The Way of a Virgin/Adventures with Hedvige and Helene at Geneva
ADVENTURES WITH HEDVIGE AND HELENE AT GENEVA.[1]
Casanova makes the acquaintace of two charming cousins, Hedvige and Hèlene, at Geneva. After sundry meetings, at which theology and sexual matters are discussed in a frank and amusing fashion, Casanova gets the chance to take his two charmers for a stroll in the garden where they can be sure of immunity from interruption. Casanova's opportunity occurs as a result of Hedvige's desire to know why a deity could not impregnate a woman, a male acquaintance having said that he could not with propriety expound such mysteries to her. Casanova gladly agrees to make the matter clear, adding, however, that he must be allowed to speak quite plainly. The text continues:
"You speak clearly," quoth Hedvige, "for none can hear us; but I am forced to confess that I am cognisant of the formation of man only in theory and by lecture. True, I have seen statues, but I have never seen and still less have I examined real[2] man. And thou, Helène?"
"I have never desired so to do."
"Why not? 'Tis good to know all."
"Well, my charming Hedvige," said I, "thy theologian wished to tell thee that Jesus was not capable of erection."
"What is that?"
"Give me thy hand."
"I feel it and I can picture it; for, without this natural phenomenon, man could not impregnate his consort. And this foolish theologian pretendeth that it is an imperfection!"
"Yea, for this phenomenon springeth from desire, for 'tis very true that it would not have worked in me, sweet Hedvige, had I not found thee charming and had not what I had seen of thee given me the most seductive idea of the beauties I see not. Tell me frankly if, after feeling this rigidity of mine, thou dost not experience an ageeable sensation?"
"I confess it; 'tis precisely where thou pressest. Dost not feel as I, my dear Helène, an itching and a longing on listening to the very true discourse given to us by this gentleman?"
"Yea, I feel it, but I feel it very often, without any discourse exciting it."
"And then," quoth I, "Nature forceth thee to appease it thus?"
"Not at all."
"Oh, that it were so, Hedvige! Even in sleep one's hand strayeth there by instinct; and, lacking this easement, I have read that we should suffer terrible maladies."
And whilst we continued this philosophical converse, which the youthful theologian sustained with an authoritative tone, and which brought a look of voluptuousness to the lovely complexion of her cousin, we came to the edge of a fine pool where one descended by a marble staircase to bathe. Although it was chilly, our heads were warm, and it came to me to propose to the maidens that they put their feet in the water, assuring them that it would do them good and, if they permitted me, that I would count it an honour to remove their shoes and stockings.
"Come," said Hedvige, "I like the project well."
"I, too," said Helène.
"Seat yourselves, ladies, on the first stair."
Behold them, then, seated, and thy servant, on the fourth stair, busy unshoeing them, what time he extolled the beauty of their legs and made pretence to be incurious at the moment to see higher than the knee. Then, having gone down to the water, they had perforce to lift their garments, and in this business I encouraged them.
"Ah, well," remarked Hedvige, "men also have tighs."
Helène, who would have felt shame to show less courage than her cousin, did not hang back.
"Come, my charming naïads," quoth I, " 'tis enough. Ye will catch cold if ye remain for long in the water."
They reascended the staircase backwards, ever holding up their robes lest they might wet them; and it fell to me to dry their limbs with all the handkerchiefs that I possessed. This pleasant task permitted me to see and touch everything at my leisure, and the reader will scarce need my word to affirm that I made the best of my opportunity. The pretty niece (Hedvige) declared that I was too curious, but Helène let me have my way with an air so tender and so languid that I was hard pressed not to push the matter further. In the end, having again put on their shoes and stockings, I told them that I was enchanted to have viewed the secret charms of the two most lovely ladies in Geneva.
"What effect hath it on thee?" asked Hedvige of me.
"I dare not tell ye to look, but feel, both of ye."
"Bathe thou thyself also."
"Impossible. The business is too long for a man."
"But we have yet two full hours to remain here without fear of interruption from anyone."
