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diff --git a/old/53226-0.txt b/old/53226-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 24c4934..0000000 --- a/old/53226-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2489 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Oscar Wilde, a study, by André Gide - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Oscar Wilde, a study - -Author: André Gide - -Commentator: Stuart Mason - -Release Date: October 6, 2016 [EBook #53226] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OSCAR WILDE, A STUDY *** - - - - -Produced by Winston Smith. Images provided by The Internet Archive. - - - - - - OSCAR WILDE - - - This Edition consists of 500 copies. - Fifty copies have been printed on - hand-made paper. - - - [Illustration: 'HOW UTTER.'] - - - - - Oscar Wilde - - A STUDY - - FROM THE FRENCH OF - - ANDRÉ GIDE - - WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY - - BY - - STUART MASON - - - - Oxford - - THE HOLYWELL PRESS - - MCMV - - - * * * * * - - - TO - - DONALD BRUCE WALLACE, - - OF NEW YORK, - - IN MEMORY OF A VISIT LAST SUMMER TO - - BAGNEUX CEMETERY, - - A PILGRIMAGE OF LOVE WHEN WE - - WATERED WITH OUR TEARS THE ROSES AND LILIES - - WITH WHICH WE COVERED - - THE POET'S GRAVE. - - - - Oxford, - - September, 1905. - - - - -[The little poem on the opposite page first saw the light in the pages -of the _Dublin University Magazine_ for September, 1876. It has not -been reprinted since. The Greek quotation is taken from the _Agamemnon_ -of Æschylos, l. 120. ] - - - -Αἴλινον, αἴινον εἰπὲ, - -Τὸ δ᾽ ευ̉ νικάτω - - O well for him who lives at ease - With garnered gold in wide domain, - Nor heeds the plashing of the rain, - The crashing down of forest trees. - - O well for him who ne'er hath known - The travail of the hungry years, - A father grey with grief and tears, - A mother weeping all alone. - - But well for him whose feet hath trod - The weary road of toil and strife, - Yet from the sorrows of his life - Builds ladders to be nearer God. - - - Oscar F. O'F. Wills Wilde. - - - _S. M. Magdalen College,_ - - _Oxford._ - - - - NOTE. - -M. Gide's Study of Mr. Oscar Wilde (perhaps the best account yet -written of the poet's latter days) appeared first in _L'Ermitage_, a -monthly literary review, in June, 1902. It was afterwards reprinted -with some few slight alterations in a volume of critical essays, -entitled _Prétextes_, by M. Gide. It is now published in English for -the first time, by special arrangement with the author. - -S. M. - - - CONTENTS. - - PAGE - - Poem by Oscar Wilde .................................... xi - - Introductory ........................................... 1 - - Inscription on Oscar Wilde's Tombstone ................. 11 - - Letters from M. André Gide ............................. 12 - - Oscar Wilde: from the French of André Gide ............. 15 - - Sonnet 'To Oscar Wilde,' by Augustus M. Moore .......... 89 - - List of Published Writings of Oscar Wilde .............. 93 - - Bibliographical Notes on The English Editions .......... 107 - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. - - PAGE - - Cartoon: 'How Utter' .......................... Frontispiece - (From a Cartoon published by Messrs. Shrimpton at - Oxford about 1880. By permission of Mr. Hubert - Giles, 23 Broad St., Oxford). - - Oscar Wilde at Oxford, 1878 ............................ 16 - (By permission of Mr. Hubert Giles). - - Oscar Wilde in 1893 .................................... 48 - (From a Photograph by Messrs. Gillman & Co., Oxford). - - The Grave at Bagneux ................................... 80 - (By permission of the Proprietors of _The Sphere_ - and _The Tatler_). - - Reduced Facsimile of the Cover of _'The Woman's World'_ 96 - - - * * * * * - - - Oscar Wilde - - Introductory. - - -Oscar Fingall O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was born at 1 Merrion Square, -North, Dublin, on October 16th, 1854. He was the second son of Sir -William Robert Wilde, Knight, a celebrated surgeon who was President -of the Irish Academy and Chairman of the Census Committee. Sir William -Wilde was born in 1799, and died at the age of seventy-seven years. - -Oscar Wilde's mother was Jane Francesca, daughter of Archdeacon Elgee. -She was born in 1826, and married in 1851. She became famous in -literary circles under the pen-names of 'Speranza' and 'John Fenshawe -Ellis,' among her published writings being _Driftwood from Scandinavia_ -(1884), _Legends of Ireland_ (1886), and _Social Studies_ (1893). Lady -Wilde died at her residence in Chelsea on February 3rd, 1896[1]. - -Oscar Wilde received his early education at Portora Royal School, -Enniskillen, which he entered in 1864 at the age of nine years. Here he -remained for seven years, and, winning a Royal scholarship, he entered -Trinity College, Dublin, on October 19th, 1871, being then seventeen -years of age. In the following year he obtained First Class Honours in -Classics in Hilary, Trinity and Michaelmas Terms; he also won the Gold -Medal for Greek[2] and other distinctions. The Trinity College Magazine -_Kottabos_, for the years 1876-9, contains some of his earliest -published poems. In 1874 he obtained a classical scholarship[3], and -went up to Oxford, where, as a demy, he matriculated at Magdalen -College on October 17th, the day after his twentieth birthday. His -career at Oxford was one unbroken success. In Trinity Term (June), -1876, he obtained a First Class in the Honour School of Classical -Moderations (_in literis Græcis et Latinis_), which he followed up two -years later by a similar distinction in 'Greats' or 'Honour Finals' -(_in literis humanioribus_). In this same Trinity Term[4], 1878, he -further distinguished himself by gaining the Sir Roger Newdigate Prize -for English Verse with his poem, 'Ravenna[5],' which he recited at -the Encænia or Annual Commemoration of Benefactors in the Sheldonian -Theatre on June 26th. He proceeded to the degree of B. A. in the -following term[6]. He is described in Foster's _Alumni Oxonienses_ as a -'Professor of Æsthetics and Art critic.' - -He afterwards lectured on Art in America[7], 1882, and in the provinces -on his return to England. About this time he wrote his poems, _The -Sphinx_ and _The Harlot's House_ (1883), and his tragedy in blank -verse, _The Duchess of Padua_. The latter was written specially for -Miss Mary Anderson, but she did not produce it. This was, however, -played in America by the late Lawrence Barrett in 1883, as was also -another play in blank verse, entitled _Vera, or the Nihilists_, during -the previous year. He had already published in America and England a -volume of _Poems_, which went through several editions in a few months. - -In 1884 Oscar Wilde married[8] Miss Constance Mary Lloyd, a daughter -of the well-known Q. C., by whom he had two sons, born in June, 1885, -and November, 1886, respectively. Mrs. Wilde died in 1898, and his only -brother, William, in March of the following year. - -During the next five or six years after his marriage, articles -from his pen appeared in several of the leading reviews, notably -'The Portrait of Mr. W. H.' in _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_ for -July, 1889, and those brilliant essays afterwards incorporated in -_Intentions_, in _The Nineteenth Century_ and _The Fortnightly Review_. -In 1888 he was the editor of a monthly journal called _The Woman's -World_. In July, 1890,_ The Picture of Dorian Gray_ appeared in -_Lippincott's Monthly Magazine_. It was the only novel he ever wrote, -and was published in book form with seven additional chapters in the -following year, and is one of the most remarkable books in the English -language. - -With the production and immediate success of _Lady Windermere's Fan_ -early in 1892, he was at once recognised as a dramatist of the first -rank. This was followed a year later by _A Woman of No Importance_, -and after brief intervals by _An Ideal Husband_ and _The Importance of -Being Earnest_[9]. The two latter were being played in London at the -time of the author's arrest and trial. - -Into the melancholy story of his trial it is not proposed to enter here -beyond mentioning the fact that he was condemned by the newspapers, -and, consequently, by the vast majority of the British public, several -weeks before a jury could be found to return a verdict of 'guilty.' On -Saturday, May 25th, 1895, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment -with hard labour, most of which period was passed at Wandsworth and -Reading. - -On his release from Reading on Wednesday, May 19th, 1897, he at once -crossed to France with friends, and a few days later penned that -pathetic letter, pregnant with pity, in which he pleaded for the -kindlier treatment of little children lying in our English gaols. This -letter, with his own name attached, filled over two columns in _The -Daily Chronicle_ of May 28th. It created considerable sensation--a -well-known Catholic weekly comparing it 'in its crushing power to the -letter with which Stevenson shamed the shameless traducer of Father -Damien.' A second letter on the subject of the cruelties of the English -Prison system appeared in the same paper on March 24th, 1898. It was -headed: 'Don't Read This if You Want to be Happy To-day,' and was -signed 'The Author of _The Ballad of Reading Gaol_.' _The Ballad of -Reading Gaol_ was published early in this same year under the _nom -de plume_ 'C.3.3.,' Oscar Wilde's prison number. Its authorship was -acknowledged shortly afterwards in an autograph edition. Since that -time countless editions of this famous work have been issued in England -and America, and translations have appeared in French, German and -Spanish. Of this poem a reviewer in a London journal said,--'The whole -is awful as the pages of Sophocles. That he has rendered with his -fine art so much of the essence of his life and the life of others in -that _inferno_ to the sensitive, is a memorable thing for the social -scientist, but a much more memorable thing for literature. This is a -simple, a poignant, a great ballad, one of the greatest in the English -language.' - -Of the sorrows and sufferings of the last few years of his life, his -friend Mr. Robert Harborough Sherard has written in _The Story of an -Unhappy Friendship_, and M. Gide refers to them in the following pages. - -After several weeks of intense suffering 'Death the silent pilot' came -at last, and the most brilliant writer of the nineteenth century passed -away on the afternoon of November 30th, 1900, in poverty and almost -alone. The little hotel in Paris--Hotel d'Alsace, 13 rue des Beaux -Arts,--where he died, has become a place of pilgrimage from all parts -of the world for those who admire his genius or pity his sorrows. He -was buried, three days later, in the cemetery at Bagneux, about four -miles out of Paris. - -STUART MASON. - - -[1] In 1890 Lady Wilde received a pension of £50 from the Civil List. - -[2] The subject for this year, 1874, was 'The Fragments of the Greek -Comic Poets, as edited by Meineke.' The medal was presented annually, -from a fund left for the purpose by Bishop Berkeley. - -[3] The demyship was of the annual value of £95, and was tenable for -five years. Oscar Wilde's success was announced in the _University -Gazette_ (Oxford), July 11, 1874. - -[4] On Wednesday, May 1st, Oscar Wilde, dressed as Prince Rupert, was -present at a fancy dress ball given by Mrs. George Herbert Morrell at -Headington Hill Hall. - -[5] 'The Newdigate was listened to with rapt attention and frequently -applauded.'