Part 1
Two Hundred and fifty Copies of this Work have been Printed on Hand-made Paper for Private Circulation Only among Members of the Brovan Society, and Twenty-five for the Editors. None of these Copies is for Sale. The Society Pledges itself Never to Reprint nor to Re-issue in any form. Of the Brovan Society’s Issue, this Copy is Number:
_ANTHOLOGICA RARISSIMA._
VOLUME ONE:
THE WAY OF A VIRGIN.
Anthologica Rarissima:
Being Excerpts from Rare, Curious and Diverting Books, some now for the First Time done into English. To which are added Copious Explanatory Notes & Bibliographical References of Interest to Student, Collector and Psychologist: the Whole Introduced, Compiled & Edited by L. and C. BROVAN.
[Illustration: Leaf]
VOLUME THE FIRST:
The Way of a Virgin.
LONDON: MCMXXII. Printed for Members of the BROVAN SOCIETY by Private Subscription and for Private Circulation Only.
FOREWORD.
With the publication of its _Records_, under the title of _ANTHOLOGICA RARISSIMA_, the _Brovan Society_, which has been formed to carry out research work into the less-known and more curious folk-lore and literature of Europe and the Orient, takes leave to explain its aims and aspirations.
There exists in the literature of all countries a multitude of books not usually accorded public circulation. Yet these books contain some of the most life-like and diverting material ever fashioned by human pen. Their contents have stood the test of time and taste, and to-day, though publicly ignored, they are privately applauded. The trend of these books is, in the main, erotic, or so frank as to relegate them to the category of improper or “privately printed.” Some have never come under the hands of an English translator: others in such limited editions as to make their existence negligible so far as the average student is concerned.
_Anthologica Rarissima_ is a modest attempt to remedy this state of affairs. In a series of volumes the editors will put before their readers the cream of what is tantamount to a small library, and a library not often seen on the book-lover’s shelves. Herein will be found, set out in plain English, curious and diverting extracts from some of the world’s most remarkable works. The text will be literal and unexpurgated. Nothing of interest to the student of folk-lore, psychology and literature will be omitted or glossed over, for the editors believe that a classic castrated is a classic spoilt. The _Records_ throughout will be enriched by copious notes and valuable bibliographical references.
So far as the compilers are aware, no similar anthology exists in the English tongue. It purports to put within reach of the student and bibliophile comprehensive and representative excerpts from writers, the possession of whose works would entail time and expense beyond the means of many collectors.
At present it is impossible to give a full list of the authors from whom we shall quote. Mention of such names as those of Sir Richard Burton, Casanova, Aretino, the Marquis de Sade, Wilkes, Boccaccio, Bandello, Masuccio, Straparola, Rabelais, Lucian, Apuleius, Aristophanes, Sinistrari, Nicolas Chorier, Poggio, J. S. Farmer, John Payne, La Fontaine, Chaucer, Brantôme, Sellon, Pisanus Fraxi, Payne Knight, Havelock Ellis, Bloch, Huhner, Forel and Kraft-Ebing, will give some idea of the work contemplated. Special attention will be paid to the less-known folk-lore of Europe and the Orient, as portrayed in those remarkable books, _Kruptadia_, _Untrodden Fields of Anthropology_, _The Kama Sutra_, _The Ananga Ranga_, _The Perfumed Garden_, _The Old Man Young Again_, _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, _Ethnology of the Sixth Sense_, _The Book of Exposition_, _Priapeia_, _Genital Laws_, _Marriage Ceremonies and Priapic Rites_, and _Des Divinités Génératrices_.
_Anthologica Rarissima_, for reasons which will seem as regrettable as absurd to the student and collector, must ever be a privately printed work; its tone, though erotic, is in no sense pornographic. The extracts have been selected with care, and always with an eye to artistry and bibliographical value. The complete issue, extending to many volumes, will form an unique collection in the English tongue of a type of literature far too little known in this country.
The subject of our first volume--virginity and its treatment in fable, _conte_, and legend--is far from exhausted in these pages. It will be necessary to devote another _Record_ to the theme at a later date. Meanwhile, we have in preparation Vol. 2: “_The Way of a Priest_,” Vol. 3: “_The Way of a Wife_,” Vol. 4: “_The Way of a Husband_,” and Vol. 5: “_The Way of Love_.” This last, culled from such authorities as Ovid, Martial, Catullus, Aretino, Forberg, Veniero, and the authors of _The Kama Sutra_, _The Perfumed Garden_, and _The Ananga Ranga_, should prove the most complete treatise on the _Ars Amandi_ ever published in the English language.
