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It
is a complicated affair because Sir Clifford has been paralysed from
the waist down and suggests to his wife that she conduct an affair to
enable her to bear him an heir. The trial opened at the Old Bailey and
Q.C. Mervyn Griffith-Jones, for the Prosecution, didn’t exactly endear
himself to the general public when he asked the jury: “Is it a book
that you would wish your wife or your servants to read?”
He also told them: “The word ‘fuck’ or ‘fucking’ occurs no less than
thirty times.” He contended that the book would tend to corrupt by creating,
“thoughts of a most impure and lustful character” and added, “It sets
upon a pedestal adulterous and promiscuous intercourse. It commands,
and indeed it sets out to command, sensuality as a virtue.”
The jury read the book and a number of witnesses were called for the
Defence, including Dr. John Robinson, the Bishop of Woolwich, Dame Rebecca
West and E. M. Forster, the novelist. The Establishment, it seemed,
were concerned that it would go on sale to the general public.
In his summing-up, the judge commented, “You know, once a book goes
into circulation it does not spend its time in the rarefied atmosphere
of some academic institution…it finds its way into the bookshops and
on to bookstalls, at 3s 6d a time, into public libraries, where it is
available for all and sundry.” |
by
Bill Harry