--_Oxford and Cambridge Undergraduates' Journal_, June 27, -1878. - -[6] The degree of B. A. was conferred upon him on Thursday, Novemher -28, 1878. - -[7] Amongst the places he visited were New York, Louisville (Kentucky), -Omaha City and California. In the autumn of this same year, 1882, after -leaving the States, Mr. Wilde went to Canada and thence to Nova Scotia, -arriving at Halifax about October 8th. - -[8] The announcement in _The Times_ of May 31, 1884, was as -follows:--'May 29, at S. James's Church, Paddington, by the Rev. Walter -Abbott, Vicar, Oscar, younger son of the late Sir William Wilde, M. D., -of Dublin, to Constance Mary, only daughter of the late Horace Lloyd, -Esq., Q. C.' - -[9] Of _The Importance of Being Earnest_ the author is reported to have -said, 'The first act is ingenious, the second beautiful, the third -abominably clever.' It was revived by Mr. George Alexander at the St. -James's Theatre on January 7, 1902; and _Lady Windermere's Fan_ on -November 19, 1904. - - - - * * * * * - - - [Illustration: A cross.] - - - Oscar Wilde - - OCT. 16TH, 1854--NOV. 30TH, 1900. - - VERBIS MEIS ADDERE NIHIL AUDEBANT - ET SUPER ILLOS STILLABAT ELOQUIUM - MEUM. - - JOB XXIX, 22 - - R. I. P. - - - _Inscription on Oscar Wilde's Tombstone._ - - - * * * * * - - - - _Letters from M. André Gide._ - - - I. - - - CHÂTEAU DE CUVERVILLE, - - PAR CRIQUETOT L'ESNEVAL, - - SNE. INFERIEURE. - - Monsieur, - - Quelque plaisir que j'aurai de voir mon étude sur Wilde traduite en - anglais, je ne puis vous répondre avant d'avoir correspondu avec mon - éditeur. L'article en question, après avoir paru dans 'l'Ermitage,' - a été réunie à d'autres études dans un volume, _Prétextes_, que le - _Mercure de France_ édita l'an dernier. Un traité me lie à cette - maison et je ne suis pas libre de décider seul. - - Votre lettre a mis quelque temps à me parvenir ici, où pourtant - j'habite. Dès que j'aurai la réponse du _Mercure de France_ je - m'empresserai de vous la faire savoir. - - Veuillez croire, Monsieur, à l'assurance de mes meilleurs sentiments. - - ANDRÉ GIDE. - -_Septembre 9, 1904._ - - - II. - - Monsieur, - - Je laisse à mon éditeur le soin de vous écrire au sujet des conditions - de la publication en anglais de mon étude..... Je désire, comme je - vous le disais, que la traduction que vous proposez de faire se - reporte au texte donné par le _Mercure de France_ dans mon volume - _Prétextes_, et non à celui, fautif, de 'l'Ermitage.'.... - - Le texte des contes de Wilde que je cite s'éloigne, ainsi que vous - pouvez le voir, du texte anglais que Wilde lui-même en a donné. Il - importe que ce _texte oral_ reste différent du texte écrit de ces - 'poems in prose.' Je crois, si ridicule que cela puisse paraître - d'abord, qu'il faut retraduire en anglais le texte francais que j'en - donne (et que j'ai écrit presque sous la dictée de Wilde) et non pas - citer simplement le texte anglais tel que Wilde le rédigea plus tard. - L'effet en est très différent. - - Veuillez croire, Monsieur, à l'assurance de mes sentiments les - meilleurs. - - ANDRÉ GIDE. - -_Septembre 14th, 1904._ - - - * * * * * - - - Oscar Wilde - -I was at Biskra in December, 1900, when I learned through the -newspapers of the lamentable end of Oscar Wilde. Distance, alas! -prevented me from joining in the meagre procession which followed his -body to the cemetery at Bagneux. It was of no use reproaching myself -that my absence would seem to diminish still further the small number -of friends who remained faithful to him--at least I wanted to write -these few pages at once, but for a considerable period Wilde's name -seemed to become once more the property of the newspapers. - -Now that every idle rumour connected with his name, so sadly famous, -is hushed; now that the mob is at last wearied after having praised, -wondered at, and then reviled him, perhaps, a friend may be allowed -to lay, like a wreath on a forsaken grave, these lines of affection, -admiration, and respectful pity. - -When the trial, with all its scandal, which so excited the public mind -in England threatened to wreck his life, certain writers and artists -attempted to carry out, in the name of literature and art, a kind of -rescue. It was hoped that by praising the writer the man would be -excused. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding here, for it must -be acknowledged that Wilde was not a great writer. The leaden buoy -which was thrown to him helped only to weigh him down; his works, far -from keeping him up, seemed to sink with him. In vain were some hands -stretched out: the torrent of the world overwhelmed him--all was over. - -[Illustration: OSCAR WILDE AT OXFORD, 1878.] - -It was not possible at that time to think of defending him in any other -way. Instead of trying to shelter the man behind his work, it was -necessary to show forth first the man as an object of admiration--as -I am going to try to do now--and then the work itself illuminated by -his personality. 'I have put all my genius into my life; I have put -only my talent into my works,' said Wilde once. Great writer, no, but -great _viveur_, yes, if one may use the word in the fullest sense of -the French term. Like certain Greek philosophers of old, Wilde did not -write his wisdom, but spoke and lived it, entrusting it rashly to the -fleeting memory of man, thereby writing it as it were on water. - -Let those who knew him for a longer time than I did, tell the story of -his life. One of those who listened to him the most eagerly relates -here simply a few personal recollections. - - - - I. - - And the mighty nations would have crowned me, who - am crownless now and without name, - And some orient dawn had found me kneeling on the - threshold of the House of Fame. - - - - I. - -Those who became acquainted with Wilde only in the latter years of his -life form a wrong conception of the wonderful creature he formerly was, -if they judge from the enfeebled and crushed being given back to us -from prison, as Ernest Lajeunesse paints him, for instance, in the best -or rather the only passable article on the great reprobate which any -one has had the talent or the courage to write[1]. - -It was in 1891 that I met him for the first time. Wilde had -then what Thackeray calls 'one of the greatest of a great man's -qualities'--success[2]. His manner and his appearance were triumphant. -His success was so assured that it seemed to go in front of him, and -he had only to advance. His books were causing wonder and delight. All -London was soon to rush to see his plays[3]. He was rich, he was great, -he was handsome, he was loaded with happiness and honours. - -Some compared him to an Asiatic Bacchus, others to some Roman Emperor, -and others again to Apollo himself,--in short, he was resplendent. -In Paris his name passed from mouth to mouth as soon as he arrived. -Several absurd sayings went round concerning him, as that after all he -was only the man who smoked gold-tipped cigarettes, and walked about -the streets with a sunflower in his hand. For, skilful in misleading -those who are the heralds of earthly fame, Wilde knew how to hide his -real personality behind an amusing phantom, with which he humorously -deluded the public. - -I had heard him talked about at Stéphane Mallarmé's house, where he was -described as a brilliant conversationalist, and I expressed a wish to -know him, little hoping that I should ever do so. A happy chance, or -rather a friend, gave me the opportunity, and to him I made known my -desire. Wilde was invited to dinner. It was at a restaurant. We were a -party of four, but three of us were content to listen. Wilde did not -converse--he told tales. During the whole meal he hardly stopped. He -spoke in a slow, musical tone, and his very voice was wonderful. He -knew French almost perfectly, but pretended, now and then, to hesitate -a little for a word to which he wanted to call our attention. He had -scarcely any accent, at least only what it pleased him to affect when -it might give a somewhat new or strange appearance to a word--for -instance, he used purposely to pronounce _scepticisme_ as skepticisme. -The stories he told us without a break that evening were not of his -best. Uncertain of his audience he was testing us, for, in his wisdom, -or perhaps in his folly, he never betrayed himself into saying anything -which he thought would not be to the taste of his hearers; so he doled -out food to each according to his appetite. Those who expected nothing -from him got nothing, or only a little light froth, and as at first -he used to give himself up to the task of amusing, many of those who -thought they knew him will have known him only as the amuser. - -When dinner was over we went out. My two friends walking together, -Wilde took me aside and said quite suddenly, 'You hear with your eyes; -that is why I am going to tell you this story.' - -He began:-- - - 'When Narcissus died, the Flowers of the Fields were plunged in grief, - and asked the River for drops of water that they might mourn for him. - - '"Oh," replied the River, "if all my drops of water were tears, I - should not have enough to weep for Narcissus myself--I loved him." - - '"How could you help loving Narcissus?" rejoined the Flowers, "so - beautiful was he." - - '"Was he beautiful?" asked the River. - - '"And who should know that better than yourself?" said the Flowers, - "for, every day, lying on your bank, he would mirror his own beauty in - your waters."' - -Wilde stopped for a moment, and then went on:-- - - '"If I loved him," replied the River, "it is because when he hung over - my waters I saw the reflection of my waters in his eyes."' - -Then Wilde, drawing himself up, added with a strange outburst of -laughter, 'That is called _The Disciple_.' - -We had reached his door, and left him. He asked me to meet him again. -During the course of that year and the next I saw him frequently and -everywhere. - - * * * * * - -In the presence of others, as I have mentioned, Wilde would put on an -air of showing off in order to astonish, or amuse, or even exasperate -people. He never listened to, and scarcely took any notice of an idea -from the moment it was no longer purely his own. When he was no longer -the only one to shine, he would shut himself up, and emerge