THE LOOKING -GLASS
21
they are horrible when strewn broadcast
among
the
children
of the nation .
We
still
have our Bible and
need no more erotica . Filth has been defined
as matter
out of place, and so is this pathic literature , relegated
to the realms of sexual psychology in the works of an
Ellis or an Ebing is one thing , yet the government of
this
nation
cannot
stomach
them thus , and
seizes ,
expels , and burns ; but if these
horrid
sores of the
human soul are cut out and plastered on the pages of
the fickle fiction
of
the
day , then
are
they passed in
seductive covers as proper nourishment for the nation ,
and
devoured with
relish
and
avidity .
One minute ,
impatient
reader , for I hear you mutter :
“ Are not
these very aberrations set forth with no mean lustre on
the pages of the works of Aleister Crowley
? "
Listen .
Have
any of Crowley's
works
been
printed pueris
virginibusque ?? Are
they
intended
for
the
gaping
public ? Are they devoured by mental babes
and suck
lings , or worse , forcibly crammed down their throats
in simple or other forms ? I think
not .
To
some
it
may
seem curious that these poems are
published by
a society called
“
The Society for the Propagation
of
Religious
Truth ."
By whom is the Bible
published ?
Is it
not also
a
religious
society , and is
the
Bible
immaculate ?
Was
it
not Sir
Richard
Burton , the
greatest of Orientalists
, who resolved in case the rabid
pornophobic
suggestions of certain ornaments of the
home
press were acted
upon , to appear in court with
the
Bible
and
Shakespeare
under
one
arm ,
and
Petronius Arbiter
and Rabelais under the other ? And
I remember a certain
sentence -characteristic
of the
man , --he was describing those people
who are unable
to read crude texts , and needs must have them bowd
lerized
and
expurgated , lest
they
fall
into
a priapic