Marquis De Sade: His Life and Work, by Dr. Iwan Bloch

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The Prostitutes

It is apparent from the foregoing representation that the eighteenth century with its animal passion was the century of the prostitute. The prostitute was idolized and idealized. The more vice and pleasure she knew the higher she stood over the honorable woman. In Philosophy in the Boudoir the novice Eugenie asked her teacher in love, Madame de St. Ange, what a putain was, a word she heard for the first time. The teacher replied: "So are called these public sacrifices to male debauchery who are always prepared to sacrifice their temperament and their interests. It is a fortunate and noble profession but is dishonored by the general meaning since it crowns joy. They are more useful to the state than all the prudes and virtue for they have the courage to serve it. They are indeed the women truly worthy of love, the only wise women in the world. Since I was 12 years old I have striven to be worthy of the name and feel most happy when in the middle of pleasure I hear myself called this, for then I fly into the heights of passion." This was what the de Goncourts called “enjoyment of the damage of a good calling" and stood as a universal monument of the women of the eighteenth century.

Rétif de la Bretonne rose to the following swansong of prostitution in his Monsieur Nicolas: "If you (the prostitutes) cannot marry do not therefore despair. You are still useful. By the pleasures which you can afford, by the joys of your profession you can bring the basest of men into the bounds of pure nature and prevent them from giving themselves to sick women and suffering loss of health. Never be defiant and irritable, always remember that maidens of your profession are the true joys of men, true priests of passion. Guard yourselves!"

This glorification of the prostitute often took on strange forms. The Chevalier de Forges often uttered the wish to the in the arms of a prostitute. In his lifetime he had sought his pleasure and fortune with prostitutes. He also wanted to find death there. This wish was granted him. He died in the middle of his pleasure in the arms of a prostitute.

This elevated opinion of prostitutes was mirrored most brilliantly in their relations with the police. We saw that de Sade had the bordello of Duvergier protected by the police. This was actually true at the time of the origin of Juliette, during the Reign of Terror and the Directory. Yet under the regency stray prostitutes were punished, individuals were even sent to New Orleans. Manon Lescaut, the famous tale of Abbé Privost, need only be recalled to show the glorification of the prostitute in French literature. Sick prostitutes were sent to Bicêtre. Inspector Marais, as we have said, had to send regular reports on the prostitutes of Paris to King Louis XV. But a serious inspection was lacking. Parent Duchatelet has gone through the archives of the police prefect of Paris from 1724 to 1788 and made the following observations:

"That the toleration of the police in regards to prostitutes and bordellos was unlimited; that they entered only in very severe cases. That they never searched the houses unless upon repeated complaints by neighbors.

"That in many houses murder was committed, in some, maidens and men were thrown from the windows, the uproar was mainly from the soldiers; the neighbors ran the greatest danger in getting home and often were unable to pass.

"That in all arrests the greatest arbitrariness prevailed, everything depended on the mood of the police commissioner and his aides."

The Revolution was the golden age of prostitution. Those events which de Sade described in his works were actualities. According to Parent Duchatelet all rules and regulations were done away with in 1791. The profession of prostitution was no longer an especial object for legal statutes. It was recognized as a business which everyone was privileged to practice and held that any restrictions thereupon would be an affront to personal liberty.

So these maidens were to all intent free and were allowed to do as they pleased. They saw themselves emancipated, a state of affairs which they had at no other time and in no other land enjoyed.

An unbridled boldness, an unexampled scandal was the result. The Reign of Terror and Directory delineate the highest summit of freedom and undiscipline which prostitution had ever reached. We recall that Marquis de Sade spent the entire period of 1790 to 1801 in complete freedom in Paris.

The prostitute became the Goddess of Reason whom all must worship, and every woman became a prostitute. In July, 1793, a new play was presented at the Theatre of the Republic, entitled, The Freedom of Women. But in reality it described the boldness of vice. The chief character, a husband, dissolute by inclination, inconstant in character and enemy of propriety, declared: "The charms of my wife should be shared by more than one fortunate being!"

Public prostitutes multiplied on all the streets, especially in the Palais Royal, Maison Egalité and Champs Elysées; in the loges of the theatre, in the public houses and in the great restaurants one saw the most outrageous behavior. Paris became the cloaca of the whole Republic and drew to it all the dissolute characters of the provinces. Pleasure soon became brutality. In the summer of 1796 the Boulevard du Temple was the scene of unrestrained vice. In a great company of men and women, including girls of 12 and 13 years of age, there was carried on a truly animal relation. The animal passions took hold of them all and they gave way to the most shocking fornication. But in spite of all the indignation, even to attacking the police, there took place in the wide expanses of the Palais Royal and the Champs Elysées almost daily "scenes of the most horrible and most shameful immorality."

Here the ideal that Marquis de Sade had in his novels was actualized: mass-vice! The immoral conduct was accomplished by costumes à la grecque that led moral people into the maelstrom of vice. This infection of morals by the poison of vice has been excellently described by Rétif de la Bretonne in his account of the activity of a prostitute on the streets.

"The girls walk up and down the streets; some make themselves known by the elegancy of their clothing, but most by the unashamed revealment of their charms. Young men permit themselves the greatest of freedoms in public. Our children lap up the poison of their charms. The daughter of a worker sees a well-dressed woman walking down the street eagerly followed by some young men; they stop her, talk to her and embrace her. The innocent girls feel a longing to be like that well-dressed woman and to be the object of admiration of young men. Another easy convert to prostitution! Easy enough for the young boys and girls to find opportunity to sin. To step on the streets was to step into sin."

According to police reports in October, 1793, the galleries of the theatres were packed full of children from 7 to 15 years of age; both stage and gallery were scenes of unbridled lust. "Many of the children were stark naked and made lascivious gestures to the spectators." It is no accident that these monstrosities took place in the autumn of 1793 after that fateful September day when the blood flowed freely down the streets. It is no accident that the pinnacle of vice was reached in the days of terrorism. De Sade who in the December of this year had again been placed in prison had during this time viciously waded in blood and lust. It was the time when even the secret pornologic clubs became public and there were celebrated in the opera house "nude balls," the face alone being masked. The number of daily balls for prostitutes entered into the hundreds. "The Nudities of Greeks and Romans" was a daily sight in the theatres.

The number of prostitutes in Paris in 1770 is estimated by Parent Duchatelet to have been 20,000 in a population of 600,000. At the time of the Revolution it grew to 30,000.

If but a glance at the different kinds of prostitutes is vouchsafed it is apparent that the mistresses of the ancien régime were mainly recruited from the theatre-world. Actresses, singers and dancers were special favorites.

Mercier tells that the filles d’Opéra had decided favor with the men. La Mettrie emphatically declares: "Where can voluptuousness be shown off to its best limits than on the stage?" and praises the charms of the famous dancer Camargo. D’Alembert cynically believed that the good fortune and richness of the dancers and singers was "a necessary result of the law of movement."

Vivid light is cast upon these affairs by two anecdotes told by Casanova. His friend Patu introduced him to a famous opera singer, Mademoiselle Le Fel, favorite of Paris and member of the Imperial Academy of Music. "She had three lovable little children who ran all around the house. 'I adore them,' she said. 'They deserve it for their beauty,' I (Casanova) answered, 'although each has a different facial appearance.' 'I can well believe it! The oldest is the son of the Duke of Annecy, the second of Prince Egmont, and the youngest is due to Maisonrouge who has just married Romainville.' 'Oh, pardon me, I thought you were the mother of the three children.' 'But of course I am!' As she said this she looked at Patu and broke out into loud laughter with him. I was a novice and unaccustomed to seeing women usurp the privileges of men.

"But Le Fel was no bold creature and belonged to good society. Had I been better acquainted with the times I would have known that it was nothing unusual. The great gentlemen who strew about their posterity left their children in the arms of their mothers, paying them heavy pensions. As a result the more fecund these ladies were, the better they lived."

The second anecdote is yet more characteristic. One day Casanova saw at Lani's, the ballet master at the opera, five or six young girls from 13 to 14 years old, accompanied by their mothers. He began flattering them, while they listened with modestly closed eyes. One of them complained of headaches. While Casanova offered her his smelling-bottle, one of the girls said to her: "You must have slept very badly last night." "No, that’s not it," answered the innocent Agnes, "I think I'm with child." At this so unexpected answer from the young girl whom from her age and appearance he had taken for a virgin, Casanova said: "I did not think that Madame was married." She looked at him for a moment surprised. Then she turned to her companion and they both laughed aloud.

The ballet dancers and the chorus girls received no salary so that "many men had to make up for the deficiency of an honorarium." With few exceptions this caste took "pride in being disdainful." At that time there were many ballet dancers and singers who were more vicious than tolerable, had no talent and yet lived comfortably. For it was self-understood that such a girl must destroy every virtue in order to escape starvation.

A dialogue in The English Spy showed that the same was typical throughout the theatrical world.