This response caused me to see the happiness that awaited me; but I did not think fit to expose myself to an illness by entering the water in the state in which I was. Seeing a summer-house not far off and assured that M. Torchin would have left it open, I took my two beauties by the arm and led them hither, not letting them guess, however, my intentions.
The summer-house was full of vases of pot pourri, pretty engravings, and so forth; but what I valued most was a large and lovely divan, fit for repose and for pleasure. There, seated 'twixt these two beauties and lavishing caresses upon them, I said that I desired to show them that which they had never seen, at the same time exposing to their gaze the principal agent of humanity. They raised themselves to admire it, and then, taking the hand of each one of them, I procured for them a considerable pleasure; but, in the course of this labour, an abundant emission on my part caused them great amazement.
"'Tis its speech," said I. "The speech of the great creator of men."
"'Tis delicious!" cried Helène, laughing at the term 'speech.'
"I, too, have the power of speech," said Hedvige, "and I will show it thee, if thou wilt wait a moment."
"Put thyself in my hands, sweet Hedvige. I will spare thee the trouble of making it come thyself, and I will do it better than thee."
"I well believe it. But I have never done that with a man."
"Nor I," said Helène.
When they had placed themselves directly before me, their arms enlaced, I made them swoon away afresh. Then, having seated ourselves, what time my hand strayed all over their charms, I let them divert themselves at their leisure, till in the end I moistened their palms with a second emission of the natural moisture, which they examined curiously on their fingers.
Having once again put ourselves in a state of decency, we passed yet another half hour in exchanging kisses, after which I told them that they had rendered me partially happy, but, to make the work perfect, that I hope they would devise a means of granting me their first favours. Then I showed them those perservative sachets wich the English have invented in order to rid the fair sex of all fear. These little "purses,"[3] the use of which I explained to them, excited their admiration, and Hedvige said to her cousin that she would give thought to the matter. Become intimate friends and in good case to become even better, we took our way toward the house, where we found Helène's mother and the minister walking by the edge of the lake. ……
Follows now the description of a dinner at which Casanova, Hedvige and Helène are present. The text continues:
Helène shone in solving the questions put to her by the company. M. de Ximenes begged her to justify as best she might our first mother, who had deceived her husband by causing him to eat the fatal apple.
"Eve," quoth she, "deceived not her husband; she did but cajole him into eating it in the hope of giving him one more perfection. Moreover, Eve had not received the prohibition from God but from Adam; in her act there was seduction, not deceit; in all probability her womanly sense did not let her regard the prohibition as serious."……
……Another lady then asked her if one might believe the history of the apple to be symbolical. Hedvige answered:
"I think not, since it could only be a symbol of sexual union, and 'tis established that such was not consummated 'twixt Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden."
"On this point the learned differ."
"So much the worse for them, madam; the Scripture is plain enough. 'Tis written in the first verse of the fourth chapter that Adam knew Eve after his expulsion from their terrestial paradise, and that in consequence she conceived Cain."
"Yea, but the verse sayeth not that Adam did not know her before, and, consequently, he might so have done."
"This I cannot allow, for had he know her before she would have conceived; 'twere foolish to suppose that two creatures, who had just quitted God's hands, and were, in consequence, as nigh perfect as is possible, could consummate the act of generation with no result."
The conversation now becomes very theological and controversial, and we take leave to omit it.
……After dinner……I went apart with Helène, who told me that her cousin and the pastor would sup with her mother on the following day.
"Hedvige," she added, "will stay and sleep with me, as is ever her custom when she cometh with her uncle to sup. It remaineth to be seen if thou art willing to hide in a spot I will show thee to-morrow at eleven of the clock, in order to pass the night with us. Call on my mother at that hour to-morrow, and I will find means of showing thee the spot. "
In the morning I paid the mother a visit, and as Helène was escorting me out, she showed me a closed door 'twixt the two stairs.
