INTRODUCTION
xi
fortunes of that day's fight. Suffice to say that the enemies of George Eekhoud were routed—that the accused, whom it was sought to crush, emerged triumphant from the shock of arms more glorious than ever, looking, we opine, pretty much like Saint George after he had slain the Dragon, with this slight difference that Eekhoud's dragon was probably far more real than the mythological animal that fell beneath the strokes of England's patron Saint.
"Escal Vigor" is a romantic study, tragical and lugubrious enough, of a case of abnormal passion. Numa Numantius in Germany, Krafft Ebing in Austria, Havelock Ellis in England, Lombroso in Italy, aud Tamowsky in Russia, hate sufficiently analysed all the grave problems resulting from this idiosyncracy. It is not for us to discuss the subject here. The world's literature is crowded with examples of this passionate friendship between youths and men … such as existea between Alcibiades and Socrates, between Shakespeare and Lord Pembroke, between Michael Angela and Cavalieri. Should Balzac be condemned because he describes the shameful love of Vautrin for Lucien de Rubempri? Or because, in his Fille aux Yeux d'Or, he has laid bare the heart of women who love each