The Duke of Bouillon spent 800,000 Livres in three months on the opera singer La Guerre. The prostitute La Prairie belonged to those women who are in the nude at the petite maison of Marshal Soubise. "It's the custom of my friend, Abbé Terrai!" This moral priest had a precious bed in his house on Rue Notre Dame. When the dear visitor entered she found a covered painting which when uncovered revealed the pretty body of a nude woman. "Madame, it's the Costume," the abbé cold-bloodedly remarked, showing her with these words that he would also like to have her in this costume.

The famous Mademoiselle Du Thé was originally "Rosalie" in chorus and as such initiated the young duke of Chartres into the practices of Venus. When she was discarded by this prince she went to London, ruined many lords there, returned to Paris, where she opened a gambling hall that brought her much money and allowed only the rich to enter. This Messalina was thoroughly greedy and selfish. She later became the mistress of Prince d'Artois. But Du Thé did not always swim in gold. In a report of Police Inspector Marais of December 12, 1766 we find: "Yesterday Du Thé did not have a sou! She had to borrow a thaler and six livres in order to go to the Italian opera."

The actress Dubois made a catalog of her lovers reckoning on a twenty-year-activity 16,527, i.e. about three a day. "Her greed for gold was equal to her greed for pleasure." This well known history influenced Marquis de Sade. In the Philosophy in the Boudoir Madame St. Ange estimated that she had given herself to 12,000 men in 12 years.

La Chanterie, originally a chorus girl, was of a rare beauty. The artists often used her as a model. She was also painted as a madonna for the chief altar in a church. After an Englishman had seen her in the theatre, but not without a bitter after-taste, he came to the church, saw the head of the madonna and cried out in surprise: "Oh, it's the virgin who gave me a dose!”

Next to the theatrical profession the shop-girls were most in demand. The jeunes ouvrières appear in de Sade more than once. Rétif de In Bretonne described this class of prostitutes with especial preference in his works. He held for a long time a secret correspondence with the modists of a large establishment in rue le Grenelle Saint Honoré. The proprietor of this shop was a Madame Devilliers, who worked for Countess Du Bury. The latter had also been a modist before she entered the bordello of Gourdan. The life and activity of these modists, were described by Rétif in his Le Quadragénaire. According to Parent Duchatelet professional prostitutes gladly entered the shops during the Revolution. It almost seemed as if the shops had become adjuncts to the regular houses. Prostitutes were of course always present at the restaurants, cafés and bars. Casanova when in search for beauty would first visit a café. The Paris police-order fining the host 100 francs if caught having immoral girls was never enforced.

Pimping reached a high stage of development in the eighteenth century. Marquis de Sade described many types, for example, Dorval who through the work of his prostitutes owned thirty houses. Peuchet in 1789 spoke of pimps in his Encyclopedia and Rétif de la Bretonne discussed them in his Pornography (1770). The police lieutenant received an anonymous letter from a prostitute: "We girls cannot exist without protectors. Usually our choice falls on the wickedest scoundrel in the neighborhood so that he can protect us for better or worse. Once we have made our choice we must stick to it. We must tolerate his laziness, drunkenness, gamblings, beatings and vices. The only way to get rid of him is to find a worse scoundrel who can beat the old one up and is for that reason a worse tyrant and despot."

All kinds of pimps and pimpesses, that necessary correlative to prostitution, are found in de Sade’s works. On the last page of the Pornography there is an index of these mamans publiques. Such women had many names. Those companions who could no longer practice their trade were called pieds-levés. The actual pimps and pimpesses were variously named maquerelles, baillives, abbesses, supérieures, mamans. The name maîtresse or dame de maison did not appear before 1796.

In Justine and Juliette all bordellos are richly provided with children, especially little girls, who served the purposes of vice and were given over to the brutal passions of the crowd. All this led to a great expansion in the traffic for boys and girls. We have already seen the extensiveness of the supply for the Deer Park. Similar places existed for the needs of private individuals. Rétif de la Bretonne gave detailed information on the modus operandi in Vol. 16 of his Nights of Paris. Under the arcades of the Palais Royal one saw children of both sexes being led by pimpesses. The death rate must have been fearfully high. "One pays the children," says Rétif, "as one pays for an animal. Parent and pimps come to an agreement on the price." Rétif remarks that this trade existed under the ancien régime and that it formed one of the chief sources of income to the Inspector of Prostitution, who no doubt had to share his profit with the police lieutenants. Needless to say the trade was never in danger of interruption from the police.

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The Palais Royal and Other Public Places for Prostitution

The Palais Royal was a city within a city. It was the city of prostitutes of Paris and the centre of Parisian life in the eighteenth century. It formed a pretty little world all of its own with its gambling-dens, royal and jacobin conspirators, prostitutes and bandits, respectable yet degenerate customs, its luxury and poverty. The Palais Royal, not far from the Louvre, was built for Cardinal Richelieu in the years 1629 to 1634 by Lemercier in the spot of the former Hôtel de Mercoeur; it was inhabited for a time by Louis XIV who had it rebuilt and then presented it to his uncle, Duke of Chartres, and thus it was passed on to the Orleans family. The regent, Phillip of Orleans, inaugurated it as the chief city of pleasure and debauchery for respectable society. His great-grandchild, Duke Louis Philipp Joseph of Orleans, the notorious Philippe-Egalité, had the palace entirely reconstructed in the years 1781 to 1786 until it received its present form, consisting of a great number of palaces, gardens, arcades, market-halls, theatres, cafés, gambling-dens and other resorts for pleasure. The chief galleries of the Palais Royal were in the east, the Galerie de Valois, in the west, the Galerie de Montpensier on whose northern end the Palais Royal theatre lay, in the north, the Galerie de Beaujolais. The splendid garden of the Palais Royal was in the form of a parallelogram and was surrounded by 186 arcades. In the immediate proximity stood the theatre of the Comedic Française.

Before and during the Revolution the Palais Royal developed into that gay and colorful centre that has found so many excellent descriptions by travelers from all countries. Casanova described how it looked before its reconstruction in 1750: "Curious as I was about this so famous place, I looked closely at everything. I saw a very pretty garden, walks surrounded by great trees, reservoirs, tall houses, throngs of men and women walking about, stalls here and there selling books, perfumes, toothpicks and other small articles. I saw great number of straw-chairs that were rented for a sou, men and women eating alone or in company, waiters hastening to and from the foilage concealing steps." An abbé named for Casanova all the prostitutes who were walking around.

In the year 1772 Marquis de Carraccioli remarked that the Palais Royal was the place for elegancy, the Luxembourg for dreamers, and the Tuileries for "all the world." But after the burning of the Opera (1781) and the consequent reconstruction of the Palais Royal all the night life of Paris gathered in this latter place. Here took place during the Revolution and Directory all those horrible scenes which we have partly already described. The Palais Royal became the Hall of Prostitution and the Sewer of Paris as Mercier in his The New Paris and Rétif de la Bretonne in his great work on the Palais Royal have described. Rétif investigated the night life in the Palais Royal as a doctor would the "anatomy of a corpse." He wrote in Monsieur Nicolas in 1796: "It is well-known that the Palais Royal is the general rendezvous for all the passions and enterprises of vice, prostitution, gambling, swindling, crime, etc., and hence has become the center of all observation. This famous bazaar enticed me not by its sights but by the pleasures I found there."

Mercier gayly desired that Lavater, the famous physiognomist, might be present at the Palais Royal on a Friday evening so that he could read in the faces of those present everything that is usually kept in the deepest recesses of the heart. There were to be found prostitutes, courtesans, duchesses, and respectable housewives: they did not delude themselves there. But perhaps with all his science this great doctor might have been deluded. For there were distinctions and very fine nuances which must be very carefully studied. "I assert that Dr. Lavater would have great difficulty in distinguishing an ordinary prostitute from a respectable woman and that a shop-girl can without his great knowledge point out the fine points of differentiation." Such unconstraint, unceremoniousness, and free and easy ways has never existed in the world except in Paris and there only in the Palais Royal. All were familiarly addressed, words were bandied to and fro, remarks were made about the woman's lover in the presence of her husband, and vice versa, couples were caught up in a mad whirl, laughter and frank talk resounded everywhere. Lavater should by all means have made his physiognomical studies in the Palais Royal.

'"The weather may have been fair or rainy but every evening at five I would walk along the Palais Royal. I am usually alone around the Bank d'Argenson. I converse with myself on politics, love, gastronomy or philosophy and give myself up to the complete freedom of the Palais Royal. One sees the young rakes in the Allée de la Foi follow the footsteps of a courtesan who walks along unashamedly with laughing gestures and joyous eyes. But immediately they leave her for another, banter her in common and attach themselves to none. My thoughts are my prostitutes." So wrote Diderot in the beginning of Rameau's Nephew.

