, basically to be his servants. So one day Peg goes to visit a friend and when she comes home, she finds all the doors locked. And this is Christopher's way of punishing her for leaving. He leaves her outside stranded in the cold and rain for an hour before letting her back in.

• 10:56Karen Kilgariff?

  So finally, one of Peg's sisters runs off to Dublin where she meets a man who's willing to marry her without a dowry. And so teenage Peg is desperate to escape Christopher, so she runs off to join her sister in the city. She absolutely loves Dublin, spends all her time out and about flirting with the local lads. And soon the proposals start rolling in for Peg. Men are lining up to be with her, but she needs Christopher's permission.

• 11:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Fuck that fucking dick.

• 11:28Karen Kilgariff?

  And she needs the dowry money. He refuses, he forces Peg to come home to Westmeath. And he's not happy that she left in the first place. He doesn't like that she started her own life. He begins to beat her. He whips her constantly, covering her in bruises. So she manages to escape again. She nearly elopes with a man behind her brother's back. Even though that man is already engaged to another woman. But before they can seal the deal, Christopher and two of his friends break into the inn where Peg and her fiance are staying. And they have, they're armed with guns, they scare off the fiance. And they drag Peg back home to Westmeath. Where Christopher gives her yet another terrible beating.

• 12:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Shit.

• 12:12Karen Kilgariff?

  He is so abusive to Peg and her younger sister. But where Peg is rebellious and tries to escape. Her sister has a harder time avoiding feelings of despair and hopelessness about the situation. She falls into a deep depression, she stops eating. And she eventually dies of malnutrition.

• 12:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my god.

• 12:33Karen Kilgariff?

  So yes, horrible situation, like in a horrible turn. Where it's like you grow up in one way and then all of a sudden it all just goes so dark.

• 12:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, but the dad, like where's the dad? I know like. He's still alive, you know, like.

• 12:47Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, I mean, chances are, knowing how we Irish do it, he's just an alcoholic. And he just kind of like can't be in the real world.

• 12:56Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 12:57Karen Kilgariff?

  That's an assumption on my part. I don't know what Peg's father was really doing.

• 13:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Allegedly, allegedly.

• 13:02Karen Kilgariff?

  Allegedly, allegedly. Alcoholism is a disease. Okay. After her sister's death, Peg gets the worst beating of her life. She's whipped so badly, she vomits blood and loses consciousness. It takes three months of bedridden recovery. But she survives, and once she does, she decides she's getting away from her abusive brother once and for all. She convinces her father, who, as we just said, is still letting Christopher run the household, but she does convince her father to give her enough money to pay for a carriage ride back to Dublin. And when she gets to Dublin, she moves back in with her married sister, and she slowly

• 13:44Karen Kilgariff?

  regains her health and her confidence and her enthusiasm for life. She's still traumatized and in a fragile state, so when her brother-in-law introduces her to his friend, who she, in her memoirs, identifies as a Mr. Dartis, Peg is easily swept up in his kindness. He sympathizes with all the hardships she's been through, and of course, that makes her swoon, and the two begin a romance.

• 14:10Georgia Hardstark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 14:11Karen Kilgariff?

  Do you think it's gonna happen next?

• 14:12Georgia Hardstark?

  Good.

• 14:15Karen Kilgariff?

  Peg makes a very risky 18th century decision. She decides to have sex with Mr. Dartis.

• 14:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Before marriage?

• 14:23Karen Kilgariff?

  Yep. But she's sure he's gonna marry her, so she isn't concerned about ruining her reputation. She's basically been led along to believe this is like, both of them are in this together.

• 14:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 14:34Karen Kilgariff?

  So she does, and then she discovers she's pregnant, and when she tells him, she now knows, now, well, now we have to get married, but suddenly Mr. Dartis has cold feet. When she tells him he's ruined her reputation, he agrees to put her up in a brothel so she can deliver the baby in secret.

• 14:53Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 14:55Karen Kilgariff?

  So she agrees. She continues to see him. He comes to the brothel to see her. But of course, she's like holed up there. She can't leave, so she's very unhappy there, very anxious, and she's isolated from her family and friends. So now Peg's sister starts to wonder where she is and then the word gets out that Peg had Dartis's baby. So before Peg gets a chance to explain everything, her sister disowns her.

• 15:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, come on.

• 15:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Because it's all about reputation in the 1700s.

• 15:28Georgia Hardstark?