again -only when one found oneself alone with him once more. But as soon as -we were alone again he would begin, 'Well, what have you been doing -since yesterday?' Now, as at that time my life was passing uneventfully -enough, the telling of what I had been doing was of no interest. So, -to humour him, I began recounting some trifling incidents, and noticed -while I was speaking that Wilde's face was growing gloomy. - -'You really did that?' he said. - -'Yes,' I answered. - -'And you are speaking the truth?' - -'Absolutely.' - -'Then why repeat it? You must see that it is not of the slightest -importance. You must understand that there are two worlds--the one -exists and is never talked about; it is called the real world because -there is no need to talk about it in order to see it. The other is the -world of Art; one must talk about that, because otherwise it would not -exist.' - -Then he went on:-- - - 'Once upon a time there was a man who was beloved in his village - because he used to tell tales. Every morning he left the village, and - when he returned in the evening all the labourers of the village who - had been working all the day would crowd round him and say, "Come, - now, tell us a tale. What have you seen to-day?" - - 'The man said, "I have seen in the forest a Faun playing on a flute - and making a band of little wood-nymphs dance." - - '"Go on with your story; what did you see?" the men would say. - - '"When I reached the sea-shore, I saw three mermaids beside the waves, - combing their green hair with golden combs." - - 'And the villagers loved him because he used to tell them tales. - - 'One morning he left his village as usual, and when he reached the - sea-shore he saw three mermaids at the water's edge combing their - green hair with golden combs. And as he passed on his way he saw, near - a wood, a Faun playing a flute to a band of wood-nymphs. - - 'That evening when he returned to his village the people said to him - as they did every evening, "Come, tell us a tale: what have you seen?" - - 'And the man answered, "I have seen nothing."' - -Wilde stopped for a moment to allow the effect of the story to sink -into me, and then he continued, 'I do not like your lips; they are -quite straight, like the lips of a man who has never told a lie. I want -you to learn to lie so that your lips may become beautiful and curved -like the lips of an antique mask. - -'Do you know what makes the work of art, and what makes the work of -nature? Do you know what the difference is? For the narcissus is as -beautiful as a work of art, so what distinguishes them cannot be merely -beauty. Do you know what it is that distinguishes them? A work of art -is always unique. Nature, who makes nothing durable, is ever repeating -herself, so that nothing she makes may be lost. A single narcissus -produces many blooms--that is why each one lives but a day. Every time -Nature invents a new form she at once makes a _replica_. A sea-monster -in one sea knows that in another sea there is another monster like -itself. When God creates in history a Nero, a Borgia or a Napoleon -He puts another one on one side. No one knows it, but that does not -matter; the important point is that _one_ may be a success. For God -makes man, and man makes the work of art.' - -Forestalling what I was on the point of saying, he proceeded, 'Yes, -I know ... one day a great restlessness fell upon the earth, as if, -at last, Nature was going to create something unique, something quite -unique, and Christ is born on earth. Yes, I know, quite well, but -listen:-- - - 'When Joseph of Arimathæa came down in the evening from Mount Calvary - where Jesus had just died, he saw on a white stone a young man seated - weeping. And Joseph went near to him and said, "I understand how great - thy grief must be, for certainly that Man was a just Man." But the - young man made answer, "Oh, it is not for that that I am weeping. I am - weeping because I, too, have wrought miracles. I also have given sight - to the blind, I have healed the palsied, and I have raised the dead; - I, too, have caused the barren fig-tree to wither away, and I have - turned water into wine. And yet they have not crucified me[4]."' - -And that Oscar Wilde was convinced of his representative mission was -made quite clear to me on more than one occasion. - -The Gospel disturbed and troubled the pagan Wilde. He could not -forgive it its miracles. The pagan miracle lies in the work of Art; -Christianity encroached on it. Every strong departure from realism in -art demands a realism which is convinced in life. His most ingenious -fables, his most alarming ironies were uttered with a view to confront -the two moralities--I mean, pagan naturalism and Christian idealism, -and to put the latter out of countenance in every respect. This is -another of his stories:-- - - 'When Jesus was minded to return to Nazareth, Nazareth was so changed - that He no longer recognised His own city. The Nazareth where He had - lived was full of lamentations and tears; this city was filled with - outbursts of laughter and song. And Christ entering into the city saw - some slaves laden with flowers, hastening towards the marble staircase - of a house of white marble. Christ entered into the house, and at the - back of a hall of jasper He saw, lying on a purple couch, a man whose - disordered locks were mingled with red roses, and whose lips were - red with wine. Christ drew near to him, and laying His hand on his - shoulder said to him, "Why dost thou lead this life?" The man turned - round, recognized Him and said, "I was a leper once; Thou didst heal - me. Why should I live another life? " - - Christ went out of the house, and behold! in the street He saw a woman - whose face and raiment were painted and whose feet were shod with - pearls. And behind her walked a man who wore a cloak of two colours, - and whose eyes were bright with lust. And Christ went up to the man - and laid His hand on his shoulder, and said to him, "Tell Me why art - thou following this woman, and why dost thou look at her in such - wise?" The man turning round recognized Him and said, "I was blind; - Thou didst heal me; what else should I do with my sight?" - - 'And Christ drew near to the woman and said to her, "This road which - thou art following is the pathway of sin; why follow it?" The woman - recognized Him, and laughing said, "The way which I follow is a - pleasant way, and Thou hast pardoned all my sins." - - 'Then Christ felt His heart filled with sadness, and He was minded to - leave the city. But as He was going out of it He saw sitting by the - bank of the moat of the city, a young man who was weeping. He drew - near to him, and touching the locks of his hair, said to him, "Friend, - why dost thou weep?" The young man raised his eyes, recognized Him and - made answer, "I was dead and Thou hast raised me to life. What else - should I do with my life?"' - -Let me tell this one story more, illustrating one of the strangest -pitfalls into which the imagination can mislead a man, and let any one, -who is able, understand the strange paradox which Wilde here makes use -of:-- - - 'Then there was a great silence in the Judgment Hall of God. And the - Soul of the sinner stood naked before God. - - 'And God opened the Book of the life of the sinner and said, "Surely - thy life hath been very evil. Thou hast" (there followed a wonderful, - a marvellous list of sins[5]). "Since thou hast done all this, surely - I will send thee to Hell." - - 'And the man cried out, "Thou canst not send me to Hell." - - 'And God said to the man, "Wherefore can I not send thee to Hell?" - - 'And the man made answer and said, "Because in Hell I have always - lived." - - 'And there was a great silence in the Judgment Hall of God. - - 'And God spake and said to the man, "Seeing that I may not send thee - to Hell, I am going to send thee to Heaven." - - '"Thou canst not send me to Heaven." - - 'And God said to the man, "Wherefore can I not send thee to Heaven?" - - 'And the man said, "Because I have never been able to imagine it." - - 'And there was a great silence in the Judgment Hall of God[6].' - -One morning Wilde handed me an article in which a sufficiently dense -critic congratulated him on 'knowing how to write pretty stories in -which the better to clothe his thoughts.' - -'They think,' began Wilde, 'that all thoughts come naked to the birth. -They do not understand that I _cannot_ think otherwise than in stories. -The sculptor does not try to reproduce his thoughts in marble; _he -thinks in marble_, straight away. Listen:-- - - 'There was once a man who could think only in bronze. And this man one - day had an idea, an idea of _The Pleasure that Abideth for a Moment_. - And he felt that he must give expression to it. But in the whole world - there was but one single piece of bronze, for men had used it all up. - And this man felt that he would go mad if he did not give expression - to his idea. And he remembered a piece of bronze on the tomb of his - wife, a statue which he had himself fashioned to set on the tomb of - his wife, the only woman he had ever loved. It was the image of _The - Sorrow that Endureth for Ever_. And the man felt that he was becoming - mad, because he could not give expression to his idea. Then he took - this image of Sorrow, of the _Sorrow that endureth for Ever_, and - broke it up and melted it and fashioned of it an Image of Pleasure, of - the _Pleasure that abideth for a Moment_.' - -Wilde was a believer in a certain fatality besetting the path of the -artist, and that the _Man_ is at the mercy of the Idea. 'There are,' he -used to say, 'artists of two kinds: some supply answers, and others ask -questions. It is necessary to know if one belongs to those who answer -or to those who ask questions; for the one who asks questions is never -the one who answers them. There are certain works which wait for their -interpretation for a long time. It is because they are giving answers -to questions that have not yet been asked--for the question often comes -a terribly long time after the answer.' - -And he added further, 'The soul is born old in the body; it is to -rejuvenate the soul that the body becomes old. Plato is Socrates young -again.' - -Then it was three years before I saw him again. - - -[1] In _La Revue Blanche_. - -[2] _Henry Esmond_, Book II, chap. XI. Thackeray puts these words into -the mouth of the famous Mr. Joseph Addison, who continues:--''T is the -result of all the others; 't is a latent power in him which compels the -favour of the gods, and subjugates fortune.' - -[3] Oscar Wilde's first play, _Lady Windermere's Fan_, was produced -at the St. James's Theatre on February 20, 1892. This was followed by -_A Woman of No Importance_, April 19, 1893, and _An Ideal Husband_, -January, 3, 1895, at Haymarket; and _The Importance of Being Earnest_, -February 14, 1895, at the St. James's. - -[4] This story appeared under the title of 'The Master' with other -Poems in Prose in _The Fortnightly Review_ for July, 1894. Two of them, -'The Disciple' and 'The House of Judgment,' were first published in -_The Spirit Lamp_ in 1893. This was a magazine published at Oxford -under the editorship of Lord Alfred Douglas, who had recently bought it -from the founder and changed its style and form. A complete set of the -fifteen numbers is now exceedingly scarce. - -[5] Henri Davray translated these 'Poems in Prose' in _La Revue -Blanche_. - -[6] Since Villiers de l'Isle-Adam has betrayed it, every one knows, -alas! the great secret of the Church: _There is no Purgatory!