title: The Mystified Magistrate: And Other Tales
author: Marquis De Sade
description: Donatien-Alphonse-Fran ois de Sade (1740-1814), sometimes referred to as the "Divine Marquis," spent 27 years (half his adult life) in jail. When his increasingly unconventional behavior in public embarrassed his family, his mother-in-law schemed to keep Sade behind bars by petitioning the king and bribing justices. Ironically, it was she who made Sade a writer, for during those long periods of confinement and isolation his fertile imagination ran rampant, and he turned to writing. By the same author who penned the pornographic novel, Justine, these stories are rather tame in comparison, but all the familiar themes are there: homosexuality, lesbianism, torture, and disdain for the courts. The collection features the novella "The Mystified Magistrate," which mocks one of the judges who sentenced Sade to prison, as well as ten shorter works. It will be enjoyed by readers who appreciate the author's mordant wit, possess a sense of humor, and take a bemused or scholarly interest in Sade's bizarre personality. Recommended for all public and academic libraries.DBob Ivey, Univ. of Memphis <br />Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # The Lucky Mistake
  
  
  ### Aphra Behn
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Blackmask Online.
  
  
  http://www.blackmask.com  
    
    
  
  
  
      TO George Greenviel Esq;
  
  
  SIR,
  
  
  At this Critical Juncture, I find the Authors will have need
  
  
  of a Protector, as well as the Nation, we having peculiar Laws and
  
  
  Liberties to be defended as well as that, but of how different a
  
  
  Nature, none but such Judges as you, are fit to determine; whatever our
  
  
  Province be, I am sure it should be Wit, and you know what Ellevated
  
  
  Ben says, That none can judge of Wit but Wit. Let the Heroes toyl for
  
  
  Crowns and Kingdoms, and with what pretences they please. Let the ]
  
  
  Slaves of State drudge on for false and empty Glories, troubling the
  
  
  repose of the World and ruining their own to gain uneasy Grandure,
  
  
  whilst you, Oh! happyer Sir, great enough by your Birth, yet more
  
  
  Illustrious by your Wit, are capable of enjoying alone that true
  
  
  Felicity of Mind, which belongs to an absolutely Vertuo