  This is like just bad fucking bad.

• 15:31Karen Kilgariff?

  It's bad vibes.

• 15:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Bad vibes, bad cloud.

• 15:33Karen Kilgariff?

  So not only is Peg's sister disgusted by the fact that Peg had sex out of wedlock, which so did Mr. Dartis. It's like that thing of like, hey, she didn't do it by herself.

• 15:43Georgia Hardstark?

  Right, and she got pregnant because there's no fucking birth control.

• 15:47Karen Kilgariff?

  Right. And she was a teenager, so she kind of didn't know. Like, she was like, this is romantic love.

• 15:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 15:56Karen Kilgariff?

  But her sister's also horrified. Peg lived in a brothel during her pregnancy. So Peg tries to go visit her sister to hash things out and beg her for her forgiveness. But her sister calls her a, quote, "vile wretch" and slams the door in her face. So of course Peg's completely destroyed by her sister's rejection. It's like, if it weren't for Mr. Dartis and the baby, Peg would be completely alone in the world. But shortly after this, the baby passes away. So now Mr. Dartis feels absolutely no obligation to take care of Peg anymore and he kicks her out of his house.

• 16:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 16:35Karen Kilgariff?

  Penniless and homeless, Peg finds the cheapest boarding room possible and moves in. And with no means of income, she's left selling her own belongings, piece by piece, until she says, quote, "She's reduced nearly to nakedness," end quote.

• 16:50Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, my God.

• 16:51Karen Kilgariff?

  And then here's another quote from her memoirs. Peg writes, quote, "I remained in that boarding room till I had nothing but what covered me, not one single article wherewith to change what I wore, and for eight days had lived only on one pound of hung beef and a few potatoes, using the water in which they were boiled as the only diluter of my wretched scanty meals."

• 17:14Karen Kilgariff?

  So now she's desperate and she does the unthinkable. She returns to her family home and begs her abusive brother to take her back.

• 17:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh, man.

• 17:25Karen Kilgariff?

  But her destroyed reputation precedes her and her horrible, controlling brother refuses to let her back in the house. And with nowhere left to go, she has to turn around and walk back to Dublin.

• 17:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Jesus.

• 17:38Karen Kilgariff?

  So on this long walk back from the country into the city, Peg runs into two men who offer her a meal and tea. She declines them at first. She's very wary of their intentions. She's been through this now. She's a little wiser. But then, when she runs into them a second time, she decides to take them up on their offer. They lead her to a tea house and they introduce her to a wealthy wine seller named Mr. Thomas Caulfield. Mr. Caulfield takes an immediate interest in Peg. She's really pretty, by the way. There's like an etching I can show you. And she's like, it just makes me sad. It's like she didn't have anybody in her early teens, in her adolescence, to kind of be like, hey, keep an eye out for this.

• 18:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 18:22Karen Kilgariff?

  Do this, wait for that.

• 18:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 18:25Karen Kilgariff?

  No guidance. So Mr. Caulfield takes immediate interest in Peg. He asks her all about her life while she's eating her hot meal. And he's shocked to hear about the conditions in which Peg has been living. He wants to see where she lives, to see if she's really telling the truth about this tragic situation. She agrees to show him and they start walking to Peg's boarding room. On the way, Mr. Caulfield, quote, slips too Guinea into Peg's bosom. And he tells her that if she indeed is as poor as she says she is, he'll take care of her, protect her, and personally see that she never goes hungry again.

• 19:03Georgia Hardstark?

  Anyway, I remember this is going.

• 19:05Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. Of course, from our vantage point, it's clear Mr. Caulfield is going to take advantage of Peg, but she's Peg's young, she's in dire straits. And this is what she later says in her memoirs, quote, "There are many virtues, which when carried beyond their due bounds, degenerate into vices. One of those is gratitude. The miseries I'd undergone were present to my mind, and he had promised he would screen me from their future approach. All these thoughts rushed at once into my mind, awakened my sincerest acknowledgements, and I esteemed it but a grateful return to promise all he requested." So that's just a fancy way of Pegg saying that she just decided to exchange sex for

• 19:49Karen Kilgariff?

  financial support from a man. And why shouldn't she? She's already been taken advantage of by Mr. Dartis, suffered the miscarriage of their child, was discarded by him.

• 20:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Has nowhere to go, yeah.

• 20:03Karen Kilgariff?