_ - - - - II. - - I have made my choice, have lived my poems, and - though youth is gone in wasted days, - I have found the lover's crown of myrtle better than - the poet's crown of bays. - - - - II. - -Here tragic reminiscences begin. - -A persistent rumour, growing louder and louder with the fame of his -successes (in London his plays were being acted in no less than three -different theatres at the same time[1]), attributed to Wilde strange -habits, on hearing of which, some people tempered their indignation -with a smile, while others were not in the least indignant. It was -claimed, moreover, as regards these alleged habits, that he concealed -them little, and often on the other hand paraded them--some said -courageously, others out of cynicism, and others for a pose. I was -filled with astonishment when I heard these rumours. In no way, all the -time that I had been intimate with him, had he given me the slightest -ground for suspicion. But already out of prudence numbers of his old -friends were deserting him. They did not yet actually cut him, but they -no longer made a point of saying they had met him. - -An extraordinary coincidence brought us together again. It was in -January, 1895. I was travelling. A peevish disposition urged me on, -and I sought solitude rather than novelty of scene. The weather was -frightful. I had fled from Algiers to Blidah, and I was about to quit -Blidah for Biskra. Just as I was leaving my hotel, I glanced, through -idle curiosity, at the slate on which visitors' names were inscribed. -What did I see there? By the side of my own name, actually touching it, -was Wilde's. I have said that I was thirsting to be alone, so I took -the sponge and rubbed my name out. Before reaching the railway station, -however, I was not quite sure that a little cowardice did not underlie -that act, so at once retracing my steps I had my bag taken upstairs and -wrote my name on the slate again. - -In the three years since I had seen him--for I can hardly count a short -meeting in Florence the year before--Wilde had certainly changed. -One felt that there was less tenderness in his look, that there was -something harsh in his laughter and a madness in his joy. He seemed, -at the same time, to be more sure of pleasing and less ambitious to -succeed therein. He had grown reckless, hardened, and conceited. -Strangely enough, he no longer spoke in fables, and during several days -that I tarried there I was not once able to draw the shortest tale from -him. My first impression was one of astonishment at finding him in -Algeria. - -'Oh,' he said to me, 'just now I am fleeing from art. I want only to -adore the sun. Have you ever noticed how the sun detests thought? The -sun always causes thought to withdraw itself and take refuge in the -shade. Thought dwelt in Egypt originally, but the sun conquered Egypt; -then it lived for a long time in Greece, and the sun conquered Greece, -then in Italy, and then in France. Nowadays all thought is driven back -as far as Norway and Russia, places where the sun never goes. The sun -is jealous of art.' - -To adore the sun, ah! that was--for him--to adore life. Wilde's lyrical -adoration was fast becoming a frenzied madness. A fatality led him -on; he could not and would not withdraw himself from it. He seemed to -devote all his zeal and all his worth to over-rating his destiny, and -over-reaching himself. '_My_ special duty,' he used to say, 'is to -plunge madly into amusement.' He used to make a point of searching for -pleasure as one faces an appointed duty. Nietzsche surprised me less, -on a later occasion, because I had heard Wilde say, 'No, not happiness! -Certainly not happiness! Pleasure. One must always set one's heart upon -the most tragic.' - -He would walk about the streets of Algiers preceded, escorted, and -followed by an extraordinary mob of young ruffians. He talked to -them all, regarded them all with equal delight, and threw them money -recklessly. 'I hope to have thoroughly demoralized this town,' he told -me. I thought of Flaubert's saying when he was asked what kind of -reputation he most desired--'that of being a demoralizer,' he replied. -In the face of all this I was filled with astonishment, admiration, and -alarm. I knew of his shaky position, the enmities he had created, and -the attacks which were being made upon him, and I knew what dark unrest -lay hidden beneath his outward pretence of pleasure. - -On one of those last evenings in Algiers, Wilde seemed to have made up -his mind not to say a single serious word. At last I became somewhat -annoyed at the exaggerated wit of his paradoxes, and I said to him, -'You have got something better to talk about than this nonsense; you -are talking to me as if I were the public. You ought rather to talk to -the public as you know so well how to talk to your friends. Why is it -your plays are not better? The best that is in you, you talk; why do -you not write it?' 'Oh, well,' he cried immediately, 'my plays are not -good, I know, and I don't trouble about that, but if you only knew how -much amusement they afford! They are nearly all the results of a bet. -So was _Dorian Gray_--I wrote that in a few days because a friend of -mine declared that I could not write a novel. Writing bores me so.' - -[Illustration: OSCAR WILDE, 1893.] - -Then, turning suddenly towards me, he said, 'Would you like to know the -great drama of my life? It is that I have put my genius into my life--I -have put only my talent into my works.' - -It was only too true. The best of his writing is but a poor reflection -of his brilliant conversation. Those who have heard him talk find him -disappointing to read. _Dorian Gray_ in its conception was a wonderful -story, far superior to _La Peau de Chagrin_, and far more significant! -Alas! when written, what a masterpiece spoiled. In his most delightful -tales literary influence makes itself too much felt. However graceful -they may be, one notices too much literary effort; affectation and -delicacy of phrase[2] conceal the beauty of the first conception of -them. One feels in them, and one cannot help feeling in them, the -three periods of their generation. The first idea contained in them is -very beautiful, simple, profound, and certain to make itself heard; -a kind of latent necessity holds the parts firmly together, but from -that point the gift stops. The development of the parts is done in an -artificial manner; there is a lack of arrangement about them, and when -Wilde elaborates his sentences and endeavours to give them their full -value, he does so by overloading them prodigiously with tiny conceits -and quaint and trifling fancies. The result is that one's emotion is -held at bay, and the dazzling of the surface so blinds one's eyes and -mind, that the deep central emotion is lost. - -He spoke of returning to London, as a well-known peer was insulting -him, challenging him, and taunting him with running away. - -'But if you go back what will happen? 'I asked him. 'Do you know the -risk you are running?' - -'It is best never to know,' he answered. 'My friends are -extraordinary--they beg me to be careful. Careful? but can I be -careful? That would be a backward step. I must go on as far as -possible. I cannot go much further. Something is bound to happen ... -something else.' - -Here he broke off, and the next day he left for England. - -The rest of the story is well-known. That 'something else' was hard -labour. - - [I have invented nothing, nor altered anything, in the last few - sentences I have quoted. Wilde's words are fixed in my mind, and, I - might almost say, in my ears. I do not say that Wilde clearly saw the - prison opening to receive him, but I do assert that the great and - unexpected event which astonished and upset London, suddenly changing - Oscar Wilde from accuser into accused, did not cause him any surprise. - - The newspapers, which chose to see in him only a buffoon, - misrepresented, as far as they could, the position taken up for his - defence, even to the extent of wresting all meaning from it. Perhaps - some day in the far future it will be seemly to lift this dreadful - trial out of the mire--but not yet.] - - -[1] _An Ideal Husband_ at the Haymarket and _The Importance of Being -Earnest_ at the St. James's. Possibly _Lady Windermere's Fan_ or _A -Woman of No Importance_ was being played at a suburban theatre at the -same time. - -[2] M. Gide first wrote _euphuisme_ but altered it to _euphémisme_ on -republishing his 'Study' in _Prétextes_. Euphuism or 'extreme nicety -in language' seems to be more appropriate in the present case than -euphemism or 'a softening of offensive expressions.' - - - - III. - - For the crimson flower of our life is eaten by the cankerworm - of truth. - And no hand can gather up the fallen withered petals - of the rose of youth. - - - - III. - -As soon as he came out of prison, Oscar Wilde went back to France. At -Berneval, a quiet little village near Dieppe, a certain 'Sebastian -Melmoth' took up his abode. It was he. As I had been the last of his -French friends to see him, I wanted to be the first to greet him on -his return to liberty, and as soon as I could find out his address I -hastened to him. - -I arrived about midday without having previously announced my proposed -visit. M. Melmoth, whom T----[1] with warm cordiality invited to Dieppe -fairly frequently, was not expected back till the evening. He did not -return till midnight. - -It was as cold as winter. The weather was atrocious. The whole day I -wandered about the deserted beach in low spirits and bored to death. -How could Wilde have chosen Berneval to live in, I wondered. It was -positively mournful. Night came, and I went back to the hotel to engage -a room, the same hotel where Melmoth was living--indeed it was the only -one in the place. The hotel, which was clean and pleasantly situated, -catered only for second-class boarders, inoffensive folk enough, with -whom I had to dine. Rather poor company for Melmoth, I thought. - -Fortunately I had a book to read, but it was a gloomy evening, and at -eleven o'clock I was just going to abandon my intention of waiting up -for him when I heard the rumbling of carriage wheels. M. Melmoth had -arrived, benumbed with cold. He had lost his overcoat