These nightly promenades in the Palais Royal were famous throughout the whole world and was the first sight that tourists flocked to see in Paris. Here piquant adventure was sought—and found. It often happened that men looking for pleasure in the nightly promenade at the Palais Royal surprised their own wives with the same purposes. The women in the Palais Royal were all whores whether they belonged to the profession of prostitution or not. Whoever made nightly visits there was stamped with that name.

The famous Street of Sighs (Allée des Soupirs) was the promenade for the prettiest and most enticing girls and women recruited from all classes of life. Respectable ladies, the theatrical world, the higher demimondes and the better-class prostitutes were the goal of the rakes seeking for plunder. But also in the other streets, in the Allée de la Foi, the Allée de Club, under the colonnades and arcades there gathered untold numbers of dispensers of lust followed in close numbers by young and old roués from all parts of the world. This was the El Dorado of prostitution. Here were hidden corners, secret nooks, and lurking places in the form of numerous shops, beer dens, gambling halls and theatres. Here Rétif de la Bretonne learned from his friend, the notorious charlatan Guilbert de Préval, who was well versed in the secrets and kinds of passion in the Palais Royal, "how best to amuse women and how women can best satisfy the desires of men." Rétif could recite from memory the names of the prostitutes of the Street of Sighs; he also knew well the huris, the exsunamites, the berceuses, the chanteuses, the converseuses, as well as many other sexopathologic types. Rétif in his work on the Palais Royal wrote: "We will write a moral book about immoral affairs which has to do with foals, asses and other animals. The beauties of the Palais Royal are very pretty, especially the young ones. What happens to the old ones is the same all over the world: an old animal is never pretty. We will tell of remarkable and unbelievable morals. But first we would like to give an idea of the features, the age, the general appearance, the morals and talents of these beauties under the name they have assumed, noms de guerre." Here Rétif described thirty-two prostitutes of the Allée des Soupirs. He then told the history of each of these girls, throwing many interesting side-lights on the state of morals during the Revolution. The second volume of his work treated of the famous "circus" of the Palais Royal.

"The majesty of this ball, the charm of the orchestra, the proud movements of the dancers, the beauty, the elegance of the spectators, all contributed in giving a magical appearance to this subterranean retreat. Later attention was excited by the drinks, the gambling and the private rooms serving all kinds of tastes for love. We noticed that after nine o'clock, the hour when respectable women go out to eat, only prostitutes remained. We observed them very curiously in our capacity as an investigator." One of the girls served as cicernone for him and pointed out the others, the so-called "sunamites."

The sunamites received their name from the concubines of King David who was kept alive in his old age by the heat of their bodies which aflamed anew his powers. There were many in the Palais Royal who kept a number of girls just for this purpose. Six girls were furnished to act as a cure for a single man. The first time the matron herself was present to superintend his wants. He was given an aromatic bath and a thorough cleansing of his body. Then a heavy muzzle was placed on him and he was placed in bed with a sunamite close to each side. Two girls could save him in this manner for only eight days, then they were replaced by a fresh pair. The first pair then rested for fourteen days so that in all there were three alternate pairs. The patient had to pay the girls three louisdors all told. Each girl received six francs, the matron twelve. Careful protection was given that the virgin modesty of these sunamites went untasted. Otherwise the cure would have been harmful rather than useful. Indeed if the patient wrought a miracle, proved again that the Lord is all-powerful, he would have to pay heavy damages to the girl; as a precaution the sum was placed on deposit with the matron before the cure. A girl lasted in this business three years, counting from the time she reached womanhood. A girl who was used every day could last at the utmost one year. The period of sunamite service amounted practically to the novitiate in the order of prostitutes. When the first was finished the girl automatically entered the higher rank.

Marquis de Sade also had Justine do this nightly heating service to a hoary old monk (Justine II, 228).

The third volume of Rétif's Palais Royal treated of the "Colonnades" and introduced the converseuses or exsunamites, 43 in number, whose work it was to entertain respectable ladies in diverse ways.

Mercier tells of another specialty of the Palais Royal. During the evening meal in a restaurant, which also served as a bordello, at a given signal from the proprietor there stepped down from a balcony, to the accompaniment of soft music, a nude nymph, who pirouetted about the tables presumably to aid the digestion of the diners.

At the hours from eleven to twelve one could see along the galleries of the Palais Royal the four and forty famous figurae Veneris, lascivious positions classified by a contemporary French author and very popular at the time.

In the Reign of Terror the Palais Royal became the scene of the maddest orgies and a favorite meetingplace for the dregs of prostitution and for the soldier-girls. The gardens, the galleries and other public places of the Palais Royal "were the most notorious gathering places for prostitutes and soldiers. They boldly transacted the most lewd practices in the streets and blocked all respectable people from passing. Obscene pictures of men and women, scribblings as well as paintings were drawn all over the streets and walls. In the nooks hidden by trees and fountains the freest practices were indulged in by the soldiers and prostitutes." Almost all the soldiers in the guard were pimps. Indeed many of them had only enlisted so that they could live on the proceeds of their staff.

We will close our description of the Palais Royal with the words of one of the best connoisseurs of Parisian corruption in the eighteenth century. Mairobert cried out in The English Spy: "All the bulwarks of vice and depravity, all the passionate and voluptuous orgies, wild abandonment and free and easy familiarity, all are to be found on the nightly promenades in the Palais Royal!"

All other amusement places paled before the Palais Royal yet there were a great number nearby. As fast as one died out another took its place. A similar condition, though far milder, exists in the present nightclubs. Of the others the Vauxhall d’été and d'hiver and the Colisée were the most popular. Admission cost from one to three livres but ensured the entrant pleasures of every imaginable kind.

An Italian artist Torré opened the Vauxhall d’été in the year 1764 in the Boulevard Saint Martin. Fireworks, lantern-shows and elaborate plays were held. From 1768 on dances and balls were added. The Vauxhall d'hiver was in the western part of the city district of Saint Germain, near rue Guisard. It was built in 1769 and opened on April 3, 1770. Ballets with very pretty dancers were mainly given.

The Colisée was a building with gardens for dancing, song, play, festival, fireworks, etc. It lay in the western part of the Champs Elysées, near the Avenue Neuilly and was opened at the marriage of the Dauphin, later Louis XVI.

According to Dulaure the public purpose of these establishments was to amuse the Parisians. But the secret purpose was "to corrupt and plunder them." The managements winked at the number of Prostitutes in their places and entered into arrangements with them and the police.

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Onanism

We proceed from the description of prostitution and amusement places to an investigation of the chief aberrations of the sexual life and begin with the most common, onanism.

The branler, as it is technically called by de Sade, occurs almost on every page. In the very beginning of Justine as she was sorrowing for her parents, Juliette showed her how to satisfy herself by manustupration, a practice she had learned in the convents. This passionate excitation, which can be done every moment without the aid of another, was the best consolation for sorrow, for onanism caused all pain to disappear with safety (Justine 1, 5). Delbène, the superior in the convent, to whom Juliette was entrusted, was a very passionate woman and had from the age of nine "used her finger to satisfy the wishes of her mind." (Juliette I, 3). In the "Society of Friends of Crime" there even existed a Room for Masturbation (Juliette III, 65). The Duke of Chablais also praised the French method of onanism as the best (Juliette III, 292). Madame de St. Ange, who in the beginning of Philosophy in the Boudoir imputed to Eugenie an entire course in the arts and technical expression of love, does not forget to acquaint her with this comfortable kind of self-pleasure (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 43). Havelock Ellis has also noted the use of masturbation for driving away pain.

Mairobert had Madame Richard express herself in characteristic fashion on the enormous spread of onanism in France. This so very refined art which she learned from a member of the French Academy became more and more the fashion in this century of passion and—philosophy. In the famous bordellos of Paris, Gourdan, Florence, and Brisson these arts were practiced. "Many also practiced simple and mutual onanism to escape children and the danger of syphilis" (The English Spy).

The number of poems and brochures on the "voluptuous fingers of the libertines" were very numerous at this time. Many prostitutes indeed even preferred onanism and practiced it with their clients.

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Tribadism

This chapter is perhaps most notable for the sexual life of France in the eighteenth century from an historical viewpoint. We do not believe that ancient Lesbos saw such conditions as ruled in France at this time. Here too de Sade's works truly mirror the picture of his age and inform us on the frequency of amor lesbicus or Sapphic love.

Juliette immediately opens with a description of the passionate tribadic scene among the nuns of the Panthémont convent (Juliette I, 43, if.). Mondor entertained himself by peeping at a lesbic love scene (Juliette I, 283). A decided type of tribade was drawn in the man-hater, Clairwil (Juliette II, 106), who promptly organized an orgy with Juliette and four other women (Juliette II, 138-150, also III, 157). The highest tribadic arts were to be found in Bologna (Juliette II, 306 ff.). The Princess Borgia (Juliette IV, 100 ff.), Queen Charlotte of Naples (Juliette V, 259, VI, 12 ff.) are tribades. This specialty of love has a great number of adherents in Venice (Juliette VI, 156 ff.).