  She has been rejected by her own shitty abusive family. She's literally has nothing to lose. She's in her twenties. So she's like, why wouldn't I?

• 20:12Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 20:13Karen Kilgariff?

  So she hooks up with Mr. Caulfield. She gets pregnant. He vows to continue taking care of her and the baby, even after he marries a different woman. He actually sticks to this promise, though. He provides for Pegg and their son. But now Pegg is considered a quote unquote fallen woman. So she spends her nights visiting Dublin's many taverns and music halls. She meets other quote unquote fallen women, and they teach her the ropes of becoming a professional, high-end sex worker. And just like that, Pegg starts making her own income on top of the financial support that she's getting from Mr. Caulfield. But in a tragic echo of her past, this baby that she has with Mr. Caulfield also passes away.

• 20:58Karen Kilgariff?

  And when that baby dies, Mr. Caulfield cuts her off. He learns that she's been seeing other clients, and he's basically like, that's that. So yet again, Pegg is alone in the world. But unlike last time, she now has her own way of making money. So she keeps working, and she keeps partying at pubs and looking for new Johns to keep herself afloat. And one day, she meets a well-to-do man she identifies as a Mr. Leeson. It's Niem's great-great-grandfather.

• 21:28Georgia Hardstark?

  Lisa, Liam, Lisa.

• 21:30Karen Kilgariff?

  Liam, not Liam.

• 21:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Liam.

• 21:32Karen Kilgariff?

  Liam. So Mr. Leeson becomes infatuated with Peg. And so he moves her into his lavish country estate in Kildare.

• 21:40Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay.

• 21:41Karen Kilgariff?

  Where he, right, things are, things are looking up. He makes her feel like royalty. And because he does all this for her, she sees fewer and fewer clients. And this kind of helps her maintain the image that she's just keeping herself only for Mr. Leeson. At one point, she even takes his last name, going by either Peg or Margaret Leeson. But she is not in love with him.

• 22:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay.

• 22:05Karen Kilgariff?

  She, like many of us, has fallen in love with Dublin's nightlife.

• 22:08Georgia Hardstark?

  Hmm.

• 22:10Karen Kilgariff?

  That's what she's really about. And she's grateful, of course, for everything this man's done for her. But their relationship is purely transactional to her. It is not romantic. Pretty soon, her partying and her meetings with other Johns increase. And when Mr. Leeson catches on, he is furious. He demands she stops sleeping with other men. But at this point in her life, Peg has had enough of listening to men. She's a businesswoman now, and she's sick of the double standard that women have to remain chaste while men can just go out and do whatever they want. When she expresses this to Mr. Leeson, he proposes to her, hoping that marriage will set Peg straight. But she turns him down.

• 22:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Hmm.

• 22:52Karen Kilgariff?

  And she'll later write, quote, "I looked upon marriage merely as a human institution, calculated chiefly to fix the legitimization of children and oblige parents to bring them up and provide for them, to ascertain the descent of property, and also to bind two persons together, even if they might be disgusted and heartily tired of one another."

• 23:14Georgia Hardstark?

  Yikes. Okay.

• 23:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Mm hmm. And then I wrote, "Sounds like Peg's been on my side of TikTok."

• 23:21Karen Kilgariff?

  But like having this opinion, especially writing about it in the 18th century, being bold enough and like brave enough to put it on paper is revolutionary. She is truly badass.

• 23:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 23:33Karen Kilgariff?

  Which is like kind of the result of tragedy. Like when you go through bad shit, yes, it's hard. Yes, there's trauma and also your spine gets real thick. You get real brave.

• 23:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Resilience is a motherfucker.

• 23:47Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah. So of course, when Peg turns down Mr. Leeson's marriage proposal, their business relationship ends too. And so Peg goes back to her old routine, trying to see as many Johns, you know, as she wants, basically earning her own money and partying in Dublin. And then she ends up meeting a John that is named Buck Lawless.

• 24:10Georgia Hardstark?

  Damn.

• 24:11Karen Kilgariff?

  Which is hot. An old Buck becomes one of Peg's regulars, but she actually soon finds herself falling head over heels for him. And it's actually the real thing this time. In the initial bliss of their relationship, Peg remains faithful to Buck and she stops sex work altogether. But her past is too much for Buck to handle emotionally. He starts getting jealous anytime he sees Peg even talking to another man, which then leads to bickering, which turns into intense fighting. And soon Buck starts physically abusing Peg. And it doesn't stop even after he knows she is pregnant with his baby.