on the way. And, -now that he came to think of it, he remembered that a peacock's feather -which his servant had brought him the previous evening was a bad omen, -and had clearly foretold some misfortune about to befall him; luckily -it was no worse. But as he was shivering with cold, the hotel was set -busy to warm some whiskey for him. He hardly said 'How do you do?' to -me. In the presence of others, at least, he did not wish to appear to -be at all moved. And my own emotion was almost immediately stilled on -finding Sebastian Melmoth so plainly like the Oscar Wilde of old--no -longer the frenzied poet of Algeria, but the sweet Wilde of the days -before the crisis; and I found myself taken back not two years, but -four or five. There was the same dreamy look, the same amused smile, -the same voice. - -He occupied two rooms, the best in the hotel, and he had arranged them -with great taste. Several books lay on the table, and among them he -showed me my own _Nourritures Terrestres_, which had been published -lately. A pretty Gothic Virgin stood on a high pedestal in a dark -corner. - -Presently we sat down near the lamp, Wilde drinking his grog in little -sips. I noticed, now that the light was better, that the skin of his -face had become red and common looking, and his hands even more so, -though they still bore the same rings--one to which he was especially -attached had in a reversible bezel an Egyptian scarabæus in lapis -lazuli. His teeth were dreadfully decayed. - -We began chatting, and I reminded him of our last meeting in Algiers, -and asked him if he remembered that I had almost foretold the -approaching catastrophe. - -'Did you not know,' I said, 'almost for certain what was awaiting you -in England? You saw the danger and rushed headlong into it, did you -not?' - -Here I think I cannot do better than copy out the pages on which I -wrote shortly afterwards as much as I could remember of what he said. - -'Oh, naturally,' he replied, 'of course I knew that there would be -a catastrophe, either that or something else; I was expecting it. -There was but one end possible. Just imagine--to go any further was -impossible, and that state of things could not last. That is why there -had to be some end to it, you see. Prison has completely changed me[2]. -I was relying on it for that. ---is terrible. He cannot understand -that--he cannot understand that I am not taking up the same existence -again. He accuses the others of having changed me--but one must never -take up the same existence again. My life is like a work of art. An -artist never begins the same work twice, or else it shows that he has -not succeeded. My life before prison was as successful as possible. Now -all that is finished and done with.' - -He lighted a cigarette and went on: 'The public is so dreadful that it -knows a man only by the last thing he has done. If I were to go back -to Paris now, people would see in me only the convict. I do not want -to show myself again before I have written a play. Till then I must -be left alone and undisturbed.' And he added abruptly, 'Did I not do -well to come here? My friends wanted me to go to the South to recruit, -because at first I was quite worn out. But I asked them to find me, in -the North of France, a very small place at the seaside, where I should -see no one, where it was very cold and there was hardly ever any sun. -Did I not do well to come and live at Berneval? [Outside the weather -was frightful.] Here every one is most good to me--the Curé especially. -I am so fond of the little church, and, would you believe it, it is -called _Notre Dame de Liesse_[3]! Now, is not that charming? And now -I know that I can never leave Berneval, because only this morning the -Curé offered me a perpetual seat in the choir-stalls. - -And the Custom-house men, poor fellows, are so bored here with nothing -to do, that I asked them if they had not anything to read, and now I -am giving them all the elder Dumas' novels. So I must stay here, you -see. And the children, oh, the children they adore me. On the day of -the Queen's Jubilee I gave a grand fête and a big dinner, when I had -forty children from the school, all of them, and the schoolmaster, to -celebrate it. Is not that absolutely charming? You know that I admire -the Queen very much. I always have her portrait with me.' - -And he showed me her portrait by Nicholson, pinned on the wall. I -got up to look at it. A small bookshelf was close to it, and I began -glancing at the books. I wanted to lead Wilde on to talk to me in a -more serious vein. I sat down again, and rather timidly asked him if he -had read _Souvenirs de la Maison des Morts_. - -He gave me no direct answer, but began:--'Russian writers are -extraordinary. What makes their books so great is the pity they put -into them. You know how fond I used to be of _Madame Bovary_, but -Flaubert would not admit pity into his work, and that is why it has a -petty and restrained character about it. It is sense of pity by means -of which a work gains in expanse, and by which it opens up a boundless -horizon. Do you know, my dear fellow, it was pity that prevented me -from killing myself? During the first six months I was dreadfully -unhappy, so utterly miserable that I wanted to kill myself, but what -kept me from doing so was looking at _the others_, and seeing that they -were as unhappy as I was, and feeling sorry for them. Oh, dear! what a -wonderful thing pity is, and I never knew it.' - -He was speaking in a low voice without any excitement. - -'Have you ever learned how wonderful a thing pity is? For my part I -thank God every night, yes, on my knees I thank God for having taught -it to me. I went into prison with a heart of stone, thinking only of -my own pleasure, but now my heart is utterly broken--pity has entered -into my heart. I have learned now that pity is the greatest and most -beautiful thing in the world. And that is why I cannot bear ill-will -towards those who caused my suffering and those who condemned me; -no, nor to any one, because without them I should not have known all -that. ---- writes me terrible letters. He says he does not understand -me, that he does not understand that I do not wish every one ill, and -that every one has been horrid to me. No, he does not understand me. -He cannot understand me any more. But I keep on telling him that in -every letter: we cannot follow the same road. He has his, and it is -beautiful--I have mine. His is that of Alcibiades; mine is now that of -St. Francis of Assisi. Do you know St. Francis of Assisi? A wonderful -man! Would you like to give me a great pleasure? Send me the best life -of St. Francis you can find.' - -I promised it to him. He went on: - -'Yes, afterwards we had a charming prison Governor, oh, quite a -charming man, but for the first six months I was dreadfully unhappy. -There was a Governor of the prison, a Jew, who was very harsh, because -he was entirely lacking in imagination.' - -This last expression, spoken very quickly, was irresistibly funny; and, -as I laughed heartily, he laughed too, repeated it, and then said: - -'He did not know what to imagine in order to make us suffer. Now, you -shall see what a lack of imagination he showed. You must know that in -prison we are allowed to go out only one hour a day; then, we walk in a -courtyard, round and round, one behind the other, and we are absolutely -forbidden to say a word. Warders watch us, and there are terrible -punishments for any one caught talking. Those who are in prison for the -first time are spotted at once, because they do not know how to speak -without moving their lips. I had already been in prison six weeks and I -had not spoken a word to anyone--not to a soul[4]. - -'One evening we were walking as usual, one behind the other, during the -hour's exercise, when suddenly behind me I heard my name called. It was -the prisoner who followed me, and he said, "Oscar Wilde, I pity you, -because you must suffer more than we do." Then I made a great effort -not to be noticed (I thought I was going to faint), and I said without -turning round, "No, my friend, we all suffer alike." And from that day -I no longer had a desire to kill myself. We talked in that way for -several days. I knew his name and what he had done. His name was P----; -he was such a good fellow; oh! so good. But I had not yet learned to -speak without moving my lips, and one evening,--"C.3.3." (C.3.3. was -myself), "C.3.3. and A.4.8. step out of the ranks." - -'Then we stood out, and the warder said, "You will both have to go -before the Governor." And as pity had already entered into my heart, my -only fear was for him; in fact I was even glad that I might suffer for -his sake. But the Governor was quite terrible. He had P---- in first; -he was going to question us separately, because you must know that the -punishment is not the same for the one who speaks first, and for the -one who answers; the punishment of the one who speaks first is double -that of the other. As a rule the first has fifteen days' solitary -confinement, and the second has eight days only. Then the Governor -wanted to know which of us had spoken first, and naturally P----, good -fellow that he was, said it was he. And afterwards when the Governor -had me in to question me, I, of course, said it was I. Then the -Governor got very red because he could not understand it. "But P---- -also says that it was he who began it. I cannot understand it. I cannot -understand it." - -'Think of it, my dear fellow, he could =not= understand it. He became -very much embarrassed and said, "But I have already given him fifteen -days," and then he added, "Anyhow, if that is the case, I shall give -you both fifteen days." Is not that extraordinary? That man had not a -spark of imagination[5].' - -Wilde was vastly amused at what he was saying, and laughed--he was -happy telling stories. 'And, of course,' he continued, 'after the -fifteen days we were much more anxious to speak to one another than -before. You do not know how sweet that is, to feel that one is -suffering for another. Gradually, as we did not go in the same order -each day, I was able to talk to each of the others, to all of them, -every one of them. I knew each one's name and each one's history, and -when each was due to be released. And to each one I said, "When you get -out of prison, the first thing you must do is to go to the Post Office, -and there you will find a letter for you with some money." And so in -that way I still know them, because I keep up my friendship with them. -And there is something quite delightful in them. Would you believe -it, already three of them have been to see me here? Is not that quite -wonderful?' - -'The successor of the harsh Governor was a very charming man--oh! -remarkably so--and most considerate to me. You cannot imagine how much -good it did me in prison that _Salomé_[6] was being played in Paris -just at that time. In prison, it had been entirely forgotten that I -was a literary person, but when they saw that my play was a success in -Paris, they said to one another, "Well, but that is strange; he has -talent, then." And from that moment they let me have all the books I -wanted to read[7]. I thought, at first, that what would please me most -would be Greek literature, so I asked for Sophocles, but I could not -get a relish for it. Then I thought of the Fathers of the Church, but I -found them equally uninteresting. And suddenly I thought of Dante. Oh! -Dante. I read Dante every day, in Italian, and all through, but neither -the _Purgatorio_ nor the _Paradiso_ seemed written for me. It was his -_Inferno_ above all that I read; how could I help liking it? Cannot you -guess? Hell, we were in it--Hell, that was prison!'