I have been too explicit， not sufficiently reticent， about the chapel activities at the beginning； must not elaborate upon them until after the stories in which they are mentioned.
Said too much about active and passive sodomy； conceal that until the stories have discussed it.
I was wrong to have made Duclos react strongly to the death of her sister； that doesn‘t sort with the rest of her character； change it.
If I said Aline was a virgin upon arrival at the chateau， that was an error： she isn’t， and could not be. The Bishop has depucelated her in every sector.
And not having been able to reread all this， there must be a swarm of other mistakes.
When later I put the text in final order， I must be particularly careful to have a notebook beside me at all times； I‘ll have to put down very exact mention of each happening and each portrait as I write it； otherwise， I’ll get horribly confused because of the multitude of characters.
For the Second Part， begin with the assumption Augustine and Zéphyr are already sleeping in the Duc‘s bedchamber in the First Part； likewise Adonis and Zelmire in Curval’s， Hyacinthe and Fanny in Durcet‘s， Céladon and Sophie in the Bishop’s， even though none of them has been deflowered yet.
* As Sade notes， the speed with which he wrote the final draft of The 120 Days， and because he was unable to reread and correct his manuscript， resulted in a number of minor discrepancies in dates， characters， and situations， which the careful reader will doubtless discover. None the less， given the large cast of characters， and the complexity of rules and procedures， his accuracy of detail is remarkable.