In Justine there are also to be found as many, if not more, lesbian scenes, e.g., between Dorothée and Madame Gernande (Justine III, 285); Seraphine was a worshipper of the Sapphic art (Justine IV, 116).

De Sade also did not lack allusions on the explanation of tribadism. A tribadic orgy between Juliette and Durand surprised a young and an old woman, the latter in the autumn of her life and resigned to her own sex a substitute. But perhaps she was predestined to this by the extreme length of her clitoris. De Sade mentioned this expressly as being the case of another tribade, Madame de Volmar (Juliette I, 34). Only twenty years old, she was the passionate companion of Delbène and had a clitoris de trois pouces, thus being able to play the rôle of a man and pederast. The Venetian tribade Zatta was a similar woman with masculine allurements (Juliette VI, 194). De Sade asserted that nearly all tribades, practiced paedicatio.

Mirabeau described in My Conversion a tribadic orgy of thirty court ladies. The descriptions of this author, whom Diderot and numerous other authors have followed, did not transgress reality. Mairobert in his English Spy furnished us with many highly interesting documents that afford astounding insights into the activity and organization of the Parisian tribades of the eighteenth century. His already often mentioned Confessions of a Young Girl unrolled a picturesque panorama of the mysteries of the notorious Sect Anandryne which celebrated its orgies in the Temple of Vesta.

A young girl from the town Villiers le Bel, daughter of a peasant, was recruited by Madame Gourdan for her bordello. One day the father met her as a prostitute at the Tuileries. A great public scandal grew from this. But the daughter had already been promised to the Imperial Academy of Music so that the father had to return home empty-handed. In addition she became pregnant. Mairobert had the girl, who called herself Mademoiselle Sapho, tell him the story of her life. It can certainly be assumed that Mairobert, the imperial censor in all the secrets of Parisian society, has woven in his own experiences in the Confessions of a Young Girl. At any rate this strange report is one of the most famous and important contributions to the cultural history of France in the eighteenth century. We give a detailed discussion of the case and book.

From youth Sapho was inclined to coquetry, fond of finery, vain, lazy and with an insatiable desire for pleasure; in short, all the attributes of a prostitute. At fifteen she was already very lascivious and often gazed in admiration at her own nudeness and lasciviously caressed all parts of her body. This circumstance is very instructive and shows how sexual perversity comes to the fore. Sapho would never have been seduced by Gourdan no matter how she was kept at home by her parents unless the girl had found an opportunity for intercourse with a man; it is clear that such a fiery nature went of her own accord on the path of tribadism due to the necessity of her nature. The mode of life, the interplay of contrary sexual feelings play the main rôle. We look very skeptically at her heredity.

One day Sapho was surprised at these caressings of her body and was severely punished by her mother; she decided to flee from her parents. We have already mentioned that Madame Gourdan had a branch of her Parisian bordello at Villiers le Bel; Sapho had often seen the inmates prettily dressed, laughing, singing and dancing in the village. She determined to go there and was naturally received with joy and sent to Gourdan in Paris where she was turned over to an accomplice who took charge of the first prostitutions of Gourdan's novices. But after this accomplice had examined the girl she forgot about her usual course and sent the following characteristic letter to Gourdan:

You have found a pearl in this child; she is, on my honor, pucelle, if she is not a vierge. But she has the clitoris of a devil. She will be hence more useful for women than men. Our dear tribade must pay you the weight in gold for this acquisition.

Gourdan immediately let this discovery be known to Madame de Furiel, one of the most famous tribades of Paris, by the following letter:

Madame:

I have discovered far you a king's—or better—a queen's piece that will suit perfectly your depraved taste—for I cannot judge otherwise inclinations so contrary to mine own. But I know your generosity which causes me to relax my rigorousness and beg to inform you that I have secured for your services the prettiest clitoris in all France, a virgin, at most, 15 years. Just try for yourself and I am certain that you will be unable to thank me enough. If not send her back to me, understanding, of course, that you will not have maltreated her. She will always be the choicest piece of virginity for the finest of connoisseurs.

The business was completed and Sapho was sold to Furiel for 100 louisdors.

There now follows a description of the luxurious house of Madame de Furiel. First Sapho had to take a bath, eat a rich supper and then go to bed. On the following morning Furiel's dentist investigated Sapho's mouth, fixed her teeth, cleaned her and gave her aromatic mouthwash. Then followed another bath, careful manicuring of fingers and nails, removal of superfluous hair and a thorough cleaning of all parts of her body. She was next sprayed with a great amount of essences and perfumes, her hair was curled into great locks and let fall loose on her breasts, bright flowers were placed in her hair. A slip, à la tribade (cut wide in front and back) was carefully adjusted so that nothing was really hidden. She was then brought to Madame de Furiel.

Madame de Furiel, reclining on a sofa, received her. She was a woman of about thirty years, brunette with very black eyebrows, somewhat corpulent and masculine (homasse). It took two hours for Sapho to be initiated into all the mysteries of lesbian love. After the love-bout Madame de Furiel called two chambermaids by whom they were washed and perfumed. Then they sat down to a delicious supper at which Furiel told Sapho all about tribadism in Paris and that they were organized as the Secte Anandryne and held their festivals in the Temple of Vesta. Not every woman was admitted. There were examinations for those who desired entrance to the sect. They were especially severe for married women and only one out of ten passed. The parties were shut up in a boudoir, which contained a statue of Priapus "dans toute son énergie." There were besides different groups of males and females in the most obscene positions. The wall-frescoes displayed similar pictures. Numerous representations of the male members excited the senses; books and pictures of an obscene content lay on the table. At the foot of the statue was a little fire that had to be continually fed with inflammable material, so that the postulante had always to take care that there was sufficient fuel on the fire; if but for a moment she forgot to watch the fire in the entrancement of so many objects of masculine passion, the fire went out and gave proof of her weakness and destruction. These examinations lasted three hours daily for three days.

After this tale Madame de Furiel promised our Sapho pretty clothes, hats, diamonds, theatres, promenades, instruction in reading, writing, dancing and singing if she would only be true to her and never have intercourse with men. Sapho readily agreed to this.

Then on the next day began the great metamorphosis. Modists, manicurists, and other shop-girls arrived and surrounded Sapho in all comfort, she was then brought to the opera and was joyously admired by the other tribades.

On the following day Sapho was introduced into the mysteries of the anandryne sect with great solemnity and notable ceremonies. In the middle of the Temple of Vesta stood a cylindrical room that received light from a glass cover on top and on the sides. A small statue of Vesta was in the room. The goddess was represented standing majestically on a globe as if just stepping down to preside at the meeting. She seemed to sway in mid-air.

About this sanctuary of the goddess was a small corridor, in which two tribades paraded up and down during the meeting so that all the entrances were watched. Between the entrances stood a marble plaque on which were inscribed golden verses, at each side were altars with the necessary vestal fires. Next to the most resplendent altar stood a bust of Sappho, the protector of the temple, the oldest and most noted tribade. Next to the other altar stood a bust of Mademoiselle (alias Chevalier) d'Eon, "the most famous modern tribade." Around the niches in the walls stood the famous Greek tribades sung of by Sappho: Thelesyle, Amythone, Cydno, Megare, Pyrrhine, Andromeda, Cyrine, etc. In the middle of the room stood a great cylindrical couch on which rested the Lady President and her scholars. Pairs of tribades sat all around in Turkish fashion on small footstools, each pair interlaced and composed of mother and novice, or in the mystical terminology, incuba and succuba. The walls of the room were decorated with hundreds of reliefs, showing the various private parts of the woman as shown in Venette's Tableau of Conjugal Love, Buffon's Natural History and in the cleverest anatomical plates.

