Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
349
The Journal of a Disappointed Man
·
W. N. P. Barbellion
202
March
23.
Johnson
v.
Yves
Delage
I
expect
we
have
all
of
us
at
one
time
or
another
heard
ourselves
addressing
to
annoying,
objectionable
acquaintances
some
such
stinging
castigation
as
Hazlitt's
letter
to
Gifford,
or
Burke's
letter
to
a
Noble
Lord,
or
Johnson's
letter
to
Lord
Chesterfield,
or
Rousseau's
letter
to
the
Archbishop
of
Paris.
If
only
I
could
indulge
myself!
At
this
moment
I
could
glut
my
rancours
on
six
different
persons
at
least!
What
a
raging
discontent
I
have
suffered
to-day!
What
cynicism,
what
bitterness
of
spirit,
what
envy,
hate,
exasperation,
childish
petulance,
what
pusillanimous
feelings
and
desires,
what
crude
efforts
to
flout
simple,
ingenuous
folk
with
my
own
thwarted,
repressed
self-assertiveness!
A
solemn
fellow
told
me
he
had
heard
from
Johnson
who
said
he
had
already
had
much
success
from
collecting
in
moss.[2]
With
an
icy
politeness
I
asked
who
Johnson
was.
Who
the
Hell
is
Johnson?
As
a
quid
pro
quo
I
began
to
talk
of
Yves
Delage,
which
left
him
as
much
in
the
dark
as
he
left
me.
Our
Gods
differ,
we
have
a
different
hierarchy.
"Well,
how's
your
soul?"
said
R----,
bursting
in
with
a
sardonic
smile.
I
gave
him
a
despairing
look
and
said:
"Oh!
a
pink
one
with
blue
spots,"
and
he
left
me
to
my
fate.
Had
tea
with
the
----
and
was
amazed
to
find
on
the
music
tray
in
the
drawing-room
of
these
inoffensive
artists
a
copy
of
----'s
Memoir
on
Synapta.
Within
his
hearing,
I
said,
"Did
you
and
Mrs.
----
find
this
exciting
reading?"
And
I
held
it
up
with
a
sneer.
I
felt
I
had
laid
bare
a
nerve
and
forthwith
proceeded
to
make
it
twinge.
----,
of
course,
was
glib
with
an
explanation,
yet
the
question
remains
incalculable--just
how
pleased
that
young
man
is
with
himself.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
