The Compendium of Erotica: Dictionary of Erotic Literature, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, and Love Potions Through the Ages

By Harry E. Wedeck

Explore what sent hearts a flutter through the centuries in this compilation of erotic cultural and literary history.

Dictionary of Erotic Literature

Representing cultures around the world and spanning from ancient times to the twentieth century, this A-to-Z guide explores one of the most universal and enduring themes in literature. Entries range from Ovid’s Ars amatoria, second-century Gnosticism, and ninth-century Arabian poets, all the way up to the explicit novels published in Paris in the 1960s.

As author Harry E. Wedeck explains in his introduction, a culture’s artistic and literary depictions of eroticism reveal a great deal about their way of life. In Dictionary of Erotic Literature, Wedeck draws on this endlessly vast topic to present an illustrative sampling of authors, written works, and terminology that will be of value to any student of literature or cultural history.

Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs

From absinthe, almond soup, and Albertus Magnus to yarrow, yohimbine, and Émile Zola,

this authoritative reference volume covers knowledge of aphrodisiacs spanning centuries and drawn from literature, spirituality, and ancient science. Entries include edible substances believed to enhance sexual performance, gemstones thought to possess amorous charms, gods and goddesses of love from various myths, and historic figures who contributed to studies and thought on aphrodisiacs.

This dictionary reveals many intriguing ways for partners to enrich their relationships, including recipes to stimulate the gourmet lover using the many ingredients described in the book.

Love Potions Through the Ages

This survey explores the evolution of love potion practices in societies over the centuries and across the world. Separate chapters focus on ancient Greece, Rome, India, and the Orient, as well as the Middle Ages and modern times.

Wedeck relays the spiritual aspects of these concoctions as well as historical anecdotes about them. Recipes are also included, though Wedeck cautions that they are exclusively for academic purposes and not intended for personal use.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Philosophical Library Open Road
• Release date: Apr 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781504076265

Harry E. Wedeck

Harry E. Wedeck was a linguistic scholar of the classics, an observer of spheres beyond the norm, and a practicing witch. A native of Sheffield, England, Wedeck was chairman of the department of classical languages at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn from 1935 to 1950 and then taught the classics at Brooklyn College until 1968. Afterward, he lectured on medieval studies at the New School for Social Research until 1974. Some of his excursions into the unusual remain available in reprint editions. They include Dictionary of Astrology, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, A Treasury of Witchcraft, and The Triumph of Satan.

Book preview

THE COMPENDIUM OF EROTICA

Dictionary of Erotic Literature, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, and Love Potions Through the Ages

Harry Wedeck

Dictionary of Erotic Literature

Harry E. Wedeck

Introduction

The term erotic is here taken in its most comprehensive sense to include all normal and perverted sexual and amatory phenomena depicted in the field of literature.

Erotic thoughts, poetry, dramatic presentations, sculptural and pictorial designs, and literary productions of all types are essential concomitants of human nature. The emphasis placed on the erotic motif, however, is conditioned by the particular society. In ancient Greece, for instance, the primary concept that pervaded the polis was the generative force, the original and initial basis of cosmic existence. Festivals, dress, talk, statuary, religious rites and ceremonials were all dedicated, whether with intended consciousness or not, to the generative capacities. The human body was the criterion of the ideal, and the supreme deities, anthropomorphically materialized, symbolized this cosmic principle. Erotic themes and activities were thus taken in their stride pari passu with other functional organic operations.

The exultant glorification of procreative excitations and sexual functions, unrestrained, produced no sense of shame or offensiveness, no hint of aidos, because the generative concept was endemic, or rather pandemic, among the Greeks and not the exclusive preservation of a small ad hoc coterie, or vested in some supreme social or political body.

Erotic performances were not of course the sole human functions, but they were never branded as unique in themselves. In Aristophanes the gods are represented as performing functional acts not so much disrespectfully as anthropomor phically. And the spectators enjoyed these allusions to sexual and other functional matters not less, but not more, than their enjoyment of the multiple variations of the ordinary routine of living.

National and ethnic attitudes to erotic themes, in their respective ways, mirror the life of a particular age, not as the deliberate and ad hoc commercialized productions of current times do, but as the sifted, literate but still widely representative picture of human mores in a set framework.

This book, then, aims to present such various views, such ethnic criteria, by means of illustrative material drawn from sources disparate in time and circumstances, and ranging from early ages, in various geographical settings, down to modern days.

The erotic literary genre is of such vastness in bulk and of such variety that a totally exhaustive compilation on this subject would be beyond the scope of one inclusive volume. The present edition, therefore, proposes to touch upon the main titles in the current of amatory productions, particularly on those items that, in the process of time and by established literary criteria, have become ‘classics’: and wherever it is feasible, to illustrate peculiarities and trends in presentation by excerpts from such writings.

H. E. W.

A

A Ballad of Love

By Frederick Prokosch. An amatory novel depicting varieties of love.

Abandon

A teenage delinquent tale in a Chicago and New York atmosphere. By B. Von Soda. Published by Olympia Press, Paris.

Abelard, Peter

The fourteenth century scholastic philosopher is generally known for his relations with Héloïse, the niece of Canon Fulbert of Paris. Abelard, who was in holy orders, was castrated, while Héloïse entered a nunnery. In 1817 their ashes were brought to Paris and laid to rest in the Pére Lachaise Cemetery.

The amatory correspondence between the two lovers is extant, and reveals their intimate passions and their spiritual regrets.

Abelites

A sect that lived in North Africa, in the diocese of Hippo, where Augustine was Bishop. The Abelites restricted themselves to one wife, with whom they had no relations after marriage. They derived their name from the Biblical Abel.

Abington, Fanny

A notorious eighteenth century inmate of a London bordello. She was also a professional actress. Despite her harlotries, she lived to the age of eighty four.

Abinhag

A Shunammite maid who was brought into clinical contiguity with King David in the hope that her person would induce ‘heat’ in the aged monarch.

The Biblical text appears in I Kings 1-4:

Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin; and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her be in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat …

And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him; but the king knew her not.

A medieval woodcut depicts the exhausted monarch in bed, while beside him stand Abinhag and attendants.

Abstemius, Laurentius

A sixteenth century humanist and poet. Author of Hecatomythium sive Centum Fabulae. Published in Venice, in 1495. Contain erotic themes.

Abu Temman

Arab poet of the ninth century. Author of erotic poetry.

Académie De Ces Dames Et De Ces Messieurs

An academy, founded in 1739, that was dedicated to the composition of erotic literature. Among the members was a certain Comtesse Verrue, known as La Dame de Volupté. The Academy came to an end in 1776.

