Mallarmé's Preface to Vathek

Borges cites this approvingly in his essaylet, “On William Beckford’s Vathek,” and he also notes that it is almost impossible to read because of Mallarme’s “etymological dialect.” Belloc also called Beckford one of the “vilest men of all time,” which is quite a compliment, considering.

Also, Borges’s remark about the distinction between the atrocious place and the place of atrocity in versions of hell is nice.