"At seven hours of the clock," said she, "thou will find it open, and when thou art within, put on the bolt. Take care lest any see thee as thou enter the house."
Casanova, in due course, takes up his position in the hiding place, and during his long wait for the two charmers, gives himself up to reflection on his past. The text continues:
……In my long and profligate career, during which I have turned the heads of several hundreds of ladies, I have grown familiar with all methods of seduction; but it hath ever been my guiding principle never to press my attack against novices or those in whom prejudices were likely to prove an obstacle, save in the presence of another woman. Timidity, I soon discovered, maketh a girl averse from seduction; in company with another girl she is easily conquered; the weakness of one bringeth on the fall of the other.
Fathers and mothers are of contrary opinion, but they err. They will not trust their daughter to take a walk or go to a ball with a young man, but no difficulty is made if she hath another girl with her. I repeat—they err; if the young man hath the requisite skill, their daughter is lost. A sense of false shame hindereth them from making a determined resistance to seduction, but, the first step taken, the fall cometh inevitably and rapidly. One girl, granting some small favour, straightway maketh her friend grant a much greater, thereby to hide her own blushes; and if the seducer be clever at his trade, the youthful innocent will soon have travelled too far to be able to draw back. In addition, the more innocent the girl, the greater her ignorance of seduction's methods. Ere she hath time to think, pleasure doth attract her, curiosity draweth her yet a little further, and opportunity doth the rest.
For example, 'twere possible I had been able to seduce Hedvige without Helène, but I am assured I had never succeeded with Helène had she not seen her cousin grant me certain licenses what time she took liberties with me—practices which she thought, doubtless, contrary to the modesty and decorum of a respectable young woman. ……I desire what I say to be a warning to fathers and mothers, and to secure me a place in their esteem, at any rate.
Shortly after the pastor had gone I heard three light knocks on my prison door. I opened it, and a hand soft as satin grasped mine. My whole being quivered. 'Twas Helène hand, and that happy moment had already repaid me for my long waiting.
"Follow me softly," she said, in a low voice; but scarce had she closed the door ere I, in my impatience, clasped her tenderly in my arms, and caused her to feel the effect which her mere presence had produced on me, what time I assured myself of her docility.
"Be prudent, my friend," said she to me, "and come softly upstairs."
I followed her as best I might in the darkness, she leading me along a gallery into a room without light, the door of which she closed behind us, and thence into a lighted chamber, wherein was Hedvige, well nigh in a state of nudity. She came to me with open arms on the instant she saw me, and, embracing me ardently, signified her appreciation of my patience in my weary prison.
"Divine Hedvige," quoth I, "had I not loved thee madly, I had not stayed one fourth of an hour in that dismal cell; but for thy sake I would readily pass hours there daily till I quit this spot. But let us lose no time. To bed!"
"Do ye twain get to bed," quoth Helène. "I will couch on the divan."
"Oh!" cried Hedvige. "Think not so. Our fate must be exactly equal."
"Yea, beloved Helène," said I, embracing her. "I love thee both with equal ardour, and these ceremonies but waste the time wherein I should be convincing ye of my passion. Follow my example. I am about to disrobe and place myself in the midst of the bed. Come lie beside me, and ye will see if I love ye as ye are worthy to be loved. If all be safe, I will remain till ye send me away, but whate'er ye do, of your mercy extinguish not the light."
In the twinkling of an eye, all the while discussing the theory of shame with Hedvige the theologian, I presented myself to their gaze in the costume of Adam. Hedvige, blushing but fearing, perchance, to depreciate herself in my opinion by any further reserve, parted with the last shred of modesty, citing the opinion of St. Clement Alexandrinus, who held that in the shirt lay the seat of shame.
I praised unstintingly her charms and the perfection of her form, thereby hoping to encourage Helène, who was disrobing but slowly; but a charge of mock modesty from her cousin had more effect than all my praises. At length this Venus was in a state of nature, covering her most secret parts with one hand, concealing one breast with the other, and seeming most sadly shamed of all she could not conceal. Her modest confusion, this strife twixt expiring modesty and growing passion, enchanted me.