The reception of our Sapho was in the following manner: all the tribades sat in their places in their festival clothes. The mothers wore a red levite with a blue girdle, the novices a white levite and a red girdle and no underclothes. As Sapho entered she first saw the holy fire that burned with a pleasant and aromatic flame upon a golden pan; it was continually fed by two tribades with pulverized fuel. Sapho had to kneel at the feet of the president, Mademoiselle Raucourt, a noted actress at the Comédie Française; her mother, Madame Furiel said: "Dear president and dear companions, here is a postulante. She appears to have all the desirable properties. She has never had intercourse with a man, is wonderfully built, and has shown fire and zeal at the trial I gave her. I beg that she be taken in under the name Sapho." After this speech both had to withdraw. Shortly thereafter one of the guardesses of Sapho informed her that she had been admitted to a test without a dissenting vote. Sapho was then completely undressed, given a pair of white slippers, covered with a light mantel and brought back to the assemblage. Here the Lady President arose, gave Sapho her own seat and uncovered her mantel. Sapho was then put to a thorough examination by all the tribades as to how many of the thirty charms of women inscribed on the marble plaque she possessed:

Then one of the oldest of tribades read the following old French poem:

Let her who claims the honor of being beautiful,
Of reproducing in herself the superb model
Of Helen who once set the universe aflame
Spread in her favor thirty diverse charms!
That covering her thrice each in turn,
White, and black, and red intermingled
Offer as many times to the marveling eyes
The changeful hues of a single color.
Since nine times to this masterpiece of love
Nature, prodigal and miserly turn by turn,
In opposed extremes, with an ever-sure hand
Traces for her the measure of her dimensions
Three little trifles still, she will have in her features
The perfect contrasts of a divine combination.
Let her hair be blood, her teeth like ivory,
Let her skin surpass the freshness of a pure lily,
So that the eye, the eyebrows, but of a blacker shade,
That the lashes emphasize its whiteness.
Let her nail, her cheek, her lip be vermilion;
Her hair, her waist, her hand long;
Her teeth, her feet short and also her ears.
Let her brow be high, and her breast broad;
Let the nymph above all, with rounded buttocks
Present well-rounded forms to her lovers;
Let her be so at the waist that her lover without hurting her
Can firmly encircle her with two hands;
Let her sweet mouth with infallible augury
Announce the narrow painful access to pleasure.
Let the anus, the vulva and the belly
Be gently swelled and never flat.
A little nose pleases greatly, also a little head.
A teat which resists the kiss that it invites;
Fine hair, thin lips, and very delicate fingers
Complete this beautiful whole which one never meets.

Of these charms somewhat more than half were needed for admittance, i.e., at least sixteen. Each pair of tribades decided separately and whispered their opinion into the ear of the Lady President, who counted them and announced the result. All had decided in favor of our novice. This result was then corroborated by a kiss à la florentine. Sapho was then dressed as a tribade and had to swear an oath never to have intercourse with men or to betray the secrets of the order. Then Madame Raucourt gave an inaugural address whose content in short was:

"Ladies, receive me in your ranks, I am worthy of you." These words are to be found in the Lettres of Mile. D’Eon. This d'Eon was a model for tribadism. Her expression can well stand as a motto for the address.

Next Raucourt spoke of the origin of the Secte Anandryne. Lycurgus had started a school for tribades in Sparta. The convents in modern Europe, an emanation of the colleges of vestals, embody the constant priesthood of tribadism. How gratifying it is that a woman can find her pleasure so much easier than a mere man. For any suitable instrument in the boudoir or toilette is sufficient for the purpose.

Tribadism must spread everywhere the cult of Vesta and furnish zealous propaganda for it. The best known tribades were then named. Duchess of Urbsrex, Marquise de Terracenes, Madame de Furiel (the protectress of our Sapho and wife of the general-procurator), the Marquise de Téchul (who dressed as a chambermaid, cook or modist to satisfy her passion), Mademoiselle Clairon (famous actress of the Théâtre Français), the actress Arnould, the German tribade Sonck (kept by a brother of the Prussian king). Poulet-Malassis has solved the puzzles of these names in his edition of The English Spy: "Furiel" is Mme. de Fleury, "Urbsrex" is the Duchess of Villeroy, "Terracenes" is the Marquise de Senecterre and "Téchal" is the Marquise de Luchet.

Mlle. Julie, a young tribade, is mentioned; she has been initiated into the lesbian art of love by Arnould and Raucourt. In conclusion the joys of tribadism are extolledL intercourse between the opposite sexes is fleeting, short and illusory. Only that between women is true, pure and lasting and has no remorse. Are defloration, pregnancy and childbirth pleasures?

"Tribadism leaves no remorse and is the sauve-garde of our young girls and widows, it increases our charms, holds them longer, is the comfort of our old age when no man wants us, a real rose without thorns throughout our whole life."

After this effective speech the holy fire is allowed to go out and all depart for the banquet in the vestibule; there is an abundance of wines, especially those of the Greeks; a number of passionate verses are sung from Sappho. When all were intoxicated and could no longer restrain their passions, the fire was again lighted in the sanctuary, and a wild orgy began. The two heroines who held their "lovebout" longest received as a reward a golden medal with the picture of Vesta and the pictures and names of the two heroines. On this day the winners were Madame de Furiel and Sapho.

Thus we leave our happy Sapho in the arms of her victory.

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Pederasty

Marquis de Sade sang the song of pederasty in all refrains. The most finished and expert pederast was Dolmancé in the Philosophy in the Boudoir. "There is," says Dolmancé, "no other pleasure in the world comparable to this, Oh, there is nothing more delightful than the back of a sweet young boy!" (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 99). He described in detail all the joys of this vice. Although Dolmancé felt more drawn to the male sex he was not abashed at undertaking paedicatio with a woman and indeed introduced young Eugenie to this pleasure. On the other hand Bressac, whom Justine surprised in the act of intercourse with his lackeys, was a thorough homosexualist and had a deep hatred for the feminine sex (Justine 1, 145). As far as we recall, he was the only character whose sexual perversion de Sade ascribed to heredity. All the others had gradually acquired sexual perversions during their formative years. We are certain that de Sade who showed himself to be a profound savant of patho-sexual personalities here described from reality. And so it is in real life. Pederasty by heredity is the exception; pederasty by seduction, by vicious degeneracy and last but not least by mental illness, is the rule. Bressac develops the theory that the pathicus, of whom he was one, was destined by Nature to be an entirely different man from all others (Justine I, 162-164). He explained that this inborn passion rested upon a construction toute différente. It would be a stupidité to punish them for what was not their fault. Dolmancé, however, gave an entirely different explanation that suffices for most pederasts. "If the purpose of nature was not such then why did she make the openings to the exact proportion of our members. What other reason could there be for nature to have made round openings."

The tribades, too, in de Sade rejoiced at Grecian love, whether by artificial instruments or by the aid of a clitoris. The spread of this vice is described as tremendous by contemporary authors. Duvergier tells that the pederasts are much sought after and are well paid. Numerous scenes of pederasty appear in the pages of Justine and Juliette.

Since the sixteenth century pederasty had found an increasing horde of devotees in Paris. Mirabeau assures us that during the reign of Henry III "men were found in mutual embrace under the portals of the Louvre," and that under Louis XIV pederasty was governed under strict laws and statutes. Henry III was himself a homosexual. Henry IV was very much opposed to it but could not prevent the reappearance of homosexual intercourse in court under Louis XIII. Philipp Orleans, brother of Louis XIV, became a homosexual; the story of his unhappy marriage with Elizabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz, due to his preference for men, is well known. It is reported on contemporary authority that nobles in the court of Louis XIV vied to turn him from his perverted path so that they could rule him by a mistress. But the young king exhibited a deadly hate toward the men who so sought to influence him. One of the Gentlemen of the Chamber of the king reports in his Memoirs that in 1652 after a dinner with the fifteen year old king Cardinal Mazarin had sexual intercourse with him.

In an old work Gallant France (1695), which is the second part of the Amorous History of the Gauls of Prince of Bussy-Rabutin, there is a chapter on the founding of a pederasty club by the Duke of Grammont, Sire de Tilladet, Manicamp and Marquis de Biran. All members were investigated on the strength, health, potency, vitality and beauty of their bodies. Celibacy from women was a cardinal rule. Every member had to undergo a rigid regime to fit himself for the arduous duties and demands of his laybrethren. If one of the brothers married he had to explain if it had happened because he was forced by his parents, by reason of an inheritance, dowry, etc. He had at the same time to swear never to love his wife and to sleep with her only until she bore him a son. For this grace, special permission was also necessary and this was allowed him only once a week. The brothers were divided in four classes although the father-priors could possess anyone. Those wishing to enter the order were examined in a series by the four father-priors. A strict silence over the affairs of the club was enjoined and only those whose inclination for Greek love were known could be admitted to the rest. The pederastic orgies took place in a country house. The participants wore over their official robe a cross on which was represented in relief a man stepping on a woman. The club did not last long for a royal prince joined the ranks and the club was summarily banned by the king.

At any rate the cult of pederasty was still prevalent in the French court in the eighteenth century. It would have been a miracle if that lascivious roué, Louis XV, had not fallen a victim to paedicatio and other homosexual practices. So it is reported that he often showed himself nude to a handsome boy that he was fond of and often embraced him.

The Revolution also brought this vice to the highest point. We have already given many illustrations of pederasty. In the year 1798, Dupin, the Commissioner of the Department of the Seine, reported: "For some time there has spread a yet more shameful kind of immorality. The reports of the police-agents on pederasty have increased to a horribly enormous sum. Sodomy and sapphic love have also appeared with the same boldness until they are as prevalent as prostitution."

In his Porter of Chartreux of 1789, Rétif de la Bretonne declared that "pederasty, bestiality and other forms of immorality degraded France continually for five or six generations."