Académie Des Pays-Bas: OU L’Ecole Des Voluptueux

A collection of lewd poems published in 1709.

A Caution Against Future Subscriptions For Prostitutes and Their Associates

With many Notes containing patriotic sentiments well sworthy of perusal by every true Briton. A pamphlet of 64 pages. Published in 1809.

Acerri, Antonio D’

Author of a lewd novel entitled King of the Earth. Published in Rome, in 1908.

Adam and Eve

An erotic novel, involving nymphomaniacs and perverted actresses. By Marcus Van Heller. Published by the Olympia Press, Paris.

Adamites

Members of a Gnostic cult that flourished in the second century A.D. Among other activities, the Adamites cultivated the primal Biblical nudity.

Address to a Mistress

A poem by the Greek poet Anacreon (c. 500 B.C.):

Because, forsooth, you’re young and fair,

And fresher than the rose appear,

Gray hairs you treat with scornful eye

And leave me most unmannerly

Sweetheart, these ashes do contain

Embers that strive to flame again.

And Etna that on top has snow

Feels warmth and constant fire below.

With roses white-haired lilies twine

And in a glowing garland shine;

They, locked in close embraces, lie

And kiss and hug most decently.

Adeline, OU La Belle Strasbourgeoise, Sa Vie Privée Et L’Histoire De Ses Aventures Galantes

An erotic novel published in France in 1797.

Adelphus Muling, Johannes

Sixteenth century author of Margarita Facetiarum, in which the author attacks the lusts and morals of the clerics.

Admissarius

In vulgar Latin, a stallion. In ancient Rome, the guide to the lupanaria or public brothels.

Adonis

Shakespeare’s poem, Venus and Adonis, is both luscious in subject and tragic. The theme is erotic in a classical, mythological background: the content is pervaded by amorous intensity. Some of the more dominant episodes and depictions are: the arrest of Adonis by Venus, Mars’ captivity, a self-portrait of Venus, the solitary night, Adonis’ flight from Love to Death. The onset of passion is thus described:

Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty—

Leading him prisoner in a red-rose chain—

Love is a spirit all compact of fire—

He sees her coming and begins to glow

Even as a dying coal revives with wind—

Her two blue windows faintly she upheaveth—

Was melted like a vapor from her sight—

Adriaensen, Cornelius

A sixteenth century Dutchman, founder of a Disciplina Gynopygica, that attracted women and girls who underwent flagellation to sate the director’s perverted lusts.

Adulterous Aides

Maidservants and chambermaids and nurses were traditionally, in ancient times, the go-betweens in adulterous machinations. They looked after the receipt of love notes, presents, fruits, especially apples. They produced ladders to help the amorous intruder.

Such situations are described in the Greek sketches of Alciphron and Lucian: later on, among the Romans, in the plays of the comic writer Plautus and in the arch poet of love, Publius Ovidius Naso.

Adulterous Wives

A description of the lewdness of Roman matrons in the days of the Roman satirist Decimus Junius Juvenalis (55-135 A.D.):

’Tis night; yet hope no slumbers with your wife;

The nuptial bed is still the scene of strife:

There lives the keen debate, the clamorous brawl,

And quiet never comes, that comes at all.

Fierce as a tigress plundered of her young,

Rage fires her breast, and loosens all her tongue,

When, conscious of her guilt, she feigns to groan,

And chides your loose amours, to hide her own;

Storms at the scandal of your baser flames,

And weeps her injuries from imagined names,

With tears that, marshalled, at their station stand,

And flow impassioned, as she gives command.

You think those showers her true affection prove,

And deem yourself—so happy in her love!

With fond caresses strive her heart to cheer,

And from her eyelids suck the starting tear:

—But could you now examine the scrutore

Of this most loving, this most jealous whore,

What amorous lays, what letters would you see,

Proofs, damning proofs, of her sincerity!

But these are doubtful—Put a clearer case:

Suppose her taken in a loose embrace,

A slave’s or knight’s. Now, my Quintilian, come,

And fashion an excuse. What! you are dumb?

Then, let the lady speak. "Was’t not agreed

The man might please himself?" It was; proceed.

Then, so may I—O, Jupiter! "No oath;

Man is a general term, and takes in both."

When once surprised, the sex all shame forego;

And more audacious, as more guilty, grow.

Adventatores Meretricum

A Latin expression signifying the customers of the harlots, in the Roman lupanaria.

Advice On Marriage

To Chuse a Friend, but Never Marry is a cynical poem offering circumspect counsel in Ovidian style. The putative author is the poet and rake John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1648-1680). From Songs Compleat, Pleasant and Divertive. Written by Mr. D’Urfey. 5 volumes. London, 1719.

There follow a few typical stanzas:

To all young Men that love to Wooe,

To Kiss and Dance, and Tumble too;

Draw near and Counsel take of me,

Your faithful pilot I will be:

Kiss who you please, Joan, Kate, or Mary,

But still this counsel with you carry,

Never marry.

Court not a Country Lady, she

Knows not how to value thee;

She hath no am’rous Passion, but

What Tray, or Quando has for Slut:

To Lick, to Whine, to Frisk, or Cover,

She’ll suffer thee, or any other,

Thus to love her.

With greasy painted Faces drest,

With butter’d Hair, and fucus’d Breast;

Tongues with Dissimulation tipt,

Lips which a million have them sipp’d:

There’s nothing got by such as these,

But Achs in Shoulders, Pains in Knees

For your Fees.

In fine if thou delight’st to be,

Concern’d in Woman’s Company:

Make it the Studies of thy Life,

To find a Rich, young, handsome Wife:

That can with much discretion be Dear to her husband, kind to thee,

Secretly.

In such a Mistress, there’s the Bliss,

Ten Thousand joys wrapt in a Kiss;

And in th’ Embraces of her Wast,

A Million more of Pleasures taste:

Who e’er would marry that could be Blessed with such Opportunity,

Never me.

Advice To Lovers

Ovid, the Roman poet, in his Art of Love, expounds the techniques of amatory approaches:

Before your youth with marriage is opprest,

Make choice of one who suits your humor best;

And such a damsel drops not from the sky;

She must be sought for with a curious eye.

The wary angler, in the winding brook,

Knows what the fish, and where to bait his hook.

The fowler and the huntsman know by name

The certain haunts and harbor of their game.

So must the lover beat the likeliest grounds;

Th’assemblies where his quarry most abounds.