Hedvige was taller than Helène, her skin was whiter, and her breast twice the size of her cousin's; but in Helène was more animation, her form was more sweetly moulded, and her bust was on the model of the Venus de Medici.
By degrees she became bolder, put at ease by her cousin, and we passed several moments in admiring each other; then to bed we went. Nature called loudly, and all we desired was to satisfy its demands. With a coolness that I did not fear would fail me, I made a woman of Hedvige, and when all was o'er she kissed me, saying that the pain was naught compared to the pleasure.
Next came the turn of Helène, who was six years younger than Hedvige; but the finest "fleece"[4] that e'er I saw presented something of an obstacle. This she parted with her two hands, being jealous of her cousin's success; and although she was not initiated into the mysteries of love without woeful pain, her sighs were truly sighs of happiness as she responded to my ardent efforts. Her charms and vivacious movements caused me to shorten the sacrifice, and when I quitted the sanctuary my two beauties perceived I was in need of repose.
The altar was purified of the blood of the victims, and we all bathed, enchanted to serve one another.
Life returned to me 'neath their curious fingers, and the sight filled them with joy.…… For several hours I overwhelmed them with happiness, passing five or six times from one to the other before exhausting myself and arriving at the ecstatic spasm. In the intervals, perceiving them docile and desirous, I made them execute Aretin's most complicated postures, a business that amused them beyond measure.[5] We were lavish with our kisses on whatever part took our fancy, and just as Hedvige applied her lips to the mouth of the pistol, it went off and the discharge inundated her face and her bosom. She was delighted, and studied the eruption to an end with all the curiosity of a physician.
The night seemed short, though we had not lost a moment's space, and at daybreak we had to part. I left them in bed, being fortunate to get away observed of none.
In the evening, after supper, Casanova contrives another meeting with his charmers.
……Going out with my heroines, I worked wonders. Hedvige philosophised over the pleasure, and told me that she would ne'er have tasted it had I not chanced to encounter her uncle. Helène did not speak; more voluptous than her cousin, she swelled out like a dove, and came to life only to expire a moment after. I wondered at her amazing fecundity, although such is not uncommon; while I was engaged in one operation, she passed fourteen times from life to death. True, 'twas the sixth course I had run, so I made my pace somewhat slower to enjoy the pleasure she took in the business.……
After passing another night with the cousins, Casanova again sets out on his travels; and here, for the time being, we will leave him.
EXCURSUS TO ADVENTURES WITH HEDVIGE AND HELENE AT GENEVA.
Jacques Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, Knight of the Golden Spur, and one of the most remarkable figures in history and letters, was born on April 2nd, 1725. To-day, nearly two hundred years afterwards, his Memoirs are more vivid and readable than anything penned by our contemporary writers.
"He who opens these wonderful pages," says the English translator in his preface, "is as one who sits in a theatre and looks across the gloom, not on a stage-play, but on another and a vanished world. The curtain draws up, and suddenly a hundred and fifty years are rolled away, and in bright light stands out before us the whole life of the past; the gay dresses, the polished wit, the careless morals, and all the revel and dancing of those merry years before the mighty deluge of the Revolution.
"The palaces and marble stairs of old Venice are no longer desolate, but thronged with scarlet-robed senators, prisoners with the doom of the Ten upon their heads cross the Bridge of Sighs, at dead of night the nun slips out of the convent gate to the dark canal where a gondola is waiting, we assist at the parties fines of cardinals, and we see the bank made at faro.
"Venice gives place to the assembly rooms of Mrs. Comely and the fast taverns of the London of 1760; we pass from Versailles to the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg in the days of Catherine, from the policy of the Great Frederick to the lewd mirth of strolling-players, and the presence-chamber of the Vatican is succeeded by an intrigue in a garret.