• 24:53Karen Kilgariff?

  And at one point he beats her so badly that she has a miscarriage.

• 24:57Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh my God.

• 24:59Karen Kilgariff?

  But she stays with him because this is kind of what she knows, right? And she ends up getting pregnant with him again. So it's just seems like she is in another impossible situation with a man. But luck strikes when Buck Lawless, who is seeking new financial opportunities, decides to set out for America and so he leaves her. And suddenly she's free from his tyrannical reign and she's left with their daughter and to live the life she wants to live. Buck has promised that he's going to send money once he gets to America. No money ever comes. So she goes back to the one thing she can depend on, sex work.

• 25:41Karen Kilgariff?

  But now Peg isn't just looking for a stable income, she wants a higher income. So this is now the mid 1770s and she, Peg and her friend and fellow sex worker Sally Hayes, decide to team up and start their own high-end brothel.

• 25:58Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay.

• 25:59Karen Kilgariff?

  So instead of settling for cheap rent in a poorer neighborhood to work out of, the women pull all their funds together and spring for a nice place in a wealthy neighborhood. Similar cares taken in selecting the other ladies who will be working there. They all must be beautiful, well-dressed, have enough of an education to carry on a conversation about either art, or politics, or music. When Johns visits the house, they're served champagne and treated to a full night of partying and entertainment. So Peg and Sally are offering a much more complete experience rather than just cheap, fast sex.

• 26:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Uh huh.

• 26:38Karen Kilgariff?

  And their brothel immediately gains a reputation among Dublin's wealthy men for being a cut above and business starts booming. And Peg and Sally spend their money like crazy. They buy themselves the finest clothes, the best food, all the drinks. They party together almost every single night and they have the time of their lives. And then Peg gets a surprise. Buck Lawless returns from America. And like any toxic ex, he reaches out and asks her to come visit him in Cork. She refuses at first, but she still has feelings for Buck. He was, I can't say her first true love, but like she did love him.

• 27:21Karen Kilgariff?

  So Sally convinces her just to go see him and she says she'll go along for protection. So the two women get to Cork and Peg decides she and Sally should take advantage of Buck the way he took advantage of her. So they start partying in Cork on Buck's dime.

• 27:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Uh huh.

• 27:40Karen Kilgariff?

  And they do it for a while, like a couple of weeks. But Peg's taste for revenge softens and soon she and Buck rekindle their relationship. And by the time Peg returns to Dublin, she is again pregnant with Buck's child.

• 27:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Oh no. The holidays are coming, which means we'll all be spending more time away from home.

• 28:00Karen Kilgariff?

  Whether you're visiting family or doing something actually fun, you want to know your home is protected while you're away.

• 28:06Georgia Hardstark?

  That's why now is a good time to think about home security with SimpliSafe.

• 28:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Unlike traditional security systems that alert you after a break-in starts, SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. These days, you're worried about your house, you're out of town, and then something comes up and you get to look on your phone, and SimpliSafe is going to show you not only the video of like, it's a raccoon at your front door, but also that they have staff that's sitting there, they already know, and if it was something different or worse, they would have already been on it.

• 28:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, I really think that's invaluable peace of mind that just like relying on your neighbors, paying attention is not going to give you. We've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year, 70% off your new system with professional monitoring when you visit simplisafe.com/mfm.

• 28:52Karen Kilgariff?

  That's simplisafe.com/mfm, and when you order, write in MFM at checkout, and it tells them we sent you, and it really helps the show.

• 29:00Georgia Hardstark?

  SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. Goodbye.

• 29:04Karen Kilgariff?

  Cozy season is nearly upon us.

• 29:06Georgia Hardstark?

  That means crisp weather and soft layers.

• 29:08Karen Kilgariff?

  Prepare accordingly with fall staples from Bombas.

• 29:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Bombas has your favorite footwear for fall, including new suede moccasins with cushy soles, shearling lining, and water-resistant suede, plus soft slippers, slides, and booties.

• 29:21Karen Kilgariff?

  There's a Bombas sock for pretty much any fall occasion, from warm merino wool blends to sweat-wicking sports socks and dressier options for weddings.

• 29:29Georgia Hardstark?

  And for every Bombas item purchased, they donated an essential clothing item to someone facing housing insecurity, with more than 200 million items donated so far. Okay, so when fall comes around, I have a pair of the Bombas booties pretty much in every room, so I can grab them when my feet inevitably become freezing, which they are constantly, and they're so comfy, you can wear them around the house, I wear them to bed, and they just make everything feel a little cosier.

