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349
The Journal of a Disappointed Man
·
W. N. P. Barbellion
232
His
principal
concern
of
course
is
to
arouse
and
maintain
a
reputation
for
profundity
and
wit.
This
is
done
by
the
simple
mechanical
formula
of
antithesis:
if
you
like
winkles
he
proves
that
cockles
are
inveterately
better;
if
you
admire
Ruskin
he
tears
him
to
ribbons.
If
you
want
to
learn
to
swim--as
it
is
safer,
he
shows
it
is
more
dangerous
to
know
how
to
swim
and
so
on.
I
know
his
whole
box
of
tricks.
I
myself
am
now
playing
the
clever
young
man
by
writing
out
this
analysis
just
as
if
I
were
not
one
myself.
You
doubt
my
cleverness?
Well,
some
years
ago
in
R----'s
presence
I
called
----"the
Rev.
Fastidious
Brisk,"--the
nickname
be
it
recalled
which
Henley
gave
to
Stevenson
(without
the
addition
of
"Rev.").
At
the
time
I
had
no
intention
of
appropriating
the
witticism
as
I
quite
imagined
R----
was
acquainted
with
it.
His
unexpected
explosion
of
mirth,
however,
made
me
uncomfortably
uncertain
of
this,
yet
for
the
life
of
me
I
couldn't
muster
the
honesty
to
assure
him
that
my
feather
was
a
borrowed
one.
A
few
weeks
later
he
referred
to
it
again
as
"certainly
one
of
my
better
ones"--but
still
I
remained
dumb
and
the
time
for
explanations
went
for
once
and
all.
Now
see
what
a
pretty
pickle
I
am
in:
the
name
"Brisk"
or
"F.B."
is
in
constant
use
by
us
for
this
particular
person--he
goes
by
no
other
name,
meanwhile
I
sit
and
wonder
how
long
it
will
be
before
R----
finds
me
out.
There
are
all
sorts
of
ways
in
which
he
might
find
out:
he
might
read
about
it
for
himself,
someone
might
tell
him
or--worst
of
all--one
day
when
we
are
dining
out
somewhere
he
will
announce
to
the
whole
company
my
brilliant
appellation
as
a
little
after-dinner
diversion:
I
shall
at
once
observe
that
the
person
opposite
me
knows
and
is
about
to
air
his
knowledge;
then
I
shall
look
sternly
at
him
and
try
to
hold
him:
he
will
hesitate
and
I
shall
land
him
with
a
left
and
right:
"I
suppose
you've
read
Henley's
verses
on
Stevenson?"
I
remark
easily
and
in
a
moment
or
so
later
the
conversation
has
moved
on.
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