Mortadello

PREFACE HIS comedy is perhaps my first serious attempt at a work of art ; previous lucubrations of mine having been works either of necessity or of piety : that is, or I felt obliged to tell the truth about something, or I was definitely inspired. But the Angel of Venice (I protest) is a very cunning concoction. I had been revolving certain exposition by M. Henri Davray of Verlaine’s skill in treating the Alexandrine ; and I couldn’t let it stay there ! Hence the form. I had also been meditating on Maeter- linck’s method of obtaining atmosphere ; but this went all awry. With regard to the matter of my proposed master- piece, my mind was perfectly clear. It must look like a Monticelli ; it must smell like Musc ambré ; it must feel like July and August of 1911 in Paris ; and above all it must taste like the Truffles au Champagne of the Café Riche. How it sounded didn’t matter so much. Well, there were difficulties. One cannot taste Truffles T