• 29:56Karen Kilgariff?

  Head over to bombas.com/mfm and use code MFM for 20% off your first purchase.

• 30:01Georgia Hardstark?

  That's B-O-M-B-A-S dot com slash MFM.

• 30:06Georgia Hardstark?

  Code MFM at checkout.

• 30:07Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium.

• 30:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Like the kind that's in Dr. Teal's magnesium spray.

• 30:14Karen Kilgariff?

  Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals powered by pure Epsom salt and natural Dead Sea salt, it's designed to help you relax and get in the right state of mind for a good night's rest.

• 30:24Georgia Hardstark?

  If you need a reset after a crazy day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine. It's an effortless way to get a boost of topical magnesium that can help you relax your body and mind before bedtime.

• 30:35Karen Kilgariff?

  Dr. Teal's magnesium spray comes in a lightweight, fast drying formula.

• 30:39Georgia Hardstark?

  Just shake it up and generously spritz onto the soles of your feet and massage until absorbed.

• 30:43Karen Kilgariff?

  I was kind of blown away the first time I used this spray because I do have problems sleeping. And when there's something this simple, you just sprayed on your feet and suddenly you're asleep and the next morning you're like, wait, what happened? Did my problem just get solved? Like, it actually is that easy.

• 30:59Georgia Hardstark?

  And your stinky feet now smell like lavender. Like, what more do you want?

• 31:01Karen Kilgariff?

  How dare you call my feet stinky?

• 31:04Georgia Hardstark?

  For wellness, you can feel fine. Dr. Teal's magnesium spray, online or in your local bath aisle.

• 31:09Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 31:12Karen Kilgariff?

  So now she's feeling like things are back on track. She's running a successful business. She has a boyfriend named Buck Lawless. But in keeping with the unfortunate cycles of Peg's life, trouble is right around the corner. And this is awful. In November of 1779, a gang of seven college boys, calling themselves the, quote, "Pinking Dindies", break into Peg's home and rape and beat her mercilessly. Oh, my God. And her two-year-old daughter watches in horror as her mom is incapacitated by this monstrous gang of men. Peg survives the ordeal, but the baby she was pregnant

• 31:55Karen Kilgariff?

  with does not. And soon after, her two-year-old daughter dies too. Oh, my God. And in her memoirs, Peg attributes her toddler's death to shock. Oh. Horrifying. How much can one fucking person? Right? That's just awful. And yet, Peg does not crumble, where she absolutely could have and maybe should have. Instead, she decides to sue these men.

• 32:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Yes.

• 32:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Which is unheard of.

• 32:25Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 32:26Karen Kilgariff?

  Like, this single woman, like, out there alone, and she basically sues them. The head of the gang tells her to drop the lawsuit, or he'll kill her.

• 32:36Georgia Hardstark?

  Jesus.

• 32:36Karen Kilgariff?

  But she will not be intimidated. She presses on. She wins the case. So the perpetrators don't only land in jail, but once their sentences are served, they're banished from Dublin.

• 32:48Georgia Hardstark?

  Nice.

• 32:49Karen Kilgariff?

  So, as Peg is kind of going through all that, Buck Lawless is making a plan to move to London, and he tells Peg he wants her to come with him. Peg loves the life she's built for herself in Dublin. She doesn't want to leave it, or her business. She certainly doesn't want to go to London. But Buck pushes her, saying she needs a fresh start, after all the things that she has suffered. So she finally gives in. She moves to London to be with the man she loves, and to recover. And once she gets there, she finds out Buck has been sleeping with another woman.

• 33:23Georgia Hardstark?

  Buck.

• 33:24Karen Kilgariff?

  So, of course, she's angry, but she's also resilient, and she's determined to make the most of her time in London. She finds British people to be uptight, and too concerned with pleasing local nobility. And this is kind of a running thing in Peg's life. She doesn't like these, like, upper-class men.

• 33:45Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 33:46Karen Kilgariff?

  And probably for great reason.

• 33:48Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 33:48Karen Kilgariff?

  I mean, they've, those men, these rich men around her, have failed her, have beaten her.

• 33:54Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally.

• 33:54Karen Kilgariff?