[8] - -That same evening he told me a clever story about Judas, and of his -proposed drama on Pharaoh. Next day he took me to a charming little -house[9], about two hundred yards from the hotel, which he had rented -and was beginning to furnish. It was there that he wanted to write his -plays--his _Pharoah_ first, and then one called _Ahab and Jezebel_ (he -pronounced it 'Isabelle'), which he related to me admirably. - -The carriage which was to take me away was waiting, and Wilde got into -it to accompany me part of the way. He began talking to me again about -my book, and praised it, though with some slight reserve, I thought. -At last the carriage stopped; he bade me good-bye, and was just going -to get out, when he suddenly said, 'Listen, my dear friend, you must -promise me one thing. Your _Nourritures Terrestres_ is good, very good, -but promise me you will never write a capital "I" again.' And as I -seemed scarcely to understand what he meant, he finished up by saying, -'In Art, you see, there is no first person.' - - -[1] A literary friend who, a few years later, in collaboration, with -another, translated _Dorian Gray_ into French. - -[2] 'No more beautiful life has any man lived, no more beautiful life -could any man live than Oscar Wilde lived during the short period I -knew him in prison. He wore upon his face an eternal smile; sunshine -was on his face, sunshine of some sort must have been in his heart. -People say he was not sincere: he was the very soul of sincerity when I -knew him. If he did not continue that life after he left prison, then -the forces of evil must have been too strong for him. But he tried, he -honestly tried, and in prison he succeeded.'--_From a Letter written to -the Translator_. - -[3] An archaic French word from the Latin _laetitia_. - -[4] Within the last few years the stringency of this regulation has -been somewhat relaxed, and it is in the discretion of the Governor to -allow conversation at certain times. The Governor of Reading Prison, -in the appendix to the Report of the Commissioners for the year ending -March 31, 1901, stated: 'The privilege of talking at exercise is much -appreciated by the prisoners. They walk and talk in a quiet and orderly -manner, and there have been no reports for misbehaviour.' - -[5] Solitary confinement does not mean in a dark cell. The prisoner -still remains in his own cell, but is debarred from exercising with -the other prisoners, or accompanying them to Divine Service. The -confinement is not consecutive, but applies to every alternate day -only--thus, a prisoner sentenced to seven days' bread and water, or -solitary confinement, does but four days. - -[6] _Salome_ was played in Paris early in 1896. - -[7] Oscar Wilde found the prison library quite unable to satisfy his -wants, and he was allowed to receive books from outside. Such books -are then added to the prison library. Magazines are forbidden, but -novels allowed. In a letter written from prison early in 1897, Oscar -Wilde said that he felt a horror of returning to the world without -possessing a single volume of his own, and suggested that some of his -friends might like to give him some books. 'You know what kind of books -I want,' he says, 'Flaubert, Stevenson, Baudelaire, Maeterlinck, Dumas -père, Keats, Marlowe, Chatterton, Coleridge, Anatole France, Théophile -Gautier, Dante, and Goethe, and so on.' - -[8] During the last three months or so of his imprisonment he did no -work whatever beyond writing _De Profundis_ and keeping his cell clean. -He was allowed gas in his cell up to a late hour, when it was turned -down but not turned out. As everything he wrote was examined by the -Governor, naturally the prison system is not attacked with the same -vehemence in _De Profundis_ as it is in _The Ballad of Reading Gaol_. - -[9] This was the Chalet Bourbat where Wilde lived from July to October, -1897. - - - - IV. - - Ah! what else had I to do but love you, God's own - mother was less dear to me, - And less dear the Cytheræan rising like an argent lily - from the sea. - - - - IV. - -On returning to Paris I went to give news of him to ----. - ----- said to me: 'But all that is quite absurd. He is quite incapable -of bearing the _ennui_. I know him so well. He writes to me every -day. I also am of opinion that he ought to finish his play first, but -after that he will come back here. He has never done anything good in -solitude; he needs to be constantly drawn out of himself. It is by my -side that he has written all his best work. Besides, just look at his -last letter.' - -He thereupon read it to me. In it Wilde begged ---- to let him finish -his _Pharaoh_ in peace, but, in effect, the letter implied that as soon -as his play was written he would come back, he would find him again; -and it ended with these boastful words, 'and then I shall be once more -the King of Life.' - - - - V. - - Rudderless, we drift athwart a tempest, and when once - the storm of youth is past, - Without lyre, without lute or chorus, Death the silent - pilot comes at last. - - -[Illustration: THE GRAVE AT BAGNEUX.] - - - V. - -And a short time afterwards, Wilde went back to Paris.[1] - -His play was not written--it will never be written now. Society well -knows what steps to take when it wants to crush a man, and it has -means more subtle than death. Wilde had suffered too grievously for -the last two years, and in too submissive a manner, and his will had -been broken. For the first few months he might still have entertained -illusions, but he soon gave them up. It was as though he had signed his -abdication. Nothing remained in his shattered life but a mouldy ruin, -painful to contemplate, of his former self. At times he seemed to wish -to show that his brain was still active. Humour there was, but it was -far-fetched, forced, and threadbare. - -I met him again on two occasions only. One evening on the Boulevards, -where I was walking with G----, I heard my name called. I turned round -and saw Wilde. Ah! how changed he was. 'If I appear again before -writing my play, the world will refuse to see in me anything except -the felon,' he had once said to me. He had appeared again, without his -play, and as he found certain doors closed in his face, he no longer -sought admission anywhere. He prowled. - -Friends, at different times, tried to save him[2]. They did all they -could think of, and were for taking him to Italy, but he eluded their -efforts, and began to drift back. Among those who had remained faithful -for the longest time, some had often told me that Wilde was no longer -to be seen, and I was somewhat uneasy, I admit, at seeing him again, -and what is more, in a place where so many people might pass. Wilde was -sitting at a table outside a café. He ordered two cock-tails for G---- -and myself. I was going to sit opposite to him in such a way as to turn -my back to the passers-by, but Wilde, noticed this movement, which he -took as an impulse of absurd shame, (he was not entirely mistaken, I -must admit), and said, 'Oh, sit here, near me,' pointing to a chair at -his side, 'I am so much alone just now.' - -Wilde was still well-dressed, but his hat was not so glossy; his collar -was of the same shape, but it was not so clean, and the sleeves of his -coat were slightly frayed at the edges. - -'When I used to meet Verlaine in days gone by,' he continued with an -outburst of pride, 'I was never ashamed of being seen with him. I was -rich, light-hearted, and covered with glory, but I felt that to be seen -with him was an honour, even when Verlaine was drunk.' Then fearing to -bore G----, I think, he suddenly changed his mood, tried to be witty -and to make jokes. In the effort he became gloomy. My recollections -here are dreadfully sad. At last my friend and I got up. Wilde insisted -on paying for the drinks, and I was about to say good-bye, when he took -me aside, and, with an air of great embarrassment, said in a low voice, -'I say, I must tell you, I am absolutely without a penny[3]. - -Some days afterwards I saw him again, and for the last time. I do -not want to repeat more than one word of our conversation. He told -me of his troubles, of the impossibility of carrying out, or even of -beginning, a piece of work[4]. Sadly I reminded him of the promise he -had made not to show himself in Paris without having finished one book. -'Ah!' I began, 'why did you leave Berneval so soon, when you ought to -have stayed there so long? I cannot say that I am angry with you, but--' - -He interrupted me, laid his hand on mine, looked at me with his most -sorrowful look, and said, 'You must not be angry with _one who has been -crushed_[5].' - - * * * * * - -Oscar Wilde died in a shabby little hotel in the Rue des Beaux Arts. -Seven persons followed the hearse, and even they did not all accompany -the funeral procession to the end. On the coffin were some flowers -and some artificial wreaths, only one of which, I am told, bore any -inscription. It was from the proprietor of the hotel, and on it were -these words: 'A MON LOCATAIRE.' - - -[1] The representatives of his family were willing to guarantee Wilde a -very good position if he would consent to certain stipulations, one of -which was that he should never see ---- again. He was either unable or -unwilling to accept the conditions. - -[2] In October, 1897, he stayed with friends at the Villa Gindice, -Posillipo, and was in Naples till the end of the year, or the beginning -of 1898, when he went to Paris. In the following year he went to the -South of France (Nice) for the spring, but was back in June or July. He -went also to Switzerland in 1899 and stayed some time at Gland. - -[3] M. Gide says that Wilde's words were '_je suis absolument sans -ressources_,' which, I think, need not mean more than a temporary -embarrassment. I have been at some pains to find out what the actual -circumstances were, and I am able to state the following facts on the -authority of Lord Alfred Douglas. When Mr. Wilde came out of prison, -the sum of £800 was subscribed for him by his friends. Lord Alfred -Douglas gave or sent Mr. Wilde, in the last twelve months of his life, -cheques for over £600, as he can show by his bank-book, in addition to -ready money gifts, and several others gave him at various times amounts -totalling up to several hundreds of pounds. 