Nor shall my novice wander far astray;

These rules shall put him in the ready way.

Thou shalt not sail around the continent,

As far as Perseus, or as Paris went;

For Rome alone affords thee such a store,

As all the world can hardly shew thee more.

The face of heav’n with fewer stars is crown’d,

Than beauties in the Roman sphere are found.

Whether thy love is bent on blooming youth,

On dawning sweetness, in unartful truth;

Or courts the juicy joys of riper growth;

Here mayst thou find thy full desires in both.

Or if autumnal beauties please thy sight

(An age that knows to give, and take delight;)

Millions of matrons of the graver sort,

In common prudence, will not balk the sport.

Advice to the Ladies of London in the Choice of Their Husbands

A poem in which cynical advice, on the style of Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, is proferred to prospective wives. From the Roxburghe Ballads, a collection preserved in the British Museum:

Ladies of London, both wealthy and fair,

Whom every Town Fop is pursuing,

Still of your Persons and Purses take care

The greatest deceit lies in wooing.

From the first rank of the bonny brisk sparks,

Their Vices I here will discover,

Down to the basest mechanick Degree,

That so you may chuse out your Lover.

First for the Courtier, look to his Estate,

Before he too far be proceeding;

He of Court Favours and Places will prate,

And settlements make of his breeding;

Nor wear the yoak with dull Country Clown,

Who, though they are fat in their Purses,

Brush you with Brissles and, toping full Fowl,

Make Love to their Dogs and their Horses.

Nor is the Citizen acceptable: nor the Blockhead, nor the Clown, nor the spruce Officer, nor the Lawyer.

Fly, like the Plague, the huffing brave Boys,

That Court you with lying Bravadoes,

Tyring your senses with Bombast and Noise,

And Stories brought from the Barbadoes.

And be sure ever shun the Doctor, that Fool,

Who seeking to mend your Condition,

Tickles your Pulse, and peeps in your Close-stool,

Then sets up for a famous Physitian.

Chuse not a Spark that has known the town,

Who makes it his Practice to Bully;

You’d better take up with a country clown,

He’l make an officious cully.

You with a word may his Passion appease

And make him a Cuckold at leasure,

Give him but money to live at his ease,

You may follow Intregues at your Pleasure.

Neither admire much a man that is wise

If e’re you intend to deceive him,

He cunning plots and intreagues will devise

And trap you, e’re you shall perceive him;

Therefore beware that he never disclose

Your tricks, if he do’s he will slight you;

He’l keep a gay mistress under your nose

If it be but on purpose to spight you.

But if you’d thrive, and grow wealthy apace,

Then marry a doting old sinner;

What if you view there Old Time in his face,

You will by that bargain be winner.

You may have lusty Gallants good store,

If you can produce but th’ Guinea,

And those young coxcombs your face will adore

If this don’t please, old Nick is in you.

Aelianus, Claudius

Greek historian of the third century A.D. Author of The Nature of Animals and Varia Historia, containing erotic tales.

Aeolus

A tragic drama by the Greek tragic poet Euripides (c. 485-c. 406 B.C.), in which the theme was the incestuous love of Canace for her brother Macareus.

Euripides was the first Greek dramatist to present theatrically the incestuous motif.

Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.)

Greek tragic poet. In a fragment of the Laius, there is the story of King Laius and his passion for the boy Chrysippus. In the Myrmidons, the homosexual love of Achilles and Patroclus forms the motif.

Affair With Fotis

An episode in the remarkable picaresque novel entitled The Golden Ass, written by Lucius Apuleius (c. 123 A.D.-date of death uncertain). Lucius, the hero of the tale, is turned into an ass. Here he has an encounter with the maid Fotis:

Thus when I had well replenished my self with wine, and was now ready unto Venery not onely in minde but also in body, I removed my cloathes, and shewing to Fotis my great impatiencie I sayd, O my sweet heart take pitty upon me and helpe me, for as you see I am now prepared unto the battell, which you your selfe did appoint: for after that I felt the first Arrow of cruell Cupid within my breast, I bent my bow very strong, and now feare (because it is bended so hard) lest my string should breake: but that thou mayst the better please me, undresse thy haire and come and embrace mee lovingly: whereupon she made no long delay, but set aside all the meat and wine, and then she unapparelled her selfe, and unattyred her haire, presenting her amiable body unto me in the manner of faire Venus, when she goeth under the waves of the sea. Now (quoth shee) is come the houre of justing, now is come the time of warre, wherefore shew thy selfe like unto a man, for I will not retyre, I will not fly the field, see then thou bee valiant, see thou be couragious, since there is no time appointed when our skirmish shall cease. In saying these words she came to me to bed, and embraced me sweetly, and so wee passed all the night in pastime and pleasure, and never slept until it was day: but wee would eftsoones refresh our wearinesse, and provoke our pleasure, and renew our venery by drinking of wine. In which sort we pleasantly passed away many other nights following.

Agathias of Myrina (sixth century A.D.)

Greek author of a collection of epigrams, many of them love poems.

Aggressive Counsel

The passage, virtually Advice to the Love-Sick, that follows, is taken from The Art of Love, the erotic vademecum written by the Roman poet Ovid for his sophisticated contemporaries:

T’enjoy the maid, will that thy suit advance?

’Tis a hard question, and a doubtful chance.

One maid, corrupted, bawds the better for’t;

Another for herself wou’d keep the sport.

Thy bus’ness may be further’d or delay’d:

But by my counsel, let alone the maid:

Ev’n tho’ she shou’d consent to do the feat,

The profit’s little, and the danger great.

I will not lead thee through a rugged road;

But where the way lies open, safe, and broad.

Yet if thou find’st her very much thy friend,

And her good face her diligence commend:

Let the fair mistress have thy first embrace,

And let the maid come after in her place.

But this I will advise, and mark my words,

For’tis the best advice my skill affords:

If needs thou with the damsel wilt begin;

Before th’ attempt is made, make sure to win:

For then the secret better will be kept;

And she can tell no tales when once she’s dipt.

’Tis for the fowler’s interest to beware,

The bird intangled shou’d not scape the snare.

The fish, once prick’d, avoids the bearded hook,

And spoils the sport of all the neighb’ring brook.

But if the wench be thine, she makes thy way;

And, for thy sake, her mistress will betray;

Tell all she knows, and all she hears her say.

Keep well the counsel of thy faithful spy:

So shalt thou learn whene’er she treads awry.

Aglae, An Idyll

An erotic fairy story, by Pallas. Published by the Erotika Biblion Society of London. Privately printed, n.d.