  Have used her, whatever. So she kind of was like, it's so funny. So she's a rebel. She decides to have some fun. One afternoon, she sees the Prince of Wales in a tailor shop, customizing a fancy waistcoat. So she goes in after him, orders the same waistcoat, and then gives it to her shoemaker.

• 34:13Georgia Hardstark?

  Nice.

• 34:13Karen Kilgariff?

  So she's basically like, oh, you think you're the one that only... Now, there's two of those dresses on the red carpet.

• 34:18Georgia Hardstark?

  Hell, yeah.

• 34:18Karen Kilgariff?

  And then, later on, she's riding in her carriage down the street, and the prince, the same prince, comes riding along. And I guess the thing they did was like, everyone, knowing it was the Prince of Wales, would clear off the street, like a fire truck, so he can have the street all to himself. Not Peg, she rides right along next to him and makes it clear to him that she considers him to be just another person like anybody else.

• 34:44Georgia Hardstark?

  Love it.

• 34:45Karen Kilgariff?

  But very quickly Peg gets bored of London, so she goes back to Dublin and she gets back into her brothel business with Sally. She's finally back in her element, she runs the business, she's partying with her friends. But then, like, really quickly and out of the blue, she marries a man named Barry Yelverton. And Barry Yelverton isn't just any guy, he's the son of a baron and he is insanely rich.

• 35:11Georgia Hardstark?

  Okay.

• 35:12Karen Kilgariff?

  So marrying him means that now, people have to refer to Peg as quote, "The Right Honourable Mrs. Yelverton."

• 35:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, they do, and I want that title from now on.

• 35:23Karen Kilgariff?

  Right. Right Honourable.

• 35:26Georgia Hardstark?

  Right Honourable.

• 35:28Karen Kilgariff?

  So this is kind of like, the perfect middle finger to anybody who's disrespected her for being a sex worker, for all the shit she's gone through, and clearly, she's doing it for the money. Sadly Barry actually has feelings for Peg, she just wants the status, she just kind of wants, she's basically like, "Don't hate the player, hate the game, and it's all a game, so let's do this thing."

• 35:51Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 35:52Karen Kilgariff?

  They actually go through with the wedding, but very soon after Barry's father goes to Peg and says, "I will pay you off to get out of here."

• 36:00Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 36:01Karen Kilgariff?

  And she's like, "Sounds good to me," and gets paid off and leaves.

• 36:05Georgia Hardstark?

  Poor Barry.

• 36:06Karen Kilgariff?

  You know Barry was one goofy motherfucker, who's like, "What are you doing?"

• 36:10Georgia Hardstark?

  He was like an awkward mama's boy goofball.

• 36:14Karen Kilgariff?

  He got played, he got worked.

• 36:16Georgia Hardstark?

  By his wife and father.

• 36:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 36:20Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 36:21Karen Kilgariff?

  So at this point, it's the 1790s, Peg figures it's time to retire. She has spent around 30 years in the courtesan business, both as a sex worker and as a brothel madam. She's amassed enough money to live comfortably for the rest of her life.

• 36:35Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 36:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Or so she thinks.

• 36:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Uh oh.

• 36:38Karen Kilgariff?

  A large portion of her retirement funds are IOUs left by the wealthy former clients that she had.

• 36:48Georgia Hardstark?

  Credit. So basically, everything on credit.

• 36:50Karen Kilgariff?

  They did it on credit, and she assumed that they would pay because she knows they have money. But when she goes and tries to collect on them, they won't pay.

• 36:59Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 36:59Karen Kilgariff?

  And this is bad news for her because she's already bought a beautiful country house outside of Dublin in the city of Blackrock. So, and she bought it on credit, obviously. So now, all the money she is owed is not coming in. Her debt catches up to her. And before she knows it, she's thrown in prison for failing to make house payments. But life will not get Peg Plunkett down.

• 37:23Georgia Hardstark?

  No, it won't.

• 37:24Karen Kilgariff?

  It just won't. She's a warrior.

• 37:26Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 37:26Karen Kilgariff?

  So as she's sitting in prison, she realizes there's one thing that she still has on her side, and it's the truth. As a courtesan, her discretion was a huge asset in the success of her business. But now, she has no reason to keep quiet about her decades of salacious interludes with the nobleman who will not pay her now.

• 37:44Georgia Hardstark?

  Blackmail. It's a bit of blackmail, though. It's like, oh, you're not going to say anything? Then I'm sending it to fucking collections, which in this case is your reputa... I'm collecting your fucking reputation, bitch.