"It is indeed a new experience to read this history of a man who, refraining from nothing, has concealed nothing; of one who stood in the courts of Louis the Magnificent for Madame de Pompadour and the nobles of the ancien règime, and had an affair with an adventuress of Denmark Street, Soho; who was bound over to keep the peace by Fielding, and knew Cagliostro.
"The friend of popes and kings and noblemen, and of all the male and female ruffians and vagabonds of Europe, abbé, soldier, charlatan, gamester, financier, diplomatist, viveur, philosopher, virtuoso, 'chemist, fiddler, and buffon,' each of these, and all of these, was Giacomo Casanova, Chevalier de Seingalt, Knight of the Golden Spur."
The English translation of Casanova's Memoirs, from which the foregoing is taken, is a valuable work. To-day the twelve volume set, of which 1,000 copies were privately printed in 1894, commands anything from thirty to forty-five pounds in the sale-room or book-seller's shop. We have been told that the printer of this English version was prosecuted, and all copies of the work confiscated by the police, who were ordered to burn them. Further, we are told that the copies we buy and read to-day are the copies burned by the police.
If this be so, all honour to the police, for the destruction of any scholarly rendering of these Memoirs can only be described as an act of vandalism. Because Casanova is not for the multitude, does it follow he is not for the few? Translated into the English tongue, Casanova's Memoirs must be "privately printed" by reason of his plain speech in the matter of amorous intrigue, yet, every erotic word and scene expunged, the work would still be of fascinating interest and inestimable value to the student of history. There exists a bowdlerised and abridged edition of these Memoirs; we have never seen, and we never wish to see, this work. A study of life, without a leavening of human nature, is worse than useless.
Casanova, if any reliance is to be set on his writings, was a sexual athlete—a member of that rare and remarkable class of men who are capable of amazing feats in the lists of love. Frequent reference is made to his prowes and observations by the great sexual psychologists, Havelock Ellis in particular. Bloch, (The Sexual Life of Our Time), quoting from a work by Oscar A. H. Schmitz, has some interesting remarks to make on the character of Casanova.
"Casanova," he says, "is pre-eminently the erotic, also crafty and deceitful (seducer), not, however, for the gratification of his need of power, but rather for the agreable satisfaction of his need for sensual love;……for Casanova each one is 'the woman'……Casanova is human, cares always for the happiness of the woman he loves, and devotes to them a tender reflection;……Casanova is the typical feminist, he possesses a profound understanding of woman's soul, is not disappointed by love, and needs for his life's happiness continuous contact with feminine natures."……
"Whatever I have done in the course of my life," says Casanova,[6] "whether it be good or evil, has been done freely; I am a free agent.…… Man is free, but his freedom ceases when he has no faith in it.……Man is free; yet we must not suppose he is at liberty to do everything he pleases, for he becomes a slave the moment he allows his actions to be ruled by his passions. The man who has sufficient power over himself to wait his nature has recovered its even balance is the truly wise man, but such beings are seldom met with……
"The sanguine temperament rendered me very sensible to the attraction of voluptuousness……The chief business of my life has always been to indulge my senses; I never knew anything of greater importance. I felt myself born for the fair sex, I have ever loved it dearly, and I have been loved by it as often and as much as I could……
"……Should anyone bring against me an accusation of sensuality he would be wrong, for all the fierceness of my senses never caused me to neglect any of my duties…… I have always been fond of highly-seasoned, rich dishes…… As for women, I have always found the odour of my beloved ones exceeding pleasant……
"……It may be that certain love scenes will be considered too explicit, but let no one blame me, unless it be for lack of skill, for I ought not to be scolded because, in my old age, I can no other enjoyment but that which recollections of the past afford to me. After all, virtuous and prudish readers are at liberty to skip over any offensive pictures, and I think it my duty to give them this piece of advice……
"My Memoirs are not written for young persons who, in order to avoid false step and slippery roads, ought to spend their youth in blissful ignorance, but for those who, having thorough experience of life, are no longer exposed to temptation, and who, having but too often gone through the fire, are like salamanders, and can be scorched by it no more……I have no hesitation in saying that the really virtuous are those persons who can practise virtue without the slightest trouble; such persons are always full of toleration, and it is to them that my Memoirs are addressed……"
Casanova, as he himself tells us, was three score and twelve years when he wrote his Memoirs. The writing, he adds, was both a solace and a pleasure. Nevertheless, as the English translator says in his appendix, "the last five years of his life were passed in petty mortifications…… Death came to him somewhat as a release. He received the sacraments with devotion, exclaimed: 'Great God, and all ye who witness my death, I have lived a philosopher and I die a Christian,' and so died—a quiet ending to a wonderfully brilliant and entirely useless career."
