A Chair on the Boulevard

A Chair on the Boulevard

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Title: A Chair on The Boulevard
Author: Leonard Merrick
Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9928] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on November 1, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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A CHAIR ON THE BOULEVARD

By LEONARD MERRICK

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY A. NEIL LYONS
1921

CONTENTS
I THE TRAGEDY OF A COMIC SONG
II TRICOTRIN ENTERTAINS
III THE FATAL FLOROZONDE
IV THE OPPORTUNITY OF PETITPAS
V THE CAF�� OF THE BROKEN HEART
VI THE DRESS CLOTHES OF MONSIEUR POMPONNET
VII THE SUICIDES IN THE RUE SOMBRE
VIII THE CONSPIRACY FOR CLAUDINE
IX THE DOLL IN THE PINK SILK DRESS
X THE LAST EFFECT
XI AN INVITATION TO DINNER
XII THE JUDGMENT OF PARIS
XIII THE FAIRY POODLE
XIV LITTLE-FLOWER-OF-THE-WOOD
XV A MIRACLE IN MONTMARTRE
XVI THE DANGER OF BEING A TWIN
XVII HERCULES AND APHRODITE
XVIII "PARDON, YOU ARE MADEMOISELLE GIRARD!"
XIX HOW TRICOTRIN SAW LONDON
XX THE INFIDELITY OF MONSIEUR NOULENS

INTRODUCTION
These disjointed thoughts about one of Leonard Merrick's most articulate books must begin with a personal confession.
For many years I walked about this earth avoiding the works of Leonard Merrick, as other men might have avoided an onion. This insane aversion was created in my mind chiefly by admirers of what is called the "cheerful" note in fiction. Such people are completely agreed in pronouncing Mr. Merrick to be a pessimistic writer. I hate pessimistic writers.
Years ago, when I was of an age when the mind responds acutely to exterior impressions, some well-meaning uncle, or other fool, gave me a pessimistic book to read. This was a work of fiction which the British Public had hailed as a masterpiece of humour. It represented, with an utter fury of pessimism, the spiritual inadequacies of--but why go into details.
Now, I have to confess that for a long time I did Mr. Merrick the extraordinary injustice of believing him to be the author of that popular masterpiece.
The mistake, though intellectually unpardonable, may perhaps be condoned on other grounds. By virtue of that process of thought which we call the "association of ideas," I naturally connected Mr. Merrick with this work of super-pessimism; my friends being so confirmed in their belief that he was a super-pessimist.
But by virtue of a fortunate accident, I at last got the truth about Mr. Merrick. This event arose from the action of a right-minded butcher, who, having exhausted his stock of _The Pigeon-Fancier's Gazette_, sent me my weekly supply of dog-bones wrapped about with Leonard Merrick.
These dog-bones happened to reach my house at a moment when no other kind of literary nutriment was to be had. Having nothing better to read I read the dog-bone wrappers. Thus, by dog-bones, was I brought to Merrick: the most jolly, amusing, and optimistic of all spiritual friends.
The book to which these utterances are prefixed is to my mind one of the few really amusing books which have been published in England during my lifetime. But, then, I think that all of Mr. Merrick's books are amusing: even his "earnest" books, such as _The Actor-Manager, When Love Flies out o' the Window, or The Position of Peggy Harper_.
It is, of course, true that such novels as these are unlikely to be found congenial by those persons who derive entertainment from fiction like my uncle's present. On the other hand, there are people in the world with a capacity for being amused by psychological inquiry. To such people I would say: "Don't miss Merrick." The extraordinary cheerfulness of Mr. Merrick's philosophy is a fact which will impress itself upon all folk who are able to take a really cheerful view of life.
All of Mr. Merrick's sermons--I do not hesitate to call his novels "sermons," because no decent novel can be anything else--all his sermons, I say, point to this conclusion: that people who go out deliberately to look for happiness,