• 37:54Karen Kilgariff?

  That's right. She's been a person who has been made to suffer by that concept of reputations all her life. So she's like, fine, let's do the reputation thing. So she writes to all the men, and she's, I think, fair about this, where it's like, it's blackmail, but she's basically saying, she's writing to all of them and saying, you owe me money, and I plan to release an intimately detailed tell-all book about my life. So the way you keep your name out of this book is you pay me what you owe me.

• 38:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 38:24Karen Kilgariff?

  Some of them take her seriously and hand over the money. Others doubt her, suspecting either she's bluffing, or she couldn't even write a book if she wanted to. And those men that doubted her lose big time because Peg publishes not just one, but three tell-all memoirs about...

• 38:42Karen Kilgariff?

  About her life and in every one, she publishes the names of the politicians, military personnel, clergymen, and you know, like fancy royal guys.

• 38:55Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah. Oh, the scandal.

• 38:58Karen Kilgariff?

  The scandal.

• 38:58Georgia Hardstark?

  I want to be in like a cafe when those get released on the day of and everyone's just like, did you see so and so's in that?

• 39:05Karen Kilgariff?

  And like, I mean, it's like such a brilliant idea and it's such a like, oh yeah, fuck all this shit. Like, why would I ever go along with this idea of that I'm supposed to be the one?

• 39:16Georgia Hardstark?

  Right. With the discretion and with it holds all the.

• 39:19Karen Kilgariff?

  Keep those secrets. And it's like, oh, you're a scumbag that not only.

• 39:24Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 39:24Karen Kilgariff?

  You know, like cheats on your wife for all the reasons that you think it's bad that you're getting caught going to a sex worker.

• 39:30Georgia Hardstark?

  Right.

• 39:31Karen Kilgariff?

  Why would I keep that secret? You don't even pay your bills.

• 39:34Georgia Hardstark?

  You're paying for discretion. And if you haven't paid it for it, then it doesn't belong to you.

• 39:39Karen Kilgariff?

  That's right. You know, then if you're gonna cheat, then she gets to cheat.

• 39:42Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 39:43Karen Kilgariff?

  So the first volume comes out in 1795. It is a massive hit. Of course, the people of Ireland cannot, cannot stop. It's selling out. People can't wait to get their hands on what is basically the hottest piece of gossip of their lifetimes.

• 39:59Georgia Hardstark?

  Fuck, yes, I want to be there.

• 40:01Karen Kilgariff?

  I know. The money Peg earns from the sales of this book is more than enough to pay off her debts to get her out of prison. But the success is so massive, she figures why stop there. Her second volume of memoirs comes out a year later in 1796, and it does just as well as the first. So of course, Peg decides to write a third book. But before it hits the shelves in 1797, Peg Plunkett passes away at around 70 years old. We'll never know because she never would admit how old she was.

• 40:35Georgia Hardstark?

  It's kind of old for that time, right? Like, that's a, like, it's not now, obviously, but for back then, like, that's like an old lady legitimately.

• 40:42Karen Kilgariff?

  It seems like it for, yeah, when I would guess median age was like around 50 or 60. I don't know. All three volumes of Peg's memoirs are in the public domain and are available to read online for free. Historian Julie Peekman has also compiled a condensed version of the tell-all with her own analysis and commentary called Peg Plunkett Memoirs of a Whore. While Peg's story is filled with tragedy, it's one that completely upends the expectations of an 18th century, quote, fallen woman. Because Peg took the time to write her own story in her own voice, it gave her the chance to humanize her plight and honor her own brilliance and

• 41:26Karen Kilgariff?

  fortitude on her own terms. And that is the story of Irish courtesan Peg Plunkett.

• 41:32Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow.

• 41:33Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah.

• 41:34Georgia Hardstark?

  Wow. I mean, what resilience.

• 41:39Karen Kilgariff?

  Also, imagine if like, a man wrote her story and how it would turn out. It's like, that idea of women actually being the ones to do it so that it's preserved the way they get to represent themselves.

• 41:52Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 41:53Karen Kilgariff?

  Pretty cool.

• 41:54Georgia Hardstark?

  It seems like agency was very important to her and she was able to fucking create a life around it. It's pretty amazing.

• 42:02Karen Kilgariff?

  Yeah, really good.

• 42:04Georgia Hardstark?

  Great job. Thank you for telling that story.

• 42:06Karen Kilgariff?