In conclusion, we can only reiterate what was said at the outset--that this work is the outcome of a project to give the English student and collector the cream of a rare and remarkable literature.
We wish to lay special emphasis on the literal nature of our text, having often sacrificed style to preserve it. When translating from French, where an English translation already existed, we have never failed to compare and work upon the two versions for the composition of our extract.
_Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_ is a case in point, the old French text and Mr. R. B. Douglas’ English translation both being utilised in our _Record_. The same applies to Casanova; each line of his _Memoirs_, as existing in the privately printed English translation, has been closely compared with Garnier’s French text; while Aretino’s _Dialogues_ will be scrutinised in no fewer than three languages. Our aim throughout has been to put before the reader a rendering in English which most exactly approximates to the original work of the author in question.
_THE EDITORS._
CONTENTS.
Page.
FOREWORD. v.
VIRGINITY AND ITS TRADITIONS. xix.
THE ENCHANTED RING:
_Of a Young Husband who Sought to Redeem his Yard from Pawn, and of the Divers Adventures that Befell him in his Quest._ 1
VARIANT:
_Of a Tailor who Consented to Sin with a certain Woman who Admired his Proportions; and how they Fared._ 10
THE INSTRUMENT:
_Of a Young Girl who Desired her Lover to Buy a Better Instrument, which she Enjoyed, Lost and Found again._ 13
_EXCURSUS_ to THE INSTRUMENT. 16
THE TIMOROUS FIANCÉE:
_Of a Maid who would Wed None save Ivan the No-Yard; and how they were Wed, after which she first Hired, then Bought, a Good Yard from Ivan’s Uncle._ 17
_EXCURSUS_ to THE ENCHANTED RING, THE INSTRUMENT, and THE TIMOROUS FIANCÉE. 22
ADVENTURES WITH HEDVIGE AND HELÈNE AT GENEVA:
_Of an Adventure with two Charming Cousins, one of whom Desired to know why a Deity could not Impregnate a Woman; and how the Hero of our Story gave Demonstration of Theological and other Matters._ 24
_EXCURSUS_ to ADVENTURES WITH HEDVIGE AND HELÈNE. 37
THE DAMSEL AND THE PRINCE:
_Of a Young Lady, who, being Enamoured of a Prince, Sendeth for one of his Chaplains, and with him Entereth into a Plot which Bringeth the Affair to the Desired Issue._ 42
_EXCURSUS_ to THE DAMSEL AND THE PRINCE. 49
THE PENITENT NUN:
_Of a Nun, who Strove to Flee the Shafts of Love; how she Succeeded; and how certain Young Nuns Received her Counsel._ 52
BEYOND THE MARK:
_Of a Shepherd who Made an Agreement with a Shepherdess that he should Mount upon her; and how he Kept that Agreement._ 53
THE DEVIL IN HELL:
_Of a Young Maid, who, Turning Hermit, was Taught by a Monk to Put the Devil in Hell; and how she found Much Pleasure therein._ 56
_EXCURSUS_ to THE DEVIL IN HELL. 63
THE WEDDING NIGHT OF JEAN THE FOOL:
_Of a Young Husband who thought his Wife would Give him a Chicken on their Wedding Night; and how he Learned in what Fashion he must Comport himself to have that Chicken._ 65
THE MAIDEN WELL GUARDED:
_Of a Maid who had been most Strictly Enjoined to Guard her Maidenhead; and how a Youth Restored it to her when she Lost it._ 69
VARIANT:
_Of one Coypeau, who Securely Sewed up a Damsel’s Maidenhead with his own Thread._ 72
TALE OF KAMAR AL-ZAMAN:
_Of a Prince and a Princess who became Acquainted in Strange Circumstances; of their Loves, Separation, Re-union, and divers Remarkable Happenings._ 74
_EXCURSUS_ to the TALE OF KAMAR AL-ZAMAN. 92
THE FOOL:
_Of a Young Man who would fain have Wed, yet Contrived to Satisfy his Wish without Marriage._ 101
“OH MOTHER, ROGER WITH HIS KISSES”:
_Of the Emotions of an Innocent Virgin when Wooed Boisterously by her Swain._ 103
FOOLISH FEAR:
