A Letter is a joy of Earth－1
It is denied the Gods－
It is denied the Gods－
(F.1672/J.1639)
[1] Letter: a French letter, condom (OED French 3a). French disease was used to denote venereal disease since the 16th century. Letter has the definition of one who hinders. French letter can be a device to hinder french disease. joy: sex without the risk of venereal disease or pregnancy. Earth: worldly things.
[2] denied: contraception is denied by the Catholic.
The cacal (caecum, the first part of the large intestine) intestines are prepared by soaking them in an alkaline solution, then cleaning, scraping, stretching, sulphuring, and finally cutting them to the proper length, when they constitute the baudruches (ballons), condoms, or French letters.——Gray's Supplement to the Pharmacopoeia (1848)
Dickinson in her letter (960) wrote: "And what is Ecstasy but Affection and what is Affection but the Germ of the little Note? A Letter is a joy of Earth – It is denied the Gods – "
Germ has the definition of sperm or semen, little of narrow, shallow, and Note of "the mark of censure used by the Roman censors" (OED n.2 8b).