Jonathan Caleb

The Secret of the Port Master

The Little Black Book (Found among the papers of the late William Charles Burton, of Superior)   “Wearied with the commonplaces of a prosaic world, where even the joys of romance and adventure soon grow stale. . . [We] followed enthusiastically every aesthetic and intellectual movement which promised respite from our devastating ennui. The enigmas of the Symbolists and the ecstasies of the Pre-Raphaelites all were ours in their time, but each new mood was drained too soon of its diverting novelty and appeal. Only the sombre philosophy of the Decadents could hold us, and this we found potent only by increasing gradually the depth and diabolism of our penetrations.”