_Of a Virgin Wife who did not Understand the Business of Marriage; and how the Parties went to Law, and what Ensued therefrom._ 104
THE PRINCESS WHO PISSETH OVER THE HAYCOCKS:
_Of a King’s Daughter, the Like of whom was not Seen Elsewhere on Earth; and how she was Cured of her Ways by a Young Peasant, divers Physicians and Charlatans having Failed in the Task._ 111
THE COMB:
_Of a Pope’s Daughter who was “Combed” by a Peasant; and how the Comb was Lost and Found again, together with other Strange and Delightsome Happenings._116
_EXCURSUS_ to THE PRINCESS WHO PISSETH OVER THE HAYCOCKS and THE COMB. 121
THE SKIRMISH:
_Of a Virgin who, on her Marriage Eve, told a Wedded Friend of the Recent and Disturbing Conduct of her Fiancé._ 124
_EXCURSUS_ to THE SKIRMISH. 132
THE NIGHTINGALE:
_Of a Maid who would fain Hear the Nightingale Sing; and how she Made it Sing many Times and even Held it in her Hand._ 134
THE PIKE’S HEAD:
_Of a Young Virgin who Played a Trick on a Youth; and how the Youth, from Fear of being “Bitten,” was for some Time Ignorant of the Pleasures of Marriage._ 142
THE LOVELY NUN AND HER YOUNG BOARDER:
_Of a Lovely Young Virgin, who was of an Inquisitive Turn of Mind, and Proved herself an Apt Pupil in the School of Love._ 147
JOHN AND JOAN:
_Of a Serving Wench who sent her Fellow Servant to Buy her a Steel; and how she Fared thereafter._ 158
THE HUSBAND AS DOCTOR:
_Of a Young Squire who, when he Married, had never Mounted a Christian Creature; of the Means found to Instruct him; and how, on a Sudden, he Wept at a great Feast shortly after he had been Instructed._162
THE PRIEST AND THE LABOURER:
_Of a Priest’s two Daughters who were Tricked by a Labourer; and of divers Strange and Diverting Happenings thereafter._ 171
_EXCURSUS_ to THE PRIEST AND THE LABOURER. 178
THE TWO LOVERS AND THE TWO SISTERS:
_Of two Cavaliers who became Enamoured of two Sisters; and how they found Enjoyment of their Love, albeit in Strange Fashion but none the less Pleasant._ 179
THE BURNING YARD:
_Of a Maid who would not Suffer a Youth to Pleasure her, since, so she Alleged, he had a Burning Yard._ 188
TAKE TIME BY THE FORELOCK:
_Of a Young Virgin Wife who was Paid back in her own Coin by her Husband._ 190
_EXCURSUS_ to TAKE TIME BY THE FORELOCK. 192
FIRST MEETING BETWEEN A YOUTH AND HIS FIANCÉE:
_Of a Maid and a Youth who held Pleasant Converse in a Coach-house; and of divers Experiments and Discoveries they made there._ 193
THE BREAKER OF EGGS:
_Of a certain Wench who had Eggs in her Belly, which were Broken for her by an Obliging Youth._ 195
_EXCURSUS_ to THE BREAKER OF EGGS. 198
VIRGINITY AND ITS TRADITIONS.
_Chloe! Like a fawn she flees, Trembling, timid mother-seeking, Far among the trackless hills; Starting back from bush and breeze, When the new-born spring is speaking To green leaves in little trills. Oh, how shake her heart, her knees! Run! A lizard sets a-creaking That big bush! I bring no ills; I don’t follow you to seize, Like some cruel tigress, reeking Rage; no lion I that kills In Gætulia, hot to tease Out your life! So quit your meeking By your mother! Trust your thrills! Come and learn my mysteries!_
HORACE, I., xxiii.
VIRGINITY AND ITS TRADITIONS.
In devoting a volume to the romance and folk-lore of Virginity, it may not be inappropriate first to examine the psychology of a word and a quality as magical as they are misused.
What is virginity? Is it the possession intact of that delicate piece of membrane, the poets’ ‘_flos virginitatis_,’ or is it some indescribable, intangible attribute in no sense dependent on physical perfection? Does it imply abstention from and ignorance of all sexual pleasures, or must it be a chastity which falls little short of stupid, even criminal, innocence?
