MARIA AEGYPTIACA
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—Mr. Bonamy Dobree in his review of R. W. Chambers' latest book causes some hagiographical confusion. The saint he has in mind, when in contrast with Shakespeare's hyper- chaste Isabella he wants to give us evidence of the compara- tively small importance God himself would attach to physical chastity, is Maria Aegyptiaca—not " one of the many St. Armes." But that is not all ; because of her it could indeed not be said that when " finding that the price of being ferried across the Red Sea was her virginity, willingly she surrendered so trifling a thing." Maria Aegyptiaca had been a " publica meretrix," so the Acta Sanctorum (April rst) inform us, long before she set out for the Holy Land! And when she went it was for reasons of her low profession. The unique mode of paying for her fare was, in fact, the crowning " tour de force" after years of sin.
The Church, especially in the Middle Ages, cherished the Maria of years to follow who did penance in the desert, a prototype of the vanity of carnal love.—Yours faithfully,
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