In telling of the way he discovered "Ouida" Carl Van Vechten writes in his fascinating introduction; "It was borne in upon me, insistently, if
slowly, that I had missed something. Joseph Hergesheimer had read
'Ouida'; Max Beerbohm had read 'Ouida' and not only devoted an essay to her, but also invented his most celebrated dedication in her honour; Edgar Fawcett had read 'Ouida' so had Stephen Crane, Vernon Lee and G.S. Street. Wilfred Scawen Blunt and Auberon Herbert read and admired her. G.K. Chesterton, reader for Fisher Unwin in 1899, wrote "It is impossible not to read her."

"....The winter city, Floralia, is of course, Florence, and the reader is
offered a vivid picture of English social life there in the seventies.
According to Elizabeth Lee, some of the traits of the cold and beautiful
heroine, Lady Hilda Voralberg, were suggested by Lady Paget. Not only
Oscar Wilde's comedies, but also Benson's Dodo and the early Robert
Hichens all owe something to the conversation 'Ouida' ascribes to these
rich Londoners abroad."