To us moderns, blessed (or cursed) with a smattering of science, woman is virginal just as long as we know or believe her to be, physical qualities notwithstanding. By the poet of the past, the romanticist, the mediæval lover, and the ignorant, physical as well as spiritual proofs were probably required or expected. To them, virginity was something tangible; to us it is not.
Nor is the reason far to seek. For while Havelock Ellis, the greatest authority on sexual psychology the world has known, describes the hymen as having acquired in human estimation a spiritual value which has made it far more than a part of the feminine body, ... “something that gives woman all her worth and dignity, ... her market value,” he goes on to point out that the presence or absence of the hymen is no real test of virginity.
“There are many ways,” he writes, (_Studies in the Psychology of Sex_: Philadelphia, 1914: vol. 5: _Erotic Symbolism_), “in which the hymen may be destroyed apart from coïtus.... On the other hand, integrity of the hymen is no proof of virginity, apart from the obvious fact that there may be intercourse without penetration.... The hymen may be of a yielding or folding type, so that complete penetration may take place and yet the hymen be afterwards found unruptured. It occasionally happens that the hymen is found intact at the end of pregnancy.”[1]
[1] Schurig, in the 17th century, notes a case of this kind. _C.f._ his _Gynæcologia_, where he speaks of a girl being pregnant without losing her virginity. _Vide_ note, p. 100 post, where further details of the life and works of this erudite physician will be found.
And while the foregoing is the exception rather than the rule, it goes far to prove the fallibility of the physical, tangible test.
To most of us, virginity is a quality supposedly prized at all times and by all races. This is far from the case. As Havelock Ellis points out, (_op. cit._), virginity is not usually of any value among peoples who are entirely primitive. “Indeed, even in the classic civilisation which we inherit,” he writes, “it is easy to show that the virgin and the admiration for virginity are of late growth; the virgin goddesses were not originally virgins in our modern sense. Diana was the many-breasted patroness of childbirth before she became the chaste and solitary huntress, for the earliest distinction would appear to have been simply between the woman who was attached to a man and the woman who followed an earlier rule of freedom and independence; it was a later notion to suppose that the latter women were debarred from sexual intercourse.”
A French Army Surgeon, Dr. Jacobus X--, (_Untrodden Fields of Anthropology_: Charles Carrington: Paris, 1898), has some interesting remarks on the subject, and we offer no apology for reproducing them at length. Writing on the “Unimportance of the signs of virginity in the negress,” he says:--
“The Negroes of Senegal do not attach, as the Arabs do, considerable importance to the presence of the real signs of virginity in young girls.... The non-existence of the material proofs of virginity seldom give rise to any complaint on the part of the husband.... Moreover, the size of the virile member of the Negro[2] renders it difficult for him to detect any trick. The black bride, on the wedding night, shows herself expert in the art of simulating the struggles of an expiring virginity, and it is considered good taste for the girls to require almost to be raped. The least innocent young women are often the most clever at this game.
[2] Sir Richard Burton, (_The Thousand Nights and a Night_), describes how he measured in Somaliland a negro’s _penis_, which, when quiescent, was six inches long; this organ, however, would not increase proportionately when in erection.
“Thus, throughout nearly all Senegal, the European, who has a taste for maidenheads, can easily be satisfied, provided he is willing to pay the price.[3] At St. Louis women of ill-fame procure young girls, who bear the significant name of the ‘unpierced,’[4] and vary from eight or nine years to the nubile age. It is even easier to obtain a young girl before she is nubile than afterwards, on account of the certainty of her not bearing any children. The price is within the range of all purses, according to quality, and you can have a negro girl, warranted ‘unpierced’ (belonging to the category of domestic slaves), for the modest sum of from eight to sixteen shillings. Of course, the respectable matron pockets half this sum for her honorarium....
[3] A celebrated Parisian courtesan used to boast, according to Mantegazza, that she had “sold her virginity” on 82 different occasions! _Vide_ _Curious Bypaths of History_: Carrington: Paris, 1898, for further details on this subject.--Note by Dr. Jacobus X--.