'It is true,' Lord Alfred -Douglas writes, 'he was always hard up and short of money, but that was -because he was incurably extravagant and reckless. I think these facts -ought to be known in justice to myself and many others of his friends, -all poor men.' In another letter Lord Alfred Douglas says that Mr. -Wilde, when he was well off, before his disaster, was the most generous -of men. After 1897 received also large sums of money as advance fees -for plays which he never finished. 'I hope,' Lord Alfred Douglas -continues, 'you will not think that I blame him, or have any grievance -against him on any account. What I gave him I considered I owed him, -as he had often lent and given me money before he came to grief. I was -delighted that he should have it, and I wish I had had time to give him -more.' It was not, however, till after the death of his father, that -Lord Alfred Douglas was in a position to help Mr. Wilde to the extent -that he did, and Mr. Wilde died within a few months of the death of -Lord Queensberry. - -Lord Alfred Douglas adds that he thinks 'it is about time that some of -the poisonous nonsense which has been written about Mr. Wilde should be -qualified by a little fact.' - -It must be remembered, however, that large as the sums of money were -which Mr. Wilde received during the last few years of his life, they -would not appear so to him, as in the days of his highest success he -was receiving several thousands a year from his plays and other works. - -It is since the first sheets of this book passed through the press that -I have been favoured with the information that Lord Alfred Douglas has -been good enough to give me, and I now wish to qualify the statement in -my introductory remarks that Mr. Wilde died 'in poverty.' It would be -more accurate to say 'in comparative poverty.' - -[4] Two plays produced in London shortly hefore his death have been -attributed to Oscar Wilde. One of these, _The Tyranny of Tears_, does -not contain a single line of his. The other is _Mr. and Mrs. Daventry_, -the plot of which was originally Oscar Wilde's, and he sketched out -the scenario. The play was then sold to Mr. Frank Harris, who has -always acknowledged Wilde's share in it, but the piece was entirely -transformed, and except one or two of the situations in it there was -very little left of Wilde's idea. - -Referring to such works as the translations of _Ce Qui ne Meurt pas_ -and the _Satyricon_ which have heen issued under Oscar Wilde's name, -Mr. Robert Ross (the editor of _De Profundis_), writes:--'No one can -produce even a scrap of MS. in the author's handwriting of these -so-called "last works."' - -[5] 'Scandals used to lend charm, or at least interest, to a man--now -they crush him.'--_An Ideal Husband_, Act I. - - - - * * * * * - - - TO OSCAR WILDE, - - AUTHOR OF 'RAVENNA.' - - BY AUGUSTUS M. MOORE. - - - No Marsyas am I, who singing came - To challenge King Apollo at a Test, - But a love-wearied singer at the best. - The myrtle leaves are all that I can claim, - While on thy brow there burns a crown of flame, - Upon thy shield Italia's eagle crest; - Content am I with Lesbian leaves to rest, - Guard thou thy laurels and thy mother's name. - - I buried Love within the rose I meant - To deck the fillet of thy Muse's hair; - I take this wild-flower, grown against her feet, - And kissing its half-open lips I swear, - Frail though it be and widowed of its scent, - I plucked it for your sake and find it sweet. - - - MOORE HALL, - - SEPTEMBER, 1878. - - - From _The Irish Monthly_, Vol. vi, No. 65. - - - * * * * * - - - LIST OF PUBLISHED WRITINGS OF OSCAR WILDE. - - -Αἴλινον, αἴινον εἰπὲ, Τὸ δ᾽ ευ̉ νικάτω. _Dublin University Magazine_, -September, 1876. - -APOLOGIA. _Poets and Poetry of the Century_, Edited by A. H. Miles, -Vol. viii, 1891, 1898. - -ARTIST, THE. In 'Poems in Prose.' - -ARTIST'S DREAM, THE. _Green Room_, Routledge's Christmas Annual, 1880. - -AVE IMPERATRIX! A POEM ON ENGLAND. _World_, August 25, 1880. - -AVE! MARIA. _Kottabos_, Michaelmas Term, 1879. - -BALLAD OF READING GAOL, THE. Leonard Smithers, 1898 (February), 7th -Edition, 1899. - -BIRTHDAY OF THE INFANTA, THE. (_Le Figaro Illustré_, Christmas -Number?). In 'A House of Pomegranates.' - -CANTERVILLE GHOST, THE. Illustrations by F. H. Townsend. _Court and -Society Review_, February 23, March 2, 1887. In 'Lord Arthur Savile's -Crime and Other Stories.' - -CASE OF WARDER MARTIN, THE. _Daily Chronicle_, May 28, 1897. - -CHILDREN IN PRISON. Murdoch & Co., 1898 (February). - -CHINESE SAGE, A. _Speaker_, February 8, 1890 - -CONQUEROR OF TIME, THE. _Time_, April, 1879. - -CRITIC AS ARTIST, THE. In 'Intentions.' - -DE PROFUNDIS. Methuen & Co., 1905 (February 23), 4th Edition, March, -1905. - -DECAY OF LYING, THE. A DIALOGUE. _Nineteenth Century_, January, 1889. -In 'Intentions.' - -DEVOTED FRIEND, THE. In 'The Happy Prince and Other Tales.' - -Δηξίθυμον Ἔρωτος Ἄνθος. _Kottabos_, Trinity Term, 1876. - -DISCIPLE, THE. _Spirit Lamp_, June 6, 1893. In 'Poems in Prose.' - -DOER OF GOOD, THE. In 'Poems in Prose.' - -DOLE OF THE KING'S DAUGHTER, THE. _Dublin University Magazine_, June, -1876. - -DON'T READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY TO-DAY. _Daily Chronicle_, -March 24, 1898. - -DUCHESS OF PADUA, THE. Privately printed for the Author; America, -1883[1]. - -ENGLISH POETESSES. _Queen_, December 8, 1888. - -ENGLISH RENAISSANCE, LECTURE ON THE. G. Munro's _Seaside library_, Vol. -58, No. 1183. New York, January 19, 1882. - -ETHICS OF JOURNALISM, THE. _Pall Mall Gazette_, September 20, 25, 1894. - -FASCINATING BOOK, A. _Womans World_, November, 1888. - -FISHERMAN AND HIS SOUL, THE. In 'A House of Pomegranates.' - -FRAGMENT FROM THE AGAMEMNON OF ÆSCHYLOS, A. _Kottabos_, Hilary Term, -1877. - -FROM SPRING DAYS TO WINTER (for Music). _Dublin University Magazine_, -January, 1876. - -GRAFFITI D'ITALIA (Arona. Lago Maggiore). _Month and Catholic Review_, -September, 1876. - -GRAFFITI D'ITALIA (San Miniato). _Dublin University Magazine_, March, -1876. - -GRAVE OF KEATS, THE. _Burlington_, January, 1881. - -'GREEN CARNATION, THE.' _Pall Mall Gazette_, Oct. 2, 1894. - -GROSVENOR GALLERY, THE. _Dublin University Magazine_, July, 1877. - -GUIDO FERRANTI (Selection from 'The Duchess of Padua'). Werner's -_Readings and Recitations_, New York, 1891. - -HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER TALES, THE. David Nutt, 1888 (May), 1889 -(January), 1902 (February). - -HELAS! _Poets and Poetry of the Century_. Edited by A. H. Miles, Vol. -viii, 1891, 1898. - -HARLOT'S HOUSE, THE. 1885[2] - -HEU MISERANDE PUER! See 'Tomb of Keats, The.' - -HOUSE OF JUDGMENT, THE. _Spirit Lamp_, February 17, 1893. In 'Poems in -Prose.' - -HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES, A. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1891 (November). - -HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES, A (Reply to Criticism of). _Speaker_, December -5, 1891. - -IDEAL HUSBAND, AN. Leonard Smithers & Co., 1899 (July) - -IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, THE. Leonard Smithers & Co., 1899 -(February). - -IMPRESSION DE MATIN. _World_, March 2, 1881[3]. - -INTENTIONS. Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1891 (May). New Edition, 1894[4]. - -KEATS' LOVE LETTERS, SONNET ON THE RECENT SALE BY AUCTION OF. _Dramatic -Review_, January 23, 1886. - -KEATS' SONNET ON BLUE. _Century Guild Hobby Horse_, July, 1886. - -LA BELLE MARGUERITE. Ballade du Moyen Age. _Kottabos_, Hilary Term, -1879. - -LA FUITE DE LA LUNE. _Poems and Lyrics of Nature_, Edited by E. W. -Rinder, Walter Scott, 1894 (May 9). - -[Illustration: 'THE WOMAN'S WORLD.' -Edited by Oscar Wilde from November, 1887, to September, 1889. -Reduced facsimile of the Cover (12 by 9-1/4).] - -LADY ALROY. _World_, May 25, 1887. In 'Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and -other Stories.' - -LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN. Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1893 (November 8). - -LE JARDIN DES TUILERIES. _In a Good Cause_, Wells Gardner, Darton & -Co., 1885 (June). - -L'ENVOI. _Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf_, by Rennell Rodd. J. M. Stoddart & -Co., Philadelphia, 1882. - -LE REVEILLON. _Poems and Lyrics of Nature_. Edited by E. W. Rinder. -Walter Scott, 1894 (May 9). - -LES SILHOUETTES. _Poems and Lyrics of Nature_. Edited by E. W. Rinder. -Walter Scott, 1894 (May 9). - -LIBEL ACTION AGAINST LORD QUEENSBERRY, THE. _Evening News_, April 5, -1895. - -LIBERTATIS SACRA FAMES. _World_, November 10, 1880[5]. - -LITERARY AND OTHER NOTES. _Woman's World_, November, December, 1887; -January to March, 1888. - -LONDON MODELS. Illustrations by Harper Pennington. _English Illustrated -Magazine_, January, 1889. - -LORD ARTHUR SAVILE'S CRIME. A story of Cheiromancy. Illustrations by F. -H. Townsend. _Court and Society Review_, May 11, 18, 25, 1887. In 'Lord -Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories.' - -_Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and other Stories_. Osgood, McIlvaine & -Co., 1891 (July). - -LOTUS LEAVES. _Irish Monthly_, February, 1877. - -MAGDALEN WALKS. _Irish Monthly_, April, 1878. - -MASTER, THE. In 'Poems and Prose.' - -MODEL MILLIONAIRE, THE. _World_, June 22, 1887. In 'Lord Arthur -Savile's Crime and other Stories.' - -MORE RADICAL IDEAS ON DRESS REFORM. _Pall Mall Gazette_, November 11, -1884. - -MR. PATER'S LAST VOLUME. _Speaker_, March 22, 1890. - -MR. WHISTLER'S TEN O'CLOCK. _Pall Mall Gazette_, February 21, 1885. - -NEW HELEN, THE. _Time_, July, 1879. - -NEW REMORSE, THE. _Spirit Lamp_, December 6, 1892. - -NIGHT VISION, A. _Kottabos_, Hilary Term, 1877. - -NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE, THE. _La Plume_, December 15, 1900. In 'The -Happy Prince and Other Tales.' - -NOTE ON SOME MODERN POETS, A. _Woman's World_, December, 1888. - -OH! BEAUTIFUL STAR. (Three verses of 'Under the Balcony'). Set to music -by Lawrence Kellie. Robert Cocks & Co., 1892. - -ON CRITICISM; WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING NOTHING. -_Nineteenth Century_, July, September, 1890. In 'Intentions.' - -PEN, PENCIL, AND POISON: A STUDY. _Fortnightly Review_, January, 1889. -In 'Intentions.' - -PHRASES AND PHILOSOPHIES FOR THE USE OF THE YOUNG. _Chameleon_, 1894 -(December). - -PHÊDRE. See 'To Sarah Bernhardt.' - -PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, THE (13 Chapters)._ Lippincott's Monthly -Magazine_, July, 1890. - -PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, THE (20 Chapters). Ward, Lock & Co., 1891 (July -1). New Edition, 1894 (October 1). - -PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, THE. (Replies to Criticism of). _Daily -Chronicle_, July 2, 1890. _Scots Observer_, July 12, August 2, 16, 1890. - -POEMS. David Bogue, 1881 (July). 