Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
290
Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
167
He
wrote
mostly
in
English
prose;
but
other
modes
were
not
infrequent.
Whenever
he
was
abroad,
it
was
his
courteous
habit
to
write
in
the
language
of
the
country
where
he
was
residing--French,
when
he
was
in
his
house
on
the
Champs
Elysees;
Italian,
when
he
was
in
his
villa
at
Baiae;
and
so
on.
When
he
was
in
his
own
country
he
felt
himself
free
to
deviate
sometimes
from
the
vernacular
into
whatever
language
were
aptest
to
his
frame
of
mind.
In
his
sterner
moods
he
gravitated
to
Latin,
and
wrought
the
noble
iron
of
that
language
to
effects
that
were,
if
anything,
a
trifle
over-impressive.
He
found
for
his
highest
flights
of
contemplation
a
handy
vehicle
in
Sanscrit.
In
hours
of
mere
joy
it
was
Greek
poetry
that
flowed
likeliest
from
his
pen;
and
he
had
a
special
fondness
for
the
metre
of
Alcaeus.
And
now,
too,
in
his
darkest
hour,
it
was
Greek
that
surged
in
him--iambics
of
thunderous
wrath
such
as
those
which
are
volleyed
by
Prometheus.
But
as
he
sat
down
to
his
writing-table,
and
unlocked
the
dear
old
album,
and
dipped
his
pen
in
the
ink,
a
great
calm
fell
on
him.
The
iambics
in
him
began
to
breathe
such
sweetness
as
is
on
the
lips
of
Alcestis
going
to
her
doom.
But,
just
as
he
set
pen
to
paper,
his
hand
faltered,
and
he
sprang
up,
victim
of
another
and
yet
more
violent
fit
of
sneezing.
Disbuskined,
dangerous.
The
spirit
of
Juvenal
woke
in
him.
He
would
flay.
He
would
make
Woman
(as
he
called
Zuleika)
writhe.
Latin
hexameters,
of
course.
An
epistle
to
his
heir
presumptive...
“Vae
tibi,”
he
began,
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
