SOURCE: An introduction to The Pantomime Man by Richard Middleton, edited by John Gawsworth, Rich & Cowan Ltd., 1933, pp. xvii-xxi.

Douglas was an English poet, critic, and editor. In the following introduction to The Pantomime Man, he characterizes Middleton's poetry as exquisite, and contends that he, rather than Vanity Fair editor Frank Harris, was the first to publish Middleton's work

Having been asked to write an Introduction to [The Pantomime Man], by the poet Richard Middleton, I hope I may be excused for informing, or reminding, my readers that, as Editor of The Academy in 1907, I was the first to give him recognition. I have been casting back in my mind for recollections of the man himself which, slight as they are, may have that interest which attaches to personal reminiscences of a dead poet.

Shortly after I became Editor of The Academy I was invited by a literary...