- ↑ Memoirs of Jacques Casanova: For the first time translated into English and Privately Printed, 1894: 12 vols.: 1000 copies only. Also Mémoires de J. Casanova de Seingalt: Garnier Frères, Paris, N.D. Our text is a blend of the two versions.
- ↑ i.e., naked.
- ↑ Capote Anglaise: in slang terms, a French letter or condom. The French talk about an "English" letter; we say the reverse.
- ↑ "Fleece," of course, is an accepted erotic term for pubic hair (Farmer: Slang and its Analogues); c.f. also the French term toison. Helène's hirsute adornment is in keeping with psychological precept that hairiness and sensuality go hand in hand. Havelock Ellis, in his Studies, quotes numerous authorities who are strongly of this opinion, (vol. 5: Erotic Symbolism). Lombroso, he adds, found that prostitutes generally tend to be hairy. In another volume of his studies, Havelock Ellis relates the history of a man for whom a hirsute mons veneris always had a peculiar attraction. "When accosted by prostitutes," says the subject of this history, "I would never go with them unless assured that the mons veneris was very hirsute." That genial old soldier Brantôme (Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies: Translated by A. R. Allison: Paris, Charles Carrington, 1901) says: "I have heard speak of a certain great lady, and I have known her myself and do know her still, who is all shaggy and hairy over the chest, stomach, shoulders and all down the spine, and on her bottom, like a savage.…… The proverb hath it, no person thus hairy is ever rich or wanton; but verily in this case the lady is both speaks of women who "have hair in that part not curly at all, but so long and drooping, you would say they were the moustachios of a Saracen's head. Nathless they do never remove this fleece, but prefer to have it so, seeing there is a saying: 'A grassgrown path and a hairy coynte are both good roads to ride.'…… I have heard speak of another fair and honourable lady which did have the hair of this part so long she would entwine the same with string or ribbons of silk, crimson and other colours, and have them curled like the curls of a wig, and attached to her thighs. And in such guise would unwind the ribbons and cords, so that the hair did remain after in curl, and looking prettier so than it would otherwise have done." Elsewhere Brantôme tells of a gentleman of his acquaintance who, while sleeping with a very beautiful lady, "and one of good condition, and doing his devoir with her, did find in that part sundry hairs so sharp and prickly that 'twas with all the difficulty in the world he could finish, so sharply did these prick and pierce him……" Abnormal growth of pubic hair is by no means confined to conte and fable. John, says Havelock Ellis in his Studies, delivered a woman whose pubic hair was longer than that of her head, reaching below her knees. Paulini also knew a woman "whose pubic hair nearly reached her knees and was sold to make wigs. Bartholin mentions a soldier's wife who plaited her pubic hair behind her back." (Erotic Symbolism). We have no actual evidence that Helène's growth was of these abnormal dimensions, but it was obviously out of the ordinary to provoke comment from a man of Casanova's experience.
- ↑ Pietro Aretino, author of The Ragionamenti, is generally supposed to have enumerated a variety of postures in which the venereal act might be performed. To the many he is known solely as "the man of the postures." This particular claim to distinction is, to say the least, a matter much in dispute, but we will reserve discussion of the question for Vol. 2 of Anthologica Rarissima, where lavish excerpts from Aretino's works will be given.
- ↑ English translations of the Author's Preface.