volume of short stories, it was his
first sustained prose work. It is the book which at once made the
novelist famous in his own country and very soon afterwards in England
and France, where it was the first of his works to be translated. In
America d'Annunzio was already known as the author of a powerful
realistic novelette, "Episcopo & Co.," which was published in Chicago in
1896, two years before "The Child of Pleasure" appeared in London. As
has so often happened since, America led the way in introducing into the
English language a writer who is one of the foremost figures in
Continental European literature.

In order to realize the sensation which Gabriele d'Annunzio created, it
is necessary to glance back at the opinions of some of his early
champions in foreign countries. Ouida claims, I think rightly, that her
article in the _Fortnightly Review_, which was reprinted in her
"Critical Studies," was the first account in English of the author and
his work. In the main, although besprinkled with moral asides, it is,
with one exception, as good an essay as any that has since been written
on the subject. Ouida was sure that the wickedness of d'Annunzio was
such that the only work of his which will become known to the English
public in general will be the _Vergini delle Rocce_, because "(as far as
it has gone) it is not indecent. The other works could not be reproduced
in English." In proof of her contentions Ouida disclosed the fact that
the French versions of the trilogy, "The Child of Pleasure," "The
Victim," and "The Triumph of Death," were bowdlerized. At the same time
she obligingly referred her readers to some of the choicer passages in
the original, such as Chapter X of "The Child of Pleasure," where she
claimed that "ingenuities of indecency" had been gratuitously
introduced. For the guidance of those interested in such matters I may
explain that, by a coincidence, the "ingenuity" in question is almost
identical with that which was cited in the earlier part of _La Garconne_
as proof that Victor Margueritte was unworthy of the Legion of Honor.

After Ouida in England came the venerable Vicomte Melchior de Voguee in
France, who is best known to readers in this country for his standard
tome on the Russian novel. In the austere pages of the _Revue des Deux
Mondes_ he carefully explained to his readers that d'Annunzio's lewdness
must not be confused with the obscenities of Zola, whereat Ouida
protested that they we