the delight of all those foreigners, and especially Americans, who came to her Capital to study Art.

The Artificial Princess

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"Her great regret you know the murmur came, "she is . . . God forgive her... the former Favorite of a King; although, she herself declares, only for a few minutes."

*

"Who would credit it!" she breathed, turning to an attaché, a young man all white and penseroso, at her elbow.

"Credit what?"

"Did you not hear what the dear King said?"

"No."

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"It's almost too appalling Lady Something replied, passing a small, nerveless hand across her brow.

"Won't you tell me though?" the young man murmured gently, with his nose in his plate. Lady Something raised a glass of frozen lemonade to her lips. "Fleas," she murmured, "have been found at the Ritz."

The Flower Beneath the Foot

Gaiety and zest and the post WW I climate in which Firbank lived explain much about his "enchanted literary garden." After all, most of the bright and beautiful young men of his world had been slaughtered, as Osbert Sitwell and Lady Diana Manners have well observed. He lived in an atmosphere of-to-hell-with-it, because-nothing-much-matterswhich he translated into theatrically and deftly-sketched lunacy and wicked truths, woven into glittering entertainment. For him there was also the sophisticated shock and the outrage of formal religion and the genuine amusement derived from playing with words and flouting conventions and

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making perilous explorations into hitherto forbidden regions while clad in pale blue sequins. His technical achievement in writing was startling. To quote Osbert Sitwell: "His dialogues are quicker and lighter than had hitherto been designed for a novel, and his influence can be detected in writers of more content than himself, and indeed, in the most unlikely places . .

Firbank's life was as fantastic, in its way, as are his stories. He came from sturdy stock-his ancestors were coal miners-but his grandfather struck it rich. His father built railways, married into good family, became a baronet, and lived in style. Ronald always had an income, less than he had been accustomed to after his father's death. but sufficient for his constant travels in exotic countries, and a flat in London during the seaat a fashionable address. His mother was most indulgent-he dedicated one of his stories to her with great affection. He had a brother and a sister, but nothing is known of his relations with them.

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His health was never good. Highly nervous, he was almost inarticulate at times due to the effect on him of people or surroundings. He made the remark once that everything about him was affected, including his lungs. He had difficulty swallowing his food and drank too much. He seems to have been very lonely. "Always alone," remarks Osbert Sitwell, "at ballets and concerts and exhibitions. It seemed to him that he must ever seek the affection of others to a greater extent than they sought his friendship.' (What a familiar ring that has.) Osbert Sitwell finally got to know him and writes most affectionately and understandingly of him in Noble Essences. Firbank died in Rome at the age of 39 in a cold, damp palacequite alone.

Francis Morgan Farley

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