The Origin of a Delusion


The origin of the delusion that the average man is a Leopold II or
Augustus the Strong, with the amorous experience of a guinea pig,
is not far to seek. It lies in three factors, the which I rehearse
briefly:


1.The idiotic vanity of men, leading to their eternal boasting, either
by open lying or sinister hints.


2.The notions of vice crusaders, nonconformist divines, Y. M.C. A.
secretaries, and other such libidinous poltroons as to what they
would do themselves if they bad the courage.


3. The ditto of certain suffragettes as to ditto.


Here you have the genesis of a generalization that gives the less
critical sort of women a great deal of needless uneasiness and
vastly augments the natural conceit of men. Some pornographic old
fellow, in the discharge, of his duties as director of an anti-vice
society, puts in an evening ploughing through such books as "The
Memoirs of Fanny Hill," Casanova's Confessions, the Cena
Trimalchionis of Gaius Petronius, and II Samuel. From this perusal
he arises with the conviction that life amid the red lights must be one