“The French have respect for others by respecting themselves. They pay close attentions to their actions. Not because someone may be observing them, but because everybody may be looking at them. An so, an Englishman stuck in traffic will pick his nose to kill time, while the Frenchman will look in the mirror, adjust his tie, hair, and run a hand over his brow or a mustache. A Frenchman will passionately kiss his girlfriend or wife in any public place [having lived in Paris, I attest to that—JMP], while an Englishman will do most of intimate activities in darkness and under covers [I exaggerate here—but not by much: I have two Anglophone ex-wives. Perhaps that is a partial reason for the “ex” portion—JMP]. They have different styles.
The absolute …show more content…
Martin Boehn wrote: “A certain guidebook of proper conduct, published in 1782 simply forbids the use of water: ‘In order to maintain cleanness one should wipe his or her face with a white cloth every morning’ […] The works published in 1755 by the physician- brothers Bordeu and pertaining to chronic diseases, advocated fighting excessive hygiene, which in their opinion would impact good health and pleasure. House bathrooms were of course unknown. Some castles had baths large enough to fit four people. Versailles had a tub so big that when it was uncovered behind a closed wall, adjacent to Madame de Pompadour quarters, it was moved outside to serve as a fountain basin. As means of keeping personal hygiene, a tub simply did not exist. At the beginning of XVIIIth century, Paris (population—one million!) had only two public bathhouses. At the end of that century the number of bathhouses rose to ten, each with 10-15 tubs. We should not forget that these places had an unsavory reputation [it persists until today—JMP], and their …show more content…
John Stevenson Spink (1909–1985) and Roger Pintard tried to find an evolution of the way of thinking or some philosophical roots of libertinism going back to many authors of the first half of seventeenth century. However, measured as a behavioral pattern of the civilization, libertinism has evolved more into a common custom, not the ideological movement. It has its beginnings during the late years of Louis XIV (starting around 1700), the reign of royal regent Philippe II, duke d’Orléans (reign:
1715–1723) to Louis XV (reign: 1723–1774), basically the entire eighteenth century.
Young Louis XV showed unusual excitement toward his male playmates. The royal court began to worry, not only for moral reasons but also primarily for the political ones, since a lack of a royal descendant could have produced a crisis of succession. Enter Madame de Vrilliere (incidentally married), who was a woman of great beauty and “vast experience” in sexual matters. She was charged with showing Louis the “ joys of living with a woman” or in today’s language, introduced him to heterosexual sex. She performed her task magnificently. Even before the arrival of his fiancée—Maria Leszczynska—Louis managed to “spend nights” with close to twenty palace-arranged girls. When Maria Leszczynska arrived in Paris, he immediately treated her as a sex object (she was already married to him per procuram), and Maria started a series of eleven pregnancies
The absolute …show more content…
Martin Boehn wrote: “A certain guidebook of proper conduct, published in 1782 simply forbids the use of water: ‘In order to maintain cleanness one should wipe his or her face with a white cloth every morning’ […] The works published in 1755 by the physician- brothers Bordeu and pertaining to chronic diseases, advocated fighting excessive hygiene, which in their opinion would impact good health and pleasure. House bathrooms were of course unknown. Some castles had baths large enough to fit four people. Versailles had a tub so big that when it was uncovered behind a closed wall, adjacent to Madame de Pompadour quarters, it was moved outside to serve as a fountain basin. As means of keeping personal hygiene, a tub simply did not exist. At the beginning of XVIIIth century, Paris (population—one million!) had only two public bathhouses. At the end of that century the number of bathhouses rose to ten, each with 10-15 tubs. We should not forget that these places had an unsavory reputation [it persists until today—JMP], and their …show more content…
John Stevenson Spink (1909–1985) and Roger Pintard tried to find an evolution of the way of thinking or some philosophical roots of libertinism going back to many authors of the first half of seventeenth century. However, measured as a behavioral pattern of the civilization, libertinism has evolved more into a common custom, not the ideological movement. It has its beginnings during the late years of Louis XIV (starting around 1700), the reign of royal regent Philippe II, duke d’Orléans (reign:
1715–1723) to Louis XV (reign: 1723–1774), basically the entire eighteenth century.
Young Louis XV showed unusual excitement toward his male playmates. The royal court began to worry, not only for moral reasons but also primarily for the political ones, since a lack of a royal descendant could have produced a crisis of succession. Enter Madame de Vrilliere (incidentally married), who was a woman of great beauty and “vast experience” in sexual matters. She was charged with showing Louis the “ joys of living with a woman” or in today’s language, introduced him to heterosexual sex. She performed her task magnificently. Even before the arrival of his fiancée—Maria Leszczynska—Louis managed to “spend nights” with close to twenty palace-arranged girls. When Maria Leszczynska arrived in Paris, he immediately treated her as a sex object (she was already married to him per procuram), and Maria started a series of eleven pregnancies