Agoranomoi

In ancient Athens, overseers of the market, the cleanliness of the streets, the bordellos and public prostitution.

Akhataymita

An erotic fertility festival in ancient Peru, characterized by great sexual and orgiastic displays.

Alciphron (second century A.D.)

A Greek philosopher. In imitation of the satirist Lucian, he produced a series of letters descriptive of the daily life of his time. One letter, by Glaucippe, contains a sketch of a girl in love. She will commit suicide, she threatens, unless she marries the young soldier who caught her eye. Her mother Charope, however, admonishes her and advises her not to be insane or to flout decency.

In another piece, there is an altercation between Gemellos, scorned, and the slave-girl Salakonis.

Again, Crito is told by Philumena that, if he is so much in love with her, he should pay his way.

Parope rebukes her husband Euthybolos for wandering off, leaving his wife and two children, Galene and Thalassion, for the sake of ‘that foreign woman.’ If he won’t mend his ways, she will be off to her father’s house.

A farm lad becomes enamoured of a slave-girl, marries her, and brings her home, to the chagrin and rage of his mother.

A diner-out tells the story of a husband’s cuckoldry and his wife’s solemn oath that the story about her is untrue. Trusting his wife’s plea, the husband abandons his jealousy.

In another letter, a picnic is described, in which the pampered young Athenian, Pamphilos, brings along a bevy of girls—Erato, Krumation, and Euepis—for his entertainment.

A mistress writes to her former lover, mentioning that she has seen his new wife, and describing her in bitter terms.

Fascinated by the glamor of town life, a wife leaves her farm, her husband, and the children.

Alera, Don Brennus

A pseudonym of the author of Memoirs of a Flagellant: published at the beginning of this century.

Alexander The Great (356-323 B.C.)

Alexander was one among many notable personalities, from the time of the Roman Emperors down to Hans Christian Andersen, who practiced homosexuality.

In Alexander’s case, his Patroklus or Giton was his friend Hephaestion.

Alexis

Greek comic poet who flourished in the third century B.C. Author of over two hundred comedies, many of them of an amatory nature, as: Pamphile, Epikleros, Orchestris, Leukadia.

Alicariae

A class of Roman prostitutes, who frequented the vicinity of the spelt mills. In ancient Rome, prostitutes were classified by a descriptive name according to their particular idiosyncrasies, their stand, and their fee.

Ali-Czeh

A miscellany. A twentieth century collection of erotic poems with illustrations appropriate to the themes.

Allart De Meritens, Hortense (1801-1879)

A pioneer in Free Love both in theory and application. She is the author of a roman à clef entitled Les Enchantements de Prudence.

Alluring Dress

The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca, who was tutor to the Emperor Nero, comments sharply on women’s fondness for certain fashions in clothing:

I see silken clothes, if they can be called clothes, with which the body or only the private parts could be covered. Dressed in them, a woman can hardly swear with a clear conscience that she is not naked. These clothes are imported at considerable expense from very distant countries merely that our women may have no more to show their lovers in the bedroom than in the street.

Almanacs

In the eighteenth century a spate of such compilations appeared in Paris and elsewhere. They were virtually classified directories, listing the members of the demi-monde, their personal characteristics, age, talents, prices, together with relevant anecdotes and comments.

Althing, Chr. Aug. Fischer

Nineteenth century author of erotic tales.

Amatory Approach

The Roman poet Ovid, in his erotic and poetic guide to seduction, The Art of Love, gives detailed advice to the prospective philanderer:

First gain the maid; by her thou shalt be sure

A free access, and easy to procure:

Who knows what to her office does belong,

Is in the secret, and can hold her tongue.

Bribe her with gifts, with promises, and pray’rs;

For her good word goes far in love affairs.

The time and fit occasion leave to her,

When she most aptly can thy suit prefer.

The time for maids to fire their lady’s blood,

Is, when they find her in a merry mood.

When all things at her wish and pleasure move:

Her heart is open then, and free to love.

Then mirth and wantonness to lust betray,

And smooth the passage to the lover’s way.

Troy stood the siege, when fill’d with anxious care;

One merry fit concluded all the war.

Amatory Mores

The Greek biographer Plutarch (second century A.D.) frequently expounds, in the course of his philosophical disquisitions, on marriage problems. In Book 13 of the Banquet of the Philosophers, by the second century A.D. Greek encyclopedist Athenaeus, there is likewise a discussion on marriage customs.

Amatory Stratagem

This tale, the eighth story told on the seventh day, belongs in the collection of erotic experiences entitled The Decameron. It exposes the wily plan of a jealous husband who discovers his wife’s adventurous ingenuity. The author of The Decameron is the Italian poet, classical scholar, and humanist Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1376):

You must know, then, that there was once in our city a very rich merchant called Arriguccio Berlinghieri, who, foolishly thinking, as merchants yet do every day, to ennoble himself by marriage, took to wife a young gentlewoman ill sorting with himself, by name Madam Sismonda, who, for that he, merchant-like, was much abroad and sojourned little with her, fell in love with a young man called Ruberto, who had long courted, her, and clapped up a lover’s privacy with him. Using belike over-little discretion in her dealings with her lover, for that they were supremely delightsome to her, it chanced that, whether Arriguccio scented aught of the matter or how else soever it happened, the latter became the most jealous man alive and leaving be his going about and all his other concerns, applied himself well nigh altogether to the keeping good watch over his wife; nor would he ever fall asleep, except he first felt her come into the bed; by reason whereof the lady suffered the utmost chagrin, for that on no wise might she avail to be with her Ruberto.

However, after pondering many devices for finding a means to foregather with him and being to boot continually solicited thereof by him, it presently occurred to her to do on this wise; to wit, having many a time observed that Arriguccio tarried long to fall asleep, but after slept very soundly, she determined to cause Ruberto come about midnight to the door of the house and to go open to him and abide with him what while her husband slept fast. And that she might know when he should be come, she bethought herself to hang a twine out of the window of her bedchamber, which looked upon the street, on such wise that none might perceive it, one end whereof should well nigh reach the ground, whilst she carried the other end along the floor of the room to the bed and hid it under the clothes, meaning to make it fast to her great toe, whenas she should be abed. Accordingly, she sent to acquaint Ruberto with this and charged him, when he came, to pull the twine, whereupon, if her husband slept, she would let it go and come to open to him; but, if he slept not, she would hold it fast and draw it to herself, so he should not wait. The device pleased Ruberto and going thither frequently, he was whiles able to foregather with her and whiles not.