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Flagellation and Phlebotomy

Flagellation, that mighty assistant of vice, was thoroughly described in all its branches by Marquis de Sade in all his seven works. We mention only the great scenes of flagellation in Justine and Juliette (Justine III, 129; Juliette II, 138-150) between women; (Juliette V, 335). Juliette with three young modists visits the home of the Duke of Dendemar in St. Maur; his sexual monomania consisted of whipping the girls until they bled; he had to pay great sums for his pleasurable sacrifices (Juliette I, 344 ff.).

Marquis de Sade had also made extensive literary researches on this subject. He mentioned the most important writings of his time on flagellation by Meibom and Boileau (Juliette V, 169). These studies had taught him that it was the man who at all times took the active role in flagellation. He was surprised that the active whipping found little preference in women with their natural cruelty and had Dolmancé hope for the time that women would also show themselves masters in this specialty (Philosophy in the Boudoir I, 157).

Interesting details are given by Cooper in his Flagellation and the Flagellants in the Eighteenth Century. Voltaire often mentions the whip especially when he wants to make the jesuits look ridiculous. The whip is also often mentioned in the memoirs of the time.

The blows were often imparted on even small children. It was asserted that thereby the muscles and skin were "strengthened." In all French convent schools the rod was the usual punishment for the young girl, as it was the favorite instrument for flagellation with the nuns. The holy sisters whipped their students with delight in the same manner that the holy fathers absolved their penitents.

During the Reign of Terror the nuns were waylaid and ignominiously flogged. The tragic case of Théroigne de Méricourt is well known. She was flogged by a band of women and as a consequence lost her reason. After the downfall of Robespierre the young girls on the street were disrobed and beaten by the anti-terrorists.

Shortly before the Reign of Terror there existed a Whipping Club whose feminine members "delightfully laid on the whip." Many respectable ladies belonged to this club of whose sexual tendency there can be no doubt.

There has already been so much written about Jean Jacques Rousseau’s preference for this kind of sexual excitation that we refer to Krafft Ebing for the story of his chastisement by Mademoiselle Lambercier. Cooper is full of stories of battles in which the fair sex took a prominent part. His reports on some causes célèbres of this kind are very interesting.

England is well known today as the classic land of sexual flagellation. One of her most famous flagellants was Theresa Berkeley in London, 28, Charlotte Street, who obtained great wealth and fame through her art. She possessed untold numbers of instruments of all kinds for excitation and enrichment of passion, "Thus, at her shop, whoever went with plenty of money, could be bitched, whipped, fustigated, scourged, needlepricked, half-hung, holly-brushed, furse-brushed, butcher-brushed, stinging-nettled, curry-combed, phlebotomized and tortured till he had a belly full." She also had prostitutes, a Negress and a gypsy for active flagellation. She invented a machine which caused the man fastened in it to experience voluptuous sensations (The Berkeley Horse). "There is a print in Mrs. Berkeley's memoirs, representing a man upon it quite naked. A woman is sitting in a chair exactly under it, with her bosom, belly and bottom exposed: she is manualizing his embolon, whilst Mrs. Berkeley is bitching his posteriors. The female acting as fricatrix was intended for Fisher, a fine, tall, dark-haired girl. Everyone who visited Charlotte Street at that day must recall her as well as the good humored blonde, Willis; the plump, tight, frisky and merryarsed Thurlow. Grenville with the enormous bubbies; Bentine, with breadth of hip and splendor of buttock; Oliver, the gypsy, whose brown skin, wicked black eyes, and medicean form would melt an anchorite; the mild and amiable Palmer with luxurious and well fledged mount, from whose tufted honors many a noble lord has stolen a sprig; and Pryce, the pleasing and complaisant, who, if birch was the question, could both give and take." Berkeley died in 1836, having amassed a fortune of 10,000 pounds sterling in eight years. Her correspondence containing letters from both sexes and from the highest classes in Europe were destroyed.

We gave this small description because we have found no description of the Institution of Mrs. Berkeley in modern works on flagellation and because there are to be found in de Sade's works similar machines in which the victims are tied.

Phlebotomy also plays an important part with de Sade. In the third volume of Justine there appeared a Prince Gernande, who could excite himself only by bleeding the veins of women. There were many such scenes in his works. Particularly horrible was the scene in which the prince bled his own wife and then satisfied himself sexually on her unconscious body (Justine III, 253).

Phlebotomy in the eighteenth century was an operation also practiced by the clergy. Brissaud stated that there were definite periods for bloodletting in convents. With the Carthusian friars, for example, the rule was five times a year, with the premonstrates once a year. The feasts of St. Matthew and Valentine were special seasons for bloodletting.

Raulin was accustomed to cure the frequent hysteria of women by phlebotomy. Brierre de Boismont reported the case of a man who had infusions made in the genitals and posteriors of his wife. As soon as he saw the blood, he became extremely excited and satisfied himself on her person.

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Aphrodisiacs, Cosmetics, Abortions and Quackeries

De Sade gave special attention to "sexual medicines” (in the widest sense) in his works. Here, too, will plainly be seen that his descriptions had in almost every case an exact counterpart in the actual world.

It is no wonder that the many and unnatural debaucheries wore out the roués of de Sade and that they needed sexual stimulants to a great degree. There was no scarcity of aphrodisiacs of all kinds to enliven anew the impotent cravings of de Sade's characters. Delmonse had to rub very vigorously the scrotum of the impotent merchant Dubourg. This unfortunate had also to continually take bouillons composes d’aramotes et d’épins (Justine I, 62). Cornaro has whiskey used there. Oil of Wintergreen burns like the very devil. But Durand rubbed the member itself with a terribly exciting activity. The ancient Persians' use of asafoetida was also powerful. The odor of jasmine was also popular. De Sade also knew internal as well as external aphrodisiacs. Juliette used wine, liqueurs, opium (the opinion today is that opium has the negative result) and "other aphrodisiacs that were openly sold in Italy" (Juliette IV, 104). Durand has a regular business with aphrodisiacs and anti aphrodisiacs (Juliette III, 229).

We have already mentioned that the bordello of Madame Gourdan was richly furnished with sexual stimulants. The Pastilles à la Richelieu were also alluded to. Since the latter are of importance in relation to Marquis de Sade and their main ingredient, cantharides, "played an important rôle in France in the eighteenth century," a few words on these cantharidic stimulants may not be amiss. The cantharides mentioned by Dioscordies (Materia Medica, Lib. II, Cap. 65) have been used for a long time as sexual stimulants. The Roman poet Lucretius is said to have died as a result of an aphrodisiac containing cantharide. Ambroise Paré reports many such cases. In Paré's time the use of pastilles or bonbons was the fashion in France. The home of these bonbons with their aphrodisiac effect was Italy, from where they were introduced to France by Catherine de Medici. The courts of Henry III and Charles IX found employment for them. In the eighteenth century Richelieu made very prolific use of the seemingly innocent bonbons. His propaganda for the pastilles named after him had as a result their adoption as the fashion in the last year of the reign of Louis XV. At this time occurred the affair of Marquis de Sade in Marseilles, the bonbons playing a fatal rôle. The Secret Tablets of Madame du Barry, the Powder of Joy, the Seraglio- pastilles were all very probably cantharidic.

The cantharides were a dangerous method for they very easily caused inflammation of the kidneys, urethra and skin. The erections produced by them came by the excitation of the mucous membrane of the urethra and bladder. An advancement of sexuality can best be observed at the beginning of the action.

Cosmetics enjoyed an especially wide use. Charlatanry was at its height in this field. Thus in 1769 a society received the privilege of renting parasols on both sides of the Pont Neuf so that persons wishing to cross the bridge and protect their delicate skin from the ravages of the sun might hire a parasol at one end of the bridge and return it at the other. The aids for beauty were so numerous that Casanova had perfect right—he also liked to play the charlatan from time to time—in forbidding the use of all cosmetic applications to the Duchess of Chartres who suffered from acne. He prescribed a mild purgative and the constant cleansing.

For depilation Marquis de Sade mentioned Rusma, the Turkish depilatory. "Rusma" is an old and favorite depilatory of the Orientals. The Depilatory Paste or Rusma Turcorum or Nurék Persarum is composed of 2 parts auripigment, 15 parts calcaria and a 2.5 parts of wheaten flour. That is the prescription of J. J. Plenck, a famous dermatologist of the eighteenth century. It may be noted here, that Marquis de Sade had a great interest in all medical and anthropological matters. He studied by himself all the available scientific works of his time. We shall later mention how his wife had to continually supply him with books when he was in prison.

A notable anomaly in the eighteenth century was the so-called false virginities; its great frequency brought it into special prominence. The remainder of the hymen was sought and brought together artificially by astringent means, mainly by narrowing the introitus vaginae. This attempt had a long history in France. In the thirteenth chapter of the surgery of Henry de Mondeville, a physician of the fourteenth century, there are instructions on the deception of virginity by the use of astringent plants. A number of other methods to draw blood at the touch are also given. Such practices were ordinary occurrences in the France of the eighteenth century. We have already noted the virginity-water of Madame Gourdan. De Sade knew other methods for the restoration of the hymen. Delbènee praised her pomade and wanted to repair the already deflowered Laurette (Juliette I, 171) and gave to Juliette, victim of the same fate, a myrthus extract, which she had to rub in for nine days in order to arise on the tenth a virgin, (Juliette I, 179). Duvergier also used a similar virginity salve (Juliette I, 187).

