Alicia reins in the magnificent steeds

Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure)

Letter The First

I complain'd but tenderly complain'd that I could not bear it . . . indeed he hurt me! . . . Still he thought no more than that being so young, the largeness of his machine (for few men could dispute size with him) made all the dificulty; and that possible I had not been enjoy'd by any so advantageously made in that part as himself: for still, that my virgin flower was yet uncrop'd, never enter'd into his head, and he would have thought it idling with time and words to have question'd me upon it.

He tries again, still no admittance, still no penetration; but he had hurt me yet more, whilst my extreme love made me bear extreme pain, almost without a groan. At length, after repeated fruitless trials, he lay down panting by me, kiss'd my falling tears, and asked me tenderly what was the meaning of so much complaining? and if I had not borne it better from others than I did from him? I answered, with a simplicity fram'd to persuade, that he was the first man that ever serv'd me so. Truth is powerful, and it is not always that we do not believe what we eagerly wish.

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