A friend of mine, an American poet who lives in Eastern Europe wrote to me: “I have, as is my style, impregnated yet another otherwise perfectly innocent maiden. Nevertheless, I'm still struggling to find my true place in this vast shifting labyrinth of desires we call a world.”

Upon my question how many perfectly innocent maidens he had impregnated already he answered: “This will be my fifth.”

This is a man with a healthy appetite -- we can ask quite a few questions about his habit but please keep in mind that not too long ago many aristocrats used to do the same on a much larger scale.