In general this whole century was a golden age for toilette aids. It is notable that all important cosmetic aids of modern times were employed in the eighteenth century. There were hundreds of essences, pastes and salves, toilette waters and astringents. Especially important was, of course, the rouge. An anecdote of the Reign of Terror told by Mercier illustrates the high opinions of rouge by women:

Marton: Dear Lady—
Marquise: Marton, I am just arising—
Marton: Here I am, dear lady—
Marquise: My child, what's new?
Marton: Dear lady, there is talk of a rebellion that is supposed to have broken out this morning.
Marquise: And why not?
Marton: There is talk of destruction, of pillage, of rape, yes, even—
Marquise: Even rape—O child, you're joking—heavens, if one—
Marton: Oh! I have heard everywhere that the monsters will kill all the women, and, it is said, that those that please them will fall victims to their lust—
Marquise (very sprightly): I tremble—Marton-dress me—Marton—my rouge! Quickly, my rouge! Heavens! How I look—pale—I must look dreadful—they will kill me!

The men likewise used the same toilette articles, rouged themselves, spilled "artificial tests" and depilated their entire body at the request of their mistress. A great achievement in the eighteenth century in the cosmetic field was the bath. In the latter half of the year they became an immense luxury and were mostly used for cosmetic baths. The heroines of de Sade after their full day's or night's work take their bath.

The writings of Marquis de Sade afford a frightful picture of the frequency of abortion and contraception which had a definite connection with cosmetics in the eighteenth century. The statistics of Galliot which began with the year of 1789 show what a horrible decline there was in the birth rate. "The state must go further: it must not only protect the infant but also the fetus." All the means used today were known then; every possible means was used to hinder conception or to force away the forms. Highly characteristic is the discussion in Philosophy in the Boudoir in which Madame de St. Ange, upon a question from Eugenie, told of the means of prevention: of éponges, which served the women, condoms which served the men and paedicatio, which was an excellent method for both parties. But if this "misfortune" had happened, the heroes and heroines of de Sade knew means and ways of killing the fruit in the womb (Juliette III, 204, 212).

A last group of sexual cures was the anti-venereal class, with which the country was flooded. For in spite of all the debaucheries there was a great fear of syphilis and the charlatans found a very gullible public for their lies. We are not certain whether the bordello with its emblazoned motto Safe Love fulfilled its promises. At any rate extreme precaution was certainly justified. Casanova had a cardinal principle never to sleep in a strange bed. Juliette always investigated her clients for syphilitic symptoms. A man tainted with syphilis received short shrift with Juliette. It is told in The English Spy how a man voluntarily got syphilis so that he could infect his mistress who would pass it on to his rival. A similar idea was carried out by de Sade in Philosophy in the Boudoir. There a syphilitic servant is brought in and before the eyes of the triumphant monster infected the unhappy Madame de Mistival, whereupon Dolmancé called out: Parbleu, voici une inoculation, comme Tronchin n'en fit de ses jours (Philosophy in the Boudoir).

Medical preventatives against syphilis were mainly fashioned in the cellars of the Palais Royal. There were also many who made their wares known by means of fugitive papers and posted advertisements of their wares an the streets and walls.

We have previously mentioned the charlatan Agirony and the "specificurn of Doctor Préval." The latter was perhaps the most notorious charlatan of the eighteenth century. It was indeed Guilbert de Préval who introduced Rétif de la Bretonne to the secret of Parisian prostitution and the artes amandi of the Palais Royal. The history of this arch-charlatan is told in detail in The English Spy.

Préval studied from 1746 in Cannes, where he built up a rich practice, and then moved to Paris to take his doctor's degree in anatomical studies in Paris. He spent over twenty years on the therapy of syphilis and discovered at the end of this period an "infallible cure" against this disease, of which he cured more than eight thousand people! The specific also possessed the power of curing all the other "blood and skin diseases." This cure was also a trustworthy prophylactic for syphilis. It was claimed to be a so-called eau fondante but really consisted of a sublimate of lime-water. It finally also served for a diagnosis of syphilis for which purpose it was, for example, used by Madame Gourdan. The announcement of this cure made an extraordinary sensation and "there was a tremendous riot in the old court when all the roués came storming at his door." Préval was received with the honors scarcely accorded to the discoverer of a new part of the world but was asked to perform his miracle in the presence of witnesses. Préval assented. In the June of 1772 there occurred the unbelievable. In the presence of respectable gentlemen our charlatan completed coition with an unfortunate prostitute who had already been under observation in the hospital of the Compassionate Sisters. He first, of course, had taken his infallible cure. He remained healthy but it was not investigated whether this immunity was the result of a previous but indiscernible syphilis. Parent Duchatelet "could still name the witnesses of this remarkable scene, but the high circle in which they moved prevented the disclosure of their names."

Since we are not in the position of Parent Duchatelet we can name the gentlemen. There were the Duke of Chartres, Count de la Marche, Richelieu, Duke of Nivernois, and other "cavaliers." Préval was ordered by a Parisian magistrate to try his cure on the syphilitics in Bicêtre. Six men and four women were given him for this purpose. These affairs came to the knowledge of the Parisian Medical Faculty and at a notable meeting on August 8, 1772, the name of Préval was stricken from the lists of their members. He started action against the faculty and brought the suit before the Parliament. The decree of the faculty was lifted early in 1777 but on August 13, 1777, it was again confirmed and Préval in addition had to pay a penalty of 3000 francs. The arguments for the decision of the faculty were of a questionable character. We quote from the charges: "It is a matter of morals to investigate to what degree may be permitted a remedy which has no other purpose but the enhancement of pleasure in vice and removal of all restraint and punishment. We believe it would be a calamity to allow any such purpose for destruction of morals." Even Girtaner, a vigorous moralist, noted: "The discoverer of such a method earns the thanks and not the hatred of the human race for thereby in a short time syphilis throughout the entire world could be destroyed. And what friend of man does not desire so fortunate a revolution!"

The main preventative in the eighteenth century for venereal diseases was the same as today's—the condom. We have pointed many times to the wide use of condoms of which there was a whole arsenal in every bordello. The prostitutes in business for themselves also used these redingotes d'Angleterre. When Casanova came to Marseilles and according to his custom sought his first relaxation from the trip at a prostitute's where he expressed fear of disease, the girl offered english caps. But he did not care for them because they were of poor quality. Thereupon the beauty offered "better quality at 3 francs apiece and which were sold only in dozen lots." Casanova bought a whole dozen and had a few specimens adapted for the use of a fifteen-year-old servant girl.

The condom was discovered by a London doctor in the court of Charles II, named Dr. Conton; hence it should really be called conton. According to the plan of the doctor it was to be prepared from ceaca of lambs. For this purpose the desired length of the intestine was cut from the lamb, dried and then well oiled to make it soft and pliable. Proksch in his Prevention of the Venereal Diseases gives a complete history of this discovery and believed that in modern times "the hyper-moralistic ravings against the condom have almost entirely ceased." All doctors recognize the high value of the condom as a method of protection against venereal disease. Most of the recognition of the protective value of the condom came involuntary from sources one never expected. In 1826 there appeared a Papal Bull by Leo XII in which he damned this discovery "because it hindered the arrangement of providence." The moralistic attacks against the condom hold no water with those who know that everything in this world is misused and that the health of society must be considered more important than the caprices of an individual. The doctor who protects the health of the family cannot take the stand of the theologian.

After detailed physical and chemical examination of forty-eight varieties of condoms Proksch came to the conclusion that those made of india-rubber were the best and withstood the greatest amount of pressure.

We finally come to the last group of aphrodisiacs. They were the substitutes for man; the artificial apparatus by which women compensated for the absence of man. They were the leather phallus, godmichés, the consoler or as in English dildo. These artificial penes have been in use since ancient times. During the eighteenth century they became very prevalent in France. De Sade described the workings of an automatic godmiché (Juliette V, 328) as well as other sharp pointed instruments that were used by the tribade Zatta (Joliette VI, 124). The engravings in Philosophy in the Boudoir show that the dildos used in the eighteenth century were similarly constructed to the ones found in France today. Garnier gives the following description: "Here in Paris they make perfect imitations of hard red rubber; they are sold secretly at the known addresses to all the interested parties. The mechanism is most ingenious. They can be blown up and filled with milk or any other liquid. They heat up in contact with the vagina and the liquid flows out at the psychological moment to give the proper illusion.”

These things were not only used in lesbian bouts but also between male and female; Madame de St. Ange used it for paedicatio of Dolmancé (Philosophy in the Boudoir II, 31).