On this wise they continued to do till, one night, the lady being asleep, it chanced that her husband stretched out his foot in bed and felt the twine, whereupon he put his hand to it and finding it made fast to his wife’s toe, said to himself, ‘This should be some trick’; and presently perceiving that the twine led out of window, he held it for certain. Accordingly, he cut it softly from the lady’s toe, abode on the watch to see what this might mean. He had not waited long before up came Ruberto and pulled at the twine, as of his wont; whereupon Arriguccio started up; but, he not having made the twine well fast to his toe and Ruberto pulling hard, it came loose in the latter’s hand, whereby he understood that he was to wait and did so. As for Arriguccio, he arose in haste and taking his arms, ran to the door, to see who this might be and do him a mischief, for, albeit a merchant, he was a stout fellow and a strong. When he came to the door, he opened it not softly as the lady was used to do, which when Ruberto, who was await, observed, he guessed how the case stood, to wit, that it was Arriguccio who opened the door, and accordingly made off in haste and the other after him. At last, having fled a great way and Arriguccio stinting not from following him, Ruberto, being also armed, drew his sword and turned upon his pursuer, wherepon they fell to blows, the one attacking and the other defending himself.

Meanwhile, the lady, awaking, as Arriguccio opened the chamber-door, and finding the twine cut from her toe, knew incontinent that her device was discovered, whereupon, perceiving that her husband had run after her lover, she arose in haste and foreseeing what might happen, called her maid, who knew all, and conjured her to such purpose that she prevailed with her to take her own place in the bed, beseeching her patiently to endure, without discovering herself, whatsover buffets Arriguccio might deal her, for that she would requite her therefor on such wise that she should have no cause to complain; after which she did out the light that burnt in the chamber and going forth thereof, hid herself in another part of the house and there began to await what should betide.

Meanwhile, the people of the quarter, aroused by the noise of the affray between Arriguccio and Ruberto, arose and fell a-railing at them; whereupon the husband, fearing to be known, let the youth go, without having availed to learn who he was or to do him any hurt, and returned to his house, full of rage and despite. There, coming into the chamber, he cried out angrily, saying, Where art thou, vile woman? Thou hast done out the light, so I may not find thee; but thou art mistaken. Then, coming to the bedside, he seized upon the maid, thinking to take his wife, and laid on to her so lustily with cuffs and kicks, as long as he could wag his hands and feet, that he bruised all her face, ending by cutting off her hair, still giving her the while the hardest words that were ever said to worthless woman. The maid wept sore, as indeed she had good cause to do, and albeit she said whiles, Alas, mercy, for God’s sake! and Oh, no more! her voice was so broken with sobs and Arriguccio was so hindered with his rage that he never discerned it to be that of another woman than his wife.

Having, then, as we have said, beaten her to good purpose and cut off her hair, he said to her, Wicked woman that thou art, I mean not to touch thee otherwise, but shall now go fetch thy brothers and acquaint them with thy fine doings and after bid them come for thee and deal with thee as they shall deem may do them honour and carry thee away; for assuredly in this house thou shalt abide no longer. So saying, he departed the chamber and locking the door from without, went away all alone. As soon as Madam Sismonda, who had heard all, was certified of her husband’s departure, she opened the door and rekindling the light, found her maid all bruised and weeping sore; whereupon she comforted her as best she might and carried her back to her own chamber, where she after caused privily tend her and care for her and so rewarded her of Arriguccio’s own monies that she avouched herself content. No sooner had she done this than she hastened to make the bed in her own chamber and all reestablished it and set it in such order as if none had lain there that night; after which she dressed and tired herself, as if she had not yet gone to bed; then, lighting a lamp, she took her clothes and seated herself at the stairhead, where she proceeded to sew and await the issue of the affair.

Meanwhile Arriguccio betook himself in all haste to the house of his wife’s brothers and there knocked so long and so loudly that he was heard and it was opened to him. The lady’s three brothers and her mother, hearing that it was Arriguccio, rose all and letting kindle lights, came to him and asked what he went seeking at that hour and alone. Whereupon, beginning from the twine he had found tied to his wife’s toe, he counted to them all that he had discovered and done, and to give them entire proof of the truth of his story, he put into their hands the hair he thought to have cut off from his wife’s head, ending by requiring them to come for her and do with her that which they should judge pertinent to their honour, for that he meant to keep her no longer in his house. The lady’s brothers, hearing this and holding it for certain, were sore incensed against her and letting kindle torches, set out to accompany Arriguccio to his house, meaning to do her a mischief; which their mother seeing, she followed after them, weeping and entreating now the one, now the other not to be in such haste to believe these things of their sister, without seeing or knowing more of the matter, for that her husband might have been angered with her for some other cause and have maltreated her and might now allege this in his own excuse, adding that she marvelled exceedingly how this could have happened, for that she knew her daughter well, as having reared her from a little child, with many other words to the like purpose.

When they came to Arriguccio’s house, they entered and proceeded to mount the stair, whereupon Madam Sismonda, hearing them come, said, ‘Who is there?’ To which one of her brothers answered, ‘Thou shalt soon know who it is, vile woman that thou art!’ ‘God aid us!’ cried she. ‘What meaneth this?’ Then, rising to her feet, ‘Brothers mine,’ quoth she, ‘you are welcome; but what go you all three seeking at this hour?’ The brothers,—seeing her seated sewing, with no sign of beating on her face, whereas Arriguccio avouched that he had beaten her to a mummy—began to marvel and curbing the violence of their anger, demanded of her how that had been whereof Arriguccio accused her, threatening her sore, and she told them not all. Quoth she, ‘I know not what you would have me say nor of what Arriguccio can have complained to you of me.’ Arriguccio, seeing her thus, eyed her as if he had lost his wits, remembering that he had dealt her belike a thousand buffets on the face and scratched her and done her all the ill in the world, and now he beheld her as if nothing of all this had been.