[4] _C.f._ _The Thousand Nights and a Night_, (Sir Richard F. Burton; the privately printed and uncastrated editions), where the expression is common. “ ... He found her a pearl unpierced.” Again: “ ... went in unto the Princess and found her jewel which had been hidden, an union pearl unthridden, and a filly that none but he had ridden....” Compare, also, the French erotic slang percer (to pierce), signifying the act of sexual intercourse. (Farmer: _Slang and its Analogues_, p. 25, vol. 6; _Vocabula Amatoria, etc._)
“ ... The ‘unpierced’ soon lose their right to the title when they have to do with a Toubab, but, on account of the size of their genital parts, the loss of their maidenhead is not such a serious affair for them as it would be for a little French girl who was not yet nubile. I have never remarked in a little negress, who had been deflowered by a White, the valvular inflammation, which, with us, is noticed as the result of premature copulation before the parts are sufficiently developed.... If the reader will remember that the European, who is below the average dimensions in regard to his _penis_, is like a little boy in proportion to the negress of ten or twelve years old, it is not difficult to imagine that the negress he has deflowered can entirely take in the yard of the White, the dimensions of which are much less than that of the adult black.
“ ... When the girl has to do later with a negro husband, an astringent lotion will render the bride a pseudo-virgin. The deceived husband, not having the anatomical knowledge necessary to assure himself of the real existence of the signs of virginity, feels a difficulty in copulating, and is far from suspecting any trick.[5]
[5] “The Chinese ... have discovered a way of forming a new virginity when by some accident that object has gone astray. The method consists in astringent lotions applied to the parts, the effect of which so draws them together that a certain amount of vigour is required in order to pass through, the husband--on a nuptial night--being convinced that he has overcome the usual barrier. To make the illusion more complete, a leech-bite is made just inside the critical part, and the little wound is plugged with a minute pellet of vegetable tinder, with the result that the effort made by the husband to overcome the difficulty displaces the pellet and a slight flow of blood ensues.” (_Curious Bypaths of History_, _op. cit. sup._) That this method is by no means peculiar to the Chinese is instanced by Brantôme in his _Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies_ (Paris: Carrington, 1901: first English translation), where the genial old soldier-philosopher says:--“How clever these doctors be! for they do give women remedies to make them appear virgin and intact as they were afore.... One such especially I learned of a quack these last few days. Take leeches and apply to the privy parts, getting them to drain and suck the blood in that region. Now the leeches, in sucking, do engender and leave behind little blebs or blisters full of blood. Then when the gallant bridegroom cometh on his marriage night to give assault, he doth burst these same blisters and the blood discharging from them; the thing is all bathed in gore, to the great satisfaction of both the twain; for so ‘the honour of the citadel is saved.’”
“Does not much the same kind of thing prevail also in Europe? How many girls who have been deflowered get married without their husband ever suspecting anything, although he has not the same physical disadvantages that the black has to prevent his seeing through the trick? Is it to this amorous blindness that the Greeks and Romans alluded when they represented Cupid with a bandage over his eyes? One is almost tempted to believe it.
“ ... In opposition to those who exact the virginity of the bride, there are others who attach no importance whatever to it.... The ancient Egyptians used to make an incision in the hymen previous to marriage, and St. Athanasius relates that among the Phœnicians a slave of the bridegroom was charged by him to deflower the bride.[6] The Caraib Indians attached no value to virginity, and only the daughters of the higher classes were shut up during two years previous to marriage.
[6] “That this eagerness after virginity is not an original lust, I must, indeed, prove from the opinion of a certain remote people, who esteem the taking of a maidenhead as a laborious and illiberal practice, which they delegate to men hired for that purpose, ere themselves condescend to lie with their wives; who are returned with disgrace to their friends, if it be discovered that they have brought their virginity with them.”--_The Battles of Venus_: The Hague, 1760, quoted by Pisanus Fraxi in his _Index Librorum Prohibitorum_. _Vide_ also _post_ in this Study.
“It appears that among the Chibcha Indians in Central America virginity is not at all esteemed; it was considered to be a proof that the maiden had never been able to inspire love.
“In ancient Peru the old maids were the objects of high esteem. There were sacred virgins called ‘Wives of the Sun,’ somewhat similar to the Roman vestals.[7] (The nuns of the present day, do they not style themselves the ‘Spouses of Christ’?). They made a vow of perpetual chastity.... It is also said they were buried alive when they happened to break their vow of chastity, unless indeed they could prove having conceived, not from a man, but from the sun.