Gamier believed that the Japanese Balls, which were used in Japan, China and India from the earliest times by nymphomaniacs, first reached Europe in 1819 and were then written up in the Dictionary of Medical Science. This is entirely wrong. We have shown that these Pommes d'Amour were already well known in France in the middle of the eighteenth century.

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Gastronomy and Alcoholism

Sine Baccho et Cerere friget Venus. Good food and drink are also aphrodisiacs not to be despised. Marquis de Sade knew this well. In the very beginning of Juliette, Delbène called out after the orgy: “Déjeunons près amils, restausons-nous; lorsqu’on a beaucoup déchargé il faut réparer ce qu’on a perdu” (Juliette I, 10). "Good plentiful food makes one efficient for physical love," said Noirceuil (Juliette II, 151). "Let us drink," said Rodin, "I love to prepare myself for the joys of love by a good drink" (Justine I, 332). Ambroise described "the powers that Bacchus lend to Venus" (Justine III, 126). The participants in the horrible orgy at Minister Saint Fond's prepared themselves by "splendid wine and opulent food (Juliette II, 15). Juliette and Queen Charlotte of Naples drank two flasks full of champagne between their love scenes (Juliette IV, 18). A horrible gourmée was Count Gernande who had for a motto: "Intemperance is my goddess, her image stands next to that of Venus in my temple." He prepared himself for the joys of love by drinking 12 flasks of wines of different kinds, 2 flasks of liqueur, 1 flask of rum, 2 glasses of punch and 10 cups of coffee! (Justine III, 231-232).

The eighteenth century was "in truth the age of great chefs and cuisines.” Everyone was at that time a gourmand, especially among the aristocracy where "very excellent meals were prepared." Indigestion was often the punishment of the glutton. The Field Marshal, Prince Soubise, was "more famous for his opulent dinners than his battles." The prince had an especial preference for a sumptuous omelet that cost one hundred thalers. Voltaire spoke very sharply against gastronomic excesses which he held were ruinous both for mind and body. The alcoholic parties which under the regency took place every evening in the Palais Royal, were again adopted under the rule of Louis XVI. According to Brillat Savarin the chevaliers and the abbés were the greatest connoisseurs of transcendental gastronomy. Déjeuners littéraires et philosophiques et soupers célèbres were the fashion throughout all France. Casanova, de la Bretonne and many others have often described such feasts.

Reichardt has well described how the alcoholic debaucheries served to enkindle the muses in the Reign of Terror. He concluded that the unaccustomed strong drinks were in the main responsible for that bloody September Day.

It is notable that Marquis de Sade delineated the vegetarian and the anti-alcoholic types in his novels. The first code of modern vegetarianism was the work of J. Newton, Return to Nature and Defense of the Vegetable Regime, which appeared in London in 1811. De Sade described in Bandole a typical vegetarian and prohibitionist who refrained for sexual grounds. He ate little, and then only vegetables, and drank only water. A number of such characters and beliefs appeared in Justine and Juliette.

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Crime and Murder

The fact that prostitution and crime go hand-in-hand was clearly stated in Marquis de Sade's novels. Fatime, the sixteen-year-old friend of Juliette, had as her specialty stealing from her customers, for one of the most famous thieves, Dorval, of the suburb La Villette. The latter had reported to him by spies through all Paris the arrival of every stranger, whom he had seduced and robbed with the help of his prostitutes. He experienced intense sexual pleasure if he were present at the execution of such robberies. We shall later speak of his theory and justification of robbery. The chief passion of the Venetian tribade, Zanetti, was also robbery. Such personalities to whom robbery was a delight, appeared very often in de Sade.

The greediness for money at this time in France was very enormous. We read in Rameau's Nephew: "There is no longer a country. I see only tyrants and slaves from one end of the country to another. Gold is All, and he without gold is Nought." Gold, as Madame de Hurset has it, was the universal motor of the age. The robbers and thieves who flooded the pages of de Sade's novels formed the real framework of the Revolution and were closely connected with prostitution in the city and provinces. Since 1789 robbery and murder took a sharp climb and became daily occurrences during the Revolution. The first half of the year 1792 proved most prolific in robberies and murders. The prisons and guards had increased almost double. August the 10th and the September Day both gave a dreadful impulse to all kinds of crimes.

Paris drew more and more to itself the swarms of criminals from all over the country. The first few months of the year 1796 saw armed bands of thieves openly parading down the streets looking for plunder. They would search for well-to-do houses, break in, terrify and murder the inhabitants and then proceed at their leisure in despoiling the house.

The reasons for this criminal state of affairs in Paris and the vicinity were drawn up in an official report: the number of public places of depravity, the degeneration of morals, the hiding places of prostitutes and robbers, the schools of vice, the balls, the gambling dens, the impotency of the police force because of politics, numbers, etc., etc.

All conversation in Paris turned on murders and robberies. The impunity of crime called forth more and more disrespect for the law and for continual imitations of the latest crimes. It meant the citizen’s life to be found on strange streets in the dark. Even the respectable streets had to be patrolled by a body of citizens at night. Jaded Paris certainly received its morning quota of thrills when it heard the latest recitals of the crimes of the night before.

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Poisoning

Poisoning ever follows in the wake of prostitution and sexual debaucheries. Even in Ancient Rome, Suburra, the residential and business section of prostitutes, was the gathering place for poison-makers and sellers. It was no accident that the notorious poisoners like Brinvilliers and Voisin, were sexually passionate women. De Sade, with his profound knowledge of all relationships of the sexual life, thoroughly understood this connection and brought it out in the description of his characters. In a highly intuitive manner he painted the mood and passions of the poisoners who received tremendous sexual satisfaction from their profession (Juliette III, 214). Poisoning was also given the preference over other kinds of killing because of its quietness. Verneuil said: "No forceful act! Under your very eyes death surprises the victim, without noise or scandal. O Justine! Justine! Poison is a splendid power! How many services has it performed! How many people enrichened! Of how many useless beings has it freed the world!" (Justine III, 235.)

The poisoner Durand living in the Faubourg was an erotic monster par excellence (Juliette III, 220 ff.). De Sade plainly described her as a sickly degenerate individual. He displayed an hysteric fit of Durand that represented a panorama of classic poisoning with her cold, calculated cruelty, her cynical atheism and her colossal sexual excitability. She had an entire garden full of poisonous plants and a great number of prepared poisons, emmenagogs, aphrodisiacs and anti-aphrodisiacs. Her main poisons were: the poudre du crapaud verdier which when given to a girl in coitus gave the other party the greatest of pleasure in seeing her moribund contractions and sufferings; the chair calcinée de l’engu, espèce de tigre d’Ethiopie, by which a young man was removed from the world; the poison royal by which, according to de Sade, many members of the royal family of Louis XV were poisoned. There were also poisoned needles and arrows and various snake-poisons, Cucuruca, Cocol, Polpoc, Aimorrhois, etc.

Minister Saint Fond carried on a wholesale poisoning. Likewise Noirceuil sang a hymn of praise to Brinvilliers (Juliette II, 31 and 85); Juliette poisoned Count Lorsange with the poison royal and mixed strammonium in the chocolate of the monstrous cannibal, Minski (Juliette III, 285 and IV, 15). When Durand and Juliette opened a bordello in Venice, the poison-trade was a profitable sideline (Juliette V1, 251).

Since the seventeenth century, which had a real epidemic of poisoning under the rule of Louis XIV and the aristocracy, poison became the ever-increasing favorite of the land. At that time the notorious Abbé Guibourg, the organizer of the Devil's Masses, supplied the entire aristocracy with poison and lovephiltres. Poisonings indeed became so numerous that the King had to organize a special tribunal, the chamber royale de l’arsénale or chamber ardente which dealt exclusively with cases of poisoning. The poisoner best known was Marie Madelaine Marquise de Brinvilliers, very often mentioned by Marquis de Sade. It is interesting to note that this female devil reveled in sexual debaucheries from earliest youth. An insatiable sexual appetite was her lot throughout her whole life. She early learned the art of making poisons and devoted herself zealously to this field. She poisoned her father, two brothers, sisters and many others. Upon discovery of her crime she was beheaded. The corpse was then burned and scattered to the four winds so that as Madame de Sévigné wrote in her letters: "All Paris ran the danger of breathing in the atoms of this little woman and thereby becoming infected with the same poisonous desires."

And this infection actually spread. The poisonings increased in dreadful fashion. The most notorious poisoners of the seventeenth century, Voisin, Vigouroux, Oeillets and Delagragne were also active in the field of prostitution. Both trades developed hand-in-hand in the eighteenth century. The most famous poisoner was Desrues and his wife, whose one desire was to get rich at any price, and who poisoned all who stood in their way.

De Sade had this Desrues serve as hangman of the great robber Cartouche at an orgy (Juliette VI, 323). Rétif de la Bretonne described the whole affair in the fourth volume of Gentle Ladies.