Her brothers told her briefly what they had heard from Arriguccio, twine and beating and all, whereupon she turned to him and said, ‘Alack, husband mine, what is this I hear? Why wilt thou make me pass, to thine own great shame, for an ill woman, where as I am none, and thyself for a cruel and wicked man, which thou art not? When wast thou in this house to-night till now, let alone with me? When didst thou beat me? For my part, I have no remembrance of it.’ ‘How, vile woman that thou art!’ cried he. ‘Did we not go to bed together here? Did I not return hither, after running after thy lover? Did I not deal thee a thousand buffets and cut off thy hair?’ ‘Thou wentest not to bed in this house to-night,’ replied Sismonda. ‘But let that pass, for I can give no proof thereof other than mine own true words, and let us come to that which thou sayest, to wit, that thou didst beat me and cut off my hair. Me thou hast never beaten, and do all who are here and thou thyself take note of me, if I have any mark of beating in any part of my person. Indeed, I should not counsel thee make so bold as to lay a hand on me, for, by Christ His Cross, I would mar thy face for thee! Neither didst thou cut off my hair, for aught that I felt or saw; but haply thou didst it on such wise that I perceived it not; let me see if I have it shorn or no.’ Then, putting off her veil from her head, she showed that she had her hair unshorn and whole.

Her mother and brothers, seeing and hearing all this, turned upon her husband and said to him, ‘What meanest thou, Arriguccio? This is not that so far which thou camest to tell us thou hadst done, and we know not how thou wilt make good the rest.’ Arriguccio stood as one in a trance and would have spoken; but, seeing that it was not as he thought he could show, he dared say nothing; whereupon the lady, turning to her brothers, said to them, ‘Brothers mine, I see he hath gone seeking to have me to do what I have never yet chosen to do, to wit, that I should acquaint you with his lewdness and his vile fashions, and I will do it. I firmly believe that this he hath told you hath verily befallen him and that he hath done as he saith; and you shall hear how. This worthy man, to whom in an ill hour for me you gave me to wife, who calleth himself a merchant and would be thought a man of credit, this fellow, forsooth, who should be more temperate than a monk and chaster than a maid, there be few nights but he goeth fuddling himself about the taverns, foregathering now with this lewd woman and now with that and keeping me waiting for him, on such wise as you find me, half the night and whiles even till morning. I doubt not but that, having well drunken, he went to bed with some trull of his and waking, found the twine on her foot and after did all these his fine feats whereof he telleth, winding up by returning to her and beating her and cutting off her hair; and not yet being well come to himself, he fancied (and I doubt not yet fancieth) that he did all this to me; and if you look him well in the face, you will see he is yet half fuddled. Algates, whatsoever he may have said of me, I will not have you take it to yourselves except as a drunken man’s talk, and since I forgive him, do you also pardon him.’

Her mother, hearing this, began to make an outcry and say, ‘By Christ His Cross, daughter mine, it shall not pass thus! Nay, he should rather be slain for a thankless, ill-conditioned dog, who was never worthy to have a girl of thy fashion to wife. Marry, a fine thing, forsooth! He could have used thee no worse, had he picked thee up out of the dirt! Devil take him if thou shalt abide at the mercy of the spite of a paltry little merchant of asses’ dung! They come to us out of their pigstyes in the country, clad in home-spun frieze, with their bag-breeches and pen in arse, and as soon as they have gotten a leash of groats, they must e’en have the daughters of gentlemen and right ladies to wife and bear arms and say, I am of such a family and Those of my house did thus and thus. Would God my sons had followed my counsel in the matter, for that they might have stablished thee so worshipfully in the family of the Counts Guidi, with a crust of bread to thy dowry! But they must needs give thee to this fine jewel of a fellow, who, whereas thou art the best girl in Florence and the modestest, is not ashamed to knock us up in the middle of the night, to tell us that thou art a strumpet, as if we knew thee not. But, by God His faith, an they would be ruled by me, he should get such a trouncing therefor that he should stink for it!’ Then, turning to the lady’s brothers, ‘My sons,’ said she, ‘I told you this could not be. Have you heard how your fine brother-in-law here entreateth your sister? Four-farthing huckster that he is! Were I in your shoes, he having said what he hath of her and doing that which he doth, I would never hold myself content nor appeased till I had rid the earth of him; and were I a man, as I am a woman, I would trouble none other than myself to despatch his business. Confound him for a sorry drunken beast, that hath no shame!’

The young men, seeing and hearing all this, turned upon Arriguccio and gave him the soundest rating ever losel got; and ultimately they said to him, ‘We pardon thee this as to a drunken man; but, as thou tenderest thy life, look henceforward we hear no more news of this kind, for, if aught of the like come ever again to our ears, we will pay thee at once for this and for that.’ So saying, they went their ways, leaving Arriguccio all aghast, as it were he had taken leave of his wits, unknowing in himself whether that which he had done had really been or whether he had dreamed it; wherefore he made no more words thereof but left his wife in peace. Thus the lady, by her ready wit, not only escaped the imminent peril but opened herself a way to do her every pleasure in time to come, without evermore having any fear of her husband.

Amatory Throes

Titus Lucretius Carus (99-55 B.C.) was a Roman poet, author of a vast poem, De Rerum Natura, Nature, in which he postulated the atomic theory of the universe—a theory he derived from the Greek philosopher Epicurus. In the course of his exposition, he deals with physical sensation, particularly the erotic sense. The passage that follows elaborates on this theme:

Yet not for ever do the softer sex

Feign joys they feel not, as with close embrace,

Breast join’d to breast, their paramours they clasp,

And print their humid kisses on their lips.

Oft from their hearts engage they, urg’d amain

By mutual hopes to run the race of love.

Thus nature prompts; by mutual hopes alone,

By bliss assur’d, birds, beasts, and grazing herds,

The task essay; nor would the female else

E’er bear the burden of the vigorous male,

By mutual joys propell’d. Hast thou not seen,

Hence tempted, how in mutual bonds they strive

Work’d oft to madness? how the race canine

Stain with their vagrant loves the public streets,

Diversely dragging, and the chain obscene

Tugging to loose, while yet each effort fails?

Toils they would ne’er essay if unassur’d

Of mutual bliss, and cheated to the yoke.

Whence o’er and o’er the bliss must mutual prove.

Amatory Wiles

A description of female ways appears in the Roman poet Ovid’s The Art of Love:

Here I had ended, but experience finds,

That sundry women are of sundry minds;

With various crochets fill’d, and hard to please;

They therefore must be caught by various ways.

All things are not produc’d in any soil;

This ground for wine is proper, that for oil.

Erotic scene from a wall painting in Pompeii. (National Museum, Naples)

Eros and Psyche. Wall painting, from Pompeii. (National Museum, Naples)

So’tis in men, but more in women-kind:

Diff’rent in face, in manners, and in mind:

But wise men shift their sails with ev’ry wind:

As changeful Proteus varied oft his shape,

And did in sundry forms and figures’scape;

A running stream, a standing tree became,

A roaring lion, or a bleating lamb.

