Rabelais: I should find other forms of freedom. As for personal morals: There are certain so-called “sins” of which no man ever repented. There are certain contraventions of hygiene which always prove inconvenient. None but superstitious and ignorant people can ever confuse these two issues. And as hygiene is always changing; as it alters with our knowledge of physick, intelligent men will keep pace with it. There can be no permanent boundaries to morals. Student: The droits du seigneur were doubtless, at one time, religious. When ecclesiastics enjoyed them, they did so, in order to take the vengeance of the spirit-world upon their own shoulders, thereby shielding and sparing the husband. Rabelais: Indeed you are far past these things. Your age no longer accepts them. Student: My age is beset with cranks of all forms and sizes. They will not allow a man wine. They will not allow him changes of women. This glass.... Rabelais: There is still some in the last bottle. DeThou has paid it a compliment: Aussi Bacchus.... Jusqu’en l’autre monde m’envoye De quoi dissiper mon chagrin, Car de ma Maison paternelle Il vient de faire un Cabaret Où le plaisir se renouvelle Entre le blanc et le clairet... On n’y porte plus sa pensée Qu’aux douceurs d’un Vin frais et net. Que si Pluton, que rien ne tente, Vouloit se payer de raison, Et permettre à mon Ombre errante De faire un tour à ma Maison; Quelque prix que j’en puisse attendre, Ce seroit mon premier souhait De la louer ou de la vendre, Pour l’usage que l’on en fait. Student: There are states where a man’s tobacco is not safe from invasion. Bishops, novelists, decrepit and aged generals, purveyors of tales of detectives.... Rabelais: Have they ever interfered with your pleasures? Student: Damn well let them try it!!! Rabelais: I am afraid you would have been burned in my century. END OF THE FIRST DIALOGUE Imaginary Letters (Six Letters of William Bland Burn to his Wife) Wyndham Lewis Petrograd, February, 1917. My dear Lydia: