Please the procrustes

[Johnyxxx]

Hi,

The text I need help with is:

"Mark Lessing was one of nature´s monsters. A shy, almost effeminate boy, he had failed to please the procrustes of public school life, and had to be passed to Oxford without that coarsness, cynicism, callousness, hidden brutality and displayed perversion which is the foundation of the Oxford manner."


Does the author mean taht "the shy, effeminate boy was always a decent boy at the public school (no pranks, no practical jokes) so when he began to attend the university, he was still moral, untainted guy with no negative personal traits (cynicism, coarsness, hidden brutality etc.)?"


The Chute, Aleister Crowley, 1909


Thanks a lot.

 

[Tarheel]

Apparently, Mark Lessing had failed to become coarse, cynical, and callous.

 

[BobK]

This text was written at the beginning of last century. Some native speakers of English know what procrustean means; I‘ve tripped over it a few times, but never used it. And I had no idea until now that it‘s derived from the Latin noun procrustes. I wouldn‘t worry about it if I were you,

b