  Thank you for listening actively. We've done it again.

• 42:11Georgia Hardstark?

  We did it again. Thank you, guys, for listening to this, quote, "short" episode, but like, seriously.

• 42:17Karen Kilgariff?

  It's never short.

• 42:19Georgia Hardstark?

  It's never short.

• 42:20Karen Kilgariff?

  We are never brief.

• 42:22Georgia Hardstark?

  Yeah.

• 42:23Karen Kilgariff?

  That's our promise to you.

• 42:25Georgia Hardstark?

  That's right. We promise to never shut the fuck up.

• 42:28Karen Kilgariff?

  Stay sexy.

• 42:30Georgia Hardstark?

  And don't get murdered.

• 42:32Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? Dear movies, I love you.

• 42:42Speaker 03

  Movies. You've seen them. But have you loved them? Like, really, really loved them? I'm Millie DeCherico. I'm a film programmer, historian, writer, and former co-host of I Saw What You Did.

• 42:56Speaker 04

  I'm Casey O'Brien, producer of I Saw What You Did, filmmaker and lover of movies.

• 43:02Speaker 03

  And now we're teaming up again to host our brand new film podcast, Dear Movies, I Love You. We're two unlikely friends coming together to pull off a big score. It's not unlike Jean Pierre Melville's Le Cirque du Rouge.

• 43:15Speaker 04

  Or like Thelma and Louise, holding hands, craning off a cliff. The point is, we want to talk about all the movies we're crushing on, from hidden gems to blockbuster favorites.

• 43:26Speaker 03

  Each week, Casey and I will talk about what's going on in the world of cinema, from new releases in the theater to what we're streaming at home.

• 43:33Speaker 04

  There's going to be heated debates, flawless recommendations, and guest luminaries from every corner of the film industry.

• 43:40Speaker 03

  And some of our funniest friends. So whether you're a dedicated cinephile or just someone who loves quoting Mean Girls, this is the movie podcast for you.

• 43:50Speaker 04

  Come obsess with us over the one crush that actually loves you back.

• 43:54Speaker 03

  Dear Movies, I Love You premieres Tuesday, January 28th. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

• 44:19Karen Kilgariff?

  This has been an Exactly Right Production.

• 44:21Georgia Hardstark?

  Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck.

• 44:23Karen Kilgariff?

  Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle-Crayton.

• 44:26Georgia Hardstark?

  Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

• 44:28Karen Kilgariff?

  This episode was mixed by Liana Scolacci.

• 44:31Georgia Hardstark?

  Our researchers are Maren McClashern and Ally Elkin.

• 44:34Karen Kilgariff?

  Email your hometowns to [email protected].

• 44:37Georgia Hardstark?

  Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at MyFavoriteMurder and Twitter at MyFaveMurder.

• 44:42Karen Kilgariff?

  Goodbye.

• 44:47Karen Kilgariff?

  Vacation planning should feel like a breeze, not a deep dive into countless travel sites searching for the best deal.

• 44:52Georgia Hardstark?

  With CheapCaribbean's Budget Beach Finder, you can search every destination and every date, all in one search.

• 44:58Karen Kilgariff?

  You'll save time and money with the Budget Beach Finder.

• 45:01Georgia Hardstark?

  Say goodbye to endless scrolling and tab hopping and hello to Budget Beach Bliss at your fingertips.

• 45:06Karen Kilgariff?

  Go to cheapcaribbean.com to try out the Budget Beach Finder and see just how stress-free vacation planning should be.

• 45:12Georgia Hardstark?

  Goodbye. You know a favorite M-word? Magnesium.

• 45:16Karen Kilgariff?

  Like the kind that's in Dr. Teal's magnesium spray.

• 45:19Georgia Hardstark?

  Made from a proprietary blend of topical minerals, it's designed to relax and prepare you for a night of rest.

• 45:24Karen Kilgariff?

  If you need a reset after your day, make Dr. Teal's magnesium spray part of your nighttime routine.

• 45:29Georgia Hardstark?

  Generously spritz each foot before bed and you'll be all set. I've actually started doing this and I'm obsessed with magnesium. It does everything.

• 45:36Karen Kilgariff?

  Something like this is just like, it's simple, it's easy, and it actually works.

• 45:40Georgia Hardstark?

  Totally. For wellness you can feel, find Dr. Teal's magnesium spray online or in your local bath aisle. Goodbye.

• 45:46Speaker 02

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