Some fish with harpons, some with darts are strook,

Some drawn with nets, some hang upon the hook:

So turn thyself; and, imitating them,

Try sev’ral tricks, and change thy stratagem.

One rule will not for diff’rent ages hold;

The jades grow cunning, as they grow more old.

Then talk not bawdy to the bashful maid;

Big words will make her innocence afraid.

Nor to an ign’rant girl of learning speak;

She thinks you conjure, when you talk in Greek,

And hence’tis often seen, the simple shun

The Learn’d, and into vile embraces run.

Ambiguous Devotions

Androgynous saints are not unique. In Spain, St. Liberata was represented as a bearded female to whom married women made their appeals. In England, the corresponding androgynous saint was St. Uncumber, while in France she was known as St. Debarras.

Amélie, Ou Les Ecarts De Ma Jeunesse

An erotic novel published in Paris, in 1798.

Amorous Advance

In Memoirs of a Lady of Pleasure, the eighteenth century erotic novel by John Cleland, Fanny Hill describes an encounter with an aged, repulsive satyr:

We were now alone; and on that idea a sudden fit of trembling seiz’d me. I was so afraid, without a precise notion of why, and what I had to fear, that I sat on the settee by the fire-side, motionless, and petrified, without life or spirit, not knowing how to look or how to stir.

But long I was not suffered to remain in this state of stupefaction: the monster squatted down by me on the settee, and without further ceremony or preamble flings his arms about my neck, and drawing me pretty forcibly towards him, oblig’d me to receive, in spite of my struggles to disengage from him, his pestilential kisses, which quite overcame me. Finding me then next to senseless, and unresisting, he tears off my neck handkerchief, and laid all open there to his eyes and hands: still I endur’d all without flinching, till embolden’d by my sufferance and silence, for I had not the power to speak or cry out, he attempted to lay me down on the settee, and I felt his hand on the lower part of my naked thighs, which were cross’d, and which he endeavored to unlock … Oh, then! I was roused out of my passive endurance, and springing from him with an activity he was not prepar’d for, threw myself at his feet, and begg’d him, in the most moving tone, not to be rude, and that he would not hurt me:—Hurt you, my dear? says the brute; I intend you no harm … has not the old lady told you that I love you? … that I shall do handsomely by you? She has indeed, sir, said I; but I cannot love you, indeed I cannot! … pray let me alone … yes! I will love you dearly if you will let me alone, and go away … But I was talking to the wind; for whether my tears, my attitude, or the disorder of my dress prov’d fresh incentives, or whether he was now under the dominion of desires he could not bridle, but snorting and foaming with lust and rage, he renews his attack, seizes me, and again attempts to extend and fix me on the settee.

Amorous Challenge

The following lines were composed by Elias Ashmole, an English alchemist who flourished in the seventeenth century:

I asked philosophy how I should

Have of her the thing I would;

She answered me when I was able

To make the water malleable;

Or else the way if I could find

To measure out a yard of wind,

Then shalt thou have thine own desire,

When thou can’st weigh an ounce of fire,

Unless that thou can’st do these three,

Content thyself, thou gets not me.

Amorous Embrace and Generation

Titus Lucretius Carus (99-55 B.C.), Roman poet, is the author of a majestic poem on the atomic theory of the universe, entitled De Rerum Natura, Nature. His circumstantial description of erotic transports, in Book 4, is remarkable for its detail and physiological perception:

If when the male his genital energy

Imparts, the female deep her breath retract

Transported most, the race produc’d will, then,

From female store prove female; if revers’d,

From store paternal, male. But when the form

Blends both its parents’ features, it ascends

From equal powers of each; the impulse warm

Rousing alike, through each conflicting frame,

The seeds of latent life in scale so nice

That neither conquers, nor to conquest yields.

Oft view we, too, the living lines portray’d

Of ancestors remote; for various seeds,

Commingled various, through the parent frame

Lurk, which from race to race preserve entire

The form, the features of the anterior stock.

Diversely such the power creative blends;

Whence oft the voice revives, the hair, the hue,

The full complexion of the race deceas’d;

For these as sure from seeds defin’d ascend

As e’en the face, the body, or the limbs.

Then, too, though male the fetus, female stores

Aid the production; while, if female form’d,

The tide paternal mixes in the make;

For both must join, or nought can e’er ensue.

But obvious this, that when the semblance more

Inclines to either, the prevailing sex

Chief lent the seeds of life, and rear’d complete

The virgin embryo, or incipient man.

Nor ever interfere the gods above

In scenes like these, the genital soil lock up,

Or curse with barren love the man unblest,

No lovely race who boasts to hail him sire,—

As deem the many, who, in sadness drown’d,

Oft offer victims, and, with fragrant gums,

Kindle the blazing altar, wearying heav’n

Vainly, to fill the void reluctant womb.

For blank sterility from seeds ascends

Too gross, or too attenuate; if the last,

Ne’er to the regions that generic spread

Cleave they, rejected instant as propell’d.

But if too gross the genital atoms, dull

Move they, and spiritless, or never urg’d

With force sufficient, or of power devoid

The puny ducts to pierce.

Amorous Epigram

This brief poem has been attributed to the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro, who flourished in the first century B.C.

She, of whom I have often told you, has come;

but, Tucca, one may not see her. She’s kept in

hiding, barred within her husband’s threshold. She,

of whom I have often told you, has not yet come

to me, for if she’s kept in hiding, what one

can’t touch is far away. Suppose she has come;

I have heard it. But now what good is that news to me? Tell

it to him, for whom she has come back.

Amorous Episode

The following scene appears in the picaresque Roman novel entitled The Satyricon. The author is Petronius Arbiter, a voluptuary attached to the court of the Roman Emperor Nero:

After this, the old woman presented me to Chrysis; who was very glad she had recover’d her mistress’s treasure; and therefore hastening to her, she conducted me to a most pleasant retreat, deckt with all that nature cou’d produce to please the sight.

Where lofty plains o’re-spread a summer shade,

And well-trimm’d pines their shaking tops display’d,

Where Daphne’midst the Cyprus crown’d her head.

Near these, a circling river gently flows,

And rolls the pebbles as it murmuring goes.

A place design’d for love, the nightingale

And other wing’d inhabitants can tell.

That on each bush salute the coming day,

And in their orgyes sing its hours away.

She was in an undress, reclining on a flowry bank, and diverting her self with a myrtle branch; as soon as I appear’d, she blusht, as mindful of her disappointment: Chrysis, very prudently withdrew, and when we were left together, I approacht the temptation; at what time, she skreen’d my face with the myrtle, and as if there had been a wall between us, bcoming more bold; what, my chill’d spark, began she, have you brought all your self to day?

