Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

After a brief stint as a consul in Smyrna, John Cleland became a homeless wanderer who drifted in and out of prison. In order to improve his circumstances, he penned the richly pornographic novel Fanny Hill; or, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure in 1748. The British government immediately suppressed the book and hauled Cleland into court; when Cleland pleaded poverty, he was offered a pension of £100 per annum - provided he wrote no more pornography. Naturally, he is remembered today solely for his one work of erotica.