Do you ask, madam, I return’d, rather than try? And throwing my self to her, that with open arms was eager to receive me, we kist a little age away; when giving the signal to prepare for other joys, she drew me to a more close imbrace; and now, our murmuring kisses their sweet fury tell; now, our twining limbs, try’d each fold of love; now, lockt in each others arms, our bodies and our souls are join’d; but even here, alas! even amidst these sweet beginnings, a sudden chilliness prest upon my joys, and made me leave’em not compleat.

Amorous Notices

In the Pompeian graffiti, lovers expressed their hopes, passions, laments. One such inscription has a romantic touch:

Here Romula and Staphylus met.

On another wall, however, feelings have changed:

Here Staphylus met Quieta.

A passionate lover scrawls:

When I write, love dictates and Cupid himself guides my hand.

A reflective and possibly sadly experienced lover philosophizes:

To try to separate lovers is to try to contain the wind in a goatskin or stop the cool ripple of running water.

There is anger, there is also disappointment in this violent tirade:

I could caress Venus’ ribs with a stick, and whip her nates with a switch. She pierced my heart, and I would cheerfully break her head with a cudgel.

More sinister is this:

Lucilia sells her body.

Or:

There’s no doubt about it: Romula, my mistress, has slept here with her lover.

Satiety: Serena has had enough of Isidore.

And, without dissembling;

You are too ugly.

Finally, all erotic emotion is summarized thus:

Love comes and goes: so what’s the difference?

Amorous Rendezvous

The following scene occurs in Miles Gloriosus, The Boastful Soldier, a comedy by the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 B.C.). Periplectomenus is an aged attendant who is guarding the girl Philocomasium. Philocomasium is having an assignation with her lover, the Boastful Soldier. Palaestrio, the Soldier’s slave, knows what is going on, and describes the girl’s character:

Periplectomenus: By heavens, if after this you don’t break the ankles of any stranger you see on the roof, I’ll whip your ribs. Imagine neighbors looking through the skylight to see what’s going on in my house! Now I’m speaking to all of you! Whomsoever you see from that soldier’s house on your roof, push him off down into the street—that is, everyone but Palaestrio. He may say he’s chasing a hen or a pigeon or a monkey. It’s all up with you if you don’t beat him to death. And what’s more, to prevent breaking the gambling law about dice, look out that there’s no knuckle-bones when they have a party.

Palaestrio: There’s been some mischief done by our household, as I understand: so this old man ordered my fellow-slaves to have their legs beaten. But he expected me. I don’t care a straw what he does with the others. I’ll accost the fellow.

Periplectomenus: Isn’t that man coming over here, Palaestrio?

Palaestrio: What is it, Periplectomenus?

Periplectomenus: If I had my wish, I’d prefer to see and meet no one at this moment rather than you.

Palaestrio: What is it? What’s all this row with our house?

Periplectomenus: We’re ruined.

Palaestrio: What’s the trouble?

Periplectomenus: The secret is out.

Palaestrio: What secret is out?

Periplectomenus: Somebody from your house just looked down from the roof through our skylight and saw Philocomasium and the guest kissing.

Palaestrio: Who saw it?

Periplectomenus: A fellow-slave of yours.

Palaestrio: Which one?

Periplectomenus: I don’t know. He disappeared so suddenly.

Palaestrio: I suspect that it’s all up with me.

Periplectomenus: When he dashed off, I shouted ‘Here, you, what are you up to?’ I says, ‘out there on the tiles?’ ‘I’m chasing a monkey,’ he answered, and then vanished.

Palaestrio: My bad luck, to be done for on account of such a worthless beast! But is Philocomasium still there?

Periplectomenus: She was here when I went out.

Palaestrio: Go, please, and tell her to come over here as fast as she can, so that all her acquaintances can see she is at home: unless indeed she wants all of us slaves to be given the torture of the cross all together, just on account of her love affair.

Periplectomenus: I’ve told her what you say. Anything else?

Palaestrio: Yes. Tell her this: she must assuredly not depart from the character of women and persist in following their techniques and training.

Periplectomenus: How?

Palaestrio: So that she can by her talk convince the man who saw her here that he didn’t see her. If she was seen a hundred times, she must still deny it.

She has cheek, she has a tongue, she is faithless, cunning and bold. She has assurance, determination, wiliness. If she is accused, she’ll swear and convince him to the contrary.

She’s possessed of a tricky mind, she’s deceitful and perjured. She has guile, she’s ruinous, she’s full of tricks. She’s never at the fruit stall asking for apples. She herself has a garden and malefic spices for every occasion.

An Account of a Young Woman’s Experiments in Debauchery

Illustrated. Published in London in the 1860’s.

An Amorous Dialogue Between John and His Mistress

Being a Compleat and True Relation of Some Merry Passages Between the Mistris and Her Apprentice, Who Pleased her so well, that she Rewarded him with Fifty Broadpieces for his Pains.

One of the items in the Roxburghe Ballads. The Mistress is perplexed in her amorous search, until she finds the willing Apprentice:

Here by this Dialogue you may discern

While old Cats nibble Cheese the young ones learn.

Come, John, sit thee down I have somewhat to say,

In my mind I have kept it this many a day,

Your Master you know is a Fool and a Sot,

And minds nothing else but the Pipe and the Pot.

Till twelve or till one he will never come home,

And then he’s so drunk that he lies like a Mome:

Such usage as this would make any one mad,

But a Woman will have it if’tis to be had.

’Tis true forsooth mistris, the case is but hard,

That a woman should be of her pleasure debar’d:

But’tis the sad fate of a thousand beside,

Or else the whole City is fouly beli’d:

There is not a man among twenty that strives,

Not ten in fifteen that lie with their Wives:

Yet still you had better be merry than sad,

And take it wherever it is to be had.

But, John,’tis a difficult matter to find,

A man that is trusty and constantly kind:

An Inns-of-Court Gallant he cringes and bows,

He’s presently known by his Oaths and his Vows,

And though both his cloaths and his speeches be gay,

Yet he loves you but only a night and away:

Such usage as this would make any one mad,

Yet a woman will have it, if’tis to be had.

What think you of one that belongs to the Court,

They say they are youthful, and given to sport:

He’l present you with bracelets, and jewels, and Rings,

With stones that are precious, and twenty fine things;

Or if you are not for the Court nor the Town,

What think you forsooth of a man with a Gown?