5th Edition, 1882. Elkin Mathews & -John Lane, 1892 (May 26). - -POEMS IN PROSE. _Fortnightly Review_, July, 1894. - -Πόντος Ἀτρύγετος. _Irish Monthly_, December, 1877. - -PORTIA. _World_, January 14, 1880. - -PORTRAIT OF MR. W. H., THE. _Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, July, -1889[6]. - -PREFACE TO 'DORIAN GRAY,' A. _Fortnightly Review_, March, 1891. - -PUPPETS AND ACTORS. _Daily Telegraph_, February?, 1892[7]. - -QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA (_Charles I., act iii._). _World_, July 16, 1879. - -RAVENNA. T. Shrimpton & Son, Oxford, 1878 (June). - -REMARKABLE ROCKET, THE. In 'The Happy Prince and Other Tales.' - -REQUIESCAT. _Dublin Verses_, by Members of Trinity College. Elkin -Mathews, 1895. - -RISE OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM, THE. Privately printed. America, 1905[8]. - -ROSE OF LOVE AND WITH A ROSE'S THORNS. See Δηξίθυμον Ἔρωτος Ἄνθος. - -ROSES AND RUE. _Midsummer Dreams_, Summer Number of _Society_, July, -1885. - -SALOMÉ (French Edition.) Librairie de l'Art Indépendant, Paris, 1893 -(February 22). - -SALOME (English Edition). Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1894 (February 9). - -SALVE SATURNIA TELLUS. _Irish Monthly_, June, 1877. - -SELFISH GIANT, THE. In 'The Happy Prince and Other Tales.' - -SEN ARTYSTY; OR, THE ARTIST'S DREAM. See 'Artist's Dream, The.' - -SHAKESPEARE AND STAGE COSTUME. _Nineteenth Century_, May, 1885. In -'Intentions.' - -SOME CRUELTIES OF PRISON LIFE. See 'Case of Warder Martin, The,' and -'Children in Prison.' - -SOME LITERARY NOTES. _Woman's World_, January to June, 1889. - -RELATION OF DRESS TO ART, THE. _Pall Mall Gazette_, February 28, 1885. - -SOUL OF MAN UNDER SOCIALISM, THE. _Fortnightly Review_, February, -1891[9]. - -SPHINX, THE. Elkin Mathews & John Lane, 1894 (September 29). - -SPHINX WITHOUT A SECRET, THE. See 'Lady Alroy.' - -STAR-CHILD, THE. In 'A House of Pomegranates.' - -TEACHER OF WISDOM, THE. In 'Poems in Prose.' - -THEOCRITUS. _Ballades and Rondeaus_. Selected by Gleeson White. Walter -Scott Publishing Co., 1889 (June 30)[10]. - -Θρηνῳδία. _Kottabos_, Michaelmas Term, 1876. - -TO MILTON. _Poets and Poetry of the Century_, Edited by A. H. Miles, -Vol. viii, 1891, 1898. - -TO MY WIFE: WITH A COPY OF MY POEMS. _Book-Song_, Elliot Stock, 1893. - -TO SARAH BERNHARDT. _World_, June 11, 1879. - -TOMB OF KEATS, THE. _Irish Monthly_, July, 1877. - -TRUE FUNCTION AND VALUE OF CRITICISM, THE. See 'Critic as Artist, The,' -and 'On Criticism.' - -TRUE KNOWLEDGE, THE. _Irish Monthly_, September, 1876[11]. - -TRUTH OF MASKS, THE. See 'Shakespeare and Stage Costume.' - -UNDER THE BALCONY. _Shaksperean Show-Book_ (May 29, 1884). See 'Oh! -Beautiful Star!' - -UN AMANT DE NOS JOURS. _Court and Society Review_, December 13, 1887. -See 'New Remorse, The.' - -VERA, OR THE NIHILISTS. Privately printed for the Author; America, 1882. - -VITA NUOVA. See Πόντος Ἀτρύγετος. - -WASTED DAYS (From a Picture Painted by Miss V. T.). _Kottabos_, -Michaelmas Term, 1877. - -WHISTLER, CORRESPONDENCE WITH. _World_, November 14, 1883; February 25, -1885; November 24, 1886. _Truth_, January 9, 1890. - -WHISTLER'S LECTURES REVIEWED. See 'Mr. Whistler's Ten O'Clock 'and -'Relation of Dress to Art, The.' - -WITH A COPY OF 'A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES.' _Book-Song_, Elliot Stock, -1893. - -WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, A. John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1894 (October 9). - -WOMAN'S WORLD, THE. Edited by Oscar Wilde, 1887-9. Cassell & Co. - -YOUNG KING, THE. Illustrations by Bernard Partridge. _Lady's -Pictorial_, Christmas Number, 1888. In 'A House of Pomegranates.' - - -[1] The title-page reads:--The Duchess of Padua A Tragedy of the XVI -Century by Oscar Wilde Author of "Vera," etc. Written in Paris in the -XIX Century. Privately printed as Manuscript. March 15, 1883 A. D. - -The cover is inscribed 'Op. II.' Twenty copies were printed, of which -one only is known to exist in England, the property of Mr. Robert Ross. -It is in grey paper wrappers, 8vo., pp. 122. The play was acted in -America in 1883 by the late Lawrence Barrett, shortly before his death. -It is sometimes known as _Guido Ferranti_. - -[2] The original publication of 'The Harlot's House' has not yet been -traced. The approximate date is known by a parody on the poem, called -'The Public House, 'which appeared in _The Sporting Times_ of June 13, -1885. In 1904 a privately printed edition, on folio paper, with five -illustrations by Althea Gyles, was issued by 'The Mathurin Press,' -London. In 1905 another edition was privately printed in London, pp. 8, -wrappers. - -[3] See _Notes and Queries_, Series ix., vol. xii., page 85. - -[4] Continental Edition issued by Messrs. Heinemann and Balestier in -'The English Library,' No. 54. 1891. - -[5] See _Sonnets of this Century_. Edited by William Sharp. Walter -Scott Publishing Co., 1888 (March 22). - -[6] Early in 1894, Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane announced as -being in preparation, 'The incomparable and ingenious history of Mr. W. -H., being the true secret of Shakespear's sonnets, now for the first -time here fully set forth. With initial letters and cover design by -Charles Ricketts.' On the evening of his arrest, April 5, 1895, the -publishers returned the MS. to Mr. Wilde's house, and it is said to -have been stolen from there a few hours later. - -[7] See _Saturday Review_, July 2, 1892. - -[8] The authenticity of this work is not vouched for. - -[9] It was the author's wish that 'The Soul of Man under Socialism' -should be known as 'The Soul of Man,' and by this title he himself -refers to it in _De Profundis_. A privately printed edition was -published by Mr. Arthur L. Humphreys under this title in 1895, and -again in 1904 in 'Sebastian Melmoth.' It appeared also in _Wilshire's -Magazine_, Toronto, Canada, for June, 1902; and, under its original -title, in a pirated edition issued in London, 1904; and in a beautiful -edition published by Mr. Thos. B. Mosher, of Portland, Maine, U.S.A., -April, 1905. - -[10] See _Literature_, December 8, 1900. - -[11] Re-printed in _Dublin Verses_, 1895; and _The Tablet_, December 8, -1900. - - - * * * * * - - - NOTE. - - -In the foregoing list the following particulars are given:-- - -(1) Titles of books with name of publisher and date of publication of -each edition. - -(2) Contributions to magazines and periodicals whether re-printed in -book-form later or not. - -(3) Poems which have been re-printed in collections of verse of later -date than Bogue's edition of the 'Poems,' 1881. These will be found -under their respective titles, but when a poem has been included in -more than one such collection the reference is given, as a rule, to the -book of earliest date. - -The publications of Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and of Mr. -John Lane, were issued simultaneously in America by Messrs. Copeland -and Day, of Boston. _De Profundis_ was published in America by Messrs. -G. P. Putnam's Sons, of New York. Seven editions have been issued. _The -Decay of Lying, The Portrait of Mr. W. H._, and _The Soul of Man under -Socialism_, appeared in the 'Eclectic Magazine' of New York a few weeks -after publication in this country. - -No notice is taken in this Bibliography of many unauthorised and -pirated reprints, and those works which have been falsely attributed to -Mr. Wilde by unscrupulous publishers are all rejected. Of the latter -'The Priest and the Acolyte,' and translations of 'Ce Qui ne Meurt pas' -and the 'Satyricon' of Petronius are examples. - - - * * * * * - - - _Books containing Selections from the Works of Oscar Wilde._ - - -BEST OF OSCAR WILDE, THE. (Collection of Poems and Prose Extracts). -Collected by C. Herrmann. Brentano, New York, 1905 (March). - -EPIGRAMS AND APHORISMS. Edited by G. H. Sargent. John W. Luce & Co., -Boston, U.S.A., 1905 (July). - -ESSAYS, CRITICISMS AND REVIEWS. Now first collected. (From _The Woman's -World_). Privately printed. London, 1901. - -OSCARIANA. EPIGRAMS. Arthur Humphreys, 1895[1]. - -SEBASTIAN MELMOTH (Selection from Prose Writings; and 'The Soul of -Man'). Arthur L. Humphreys, 1904 (September). - - -[1] Only one copy bore the publisher's name. The rest were issued as -'privately printed.' The edition consisted of 25 copies only, but -forged reprints are numerous. The selection of epigrams is said to have -been made by Mrs. Wilde. - - - * * * * * - - - _Bibliographical Notes on the English Editions._ - - -A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES. - -The following is the author's own description of 'the decorative -designs that make lovely' this book of 'beautiful tales,' and of 'the -delicate dreams that separate and herald each story':-- - -'Mr. Shannon is the drawer of the dreams, and Mr. Ricketts is the -subtle and fantastic decorator. Indeed, it is to Mr. Ricketts that -the entire decorative design of the book is due, from the selection -of the type and the placing of the ornamentation, to the completely -beautiful cover that encloses the whole.... The artistic beauty of -the cover resides in the delicate tracing, arabesques, and massing of -many coral-red lines on a ground of white ivory, the colour effect -culminating in certain high gilt notes, and being made still more -pleasurable by the overlapping band of moss-green cloth that holds the -book together.' - -THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL. - -1st edition, 8vo, pp. 31, 800 copies on hand-made paper, and 30 on -Japan vellum, February, 1898. Before the 2nd edition was published, in -March, the author made several alterations in the text. The 3rd edition -was 99 copies only, each signed by the author; bound in purple cloth -sides, 4to. Editions 4, 5, and 6 (1898) are similar to the 2nd edition -and the number of each edition is printed on the back of title-page. -The 7th edition (1899) bears the author's name on the title-page. It is -the last of Smithers' editions on hand-made paper. All his subsequent -editions are printed in a new type from stereotyped plates, on thick -wove paper, and bear no number to distinguish the edition. They are all -dated 1899. - -DE PROFUNDIS. - -Of the 1st edition 200 copies were printed on hand-made paper at 21/- -and 50 on Japan vellum at 42/-. Of the ordinary 5/- edition four -impressions were issued within a month of publication. - -THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER TALES. - -Of the 1st edition 75 copies (65 for sale) were printed on large paper -with the plates in two states. Of the small paper copies the 1st -edition was published at 5/-, the 2nd and 3rd at 3/6 each. - -AN IDEAL HUSBAND AND THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. - -Each edition consists of 1000 copies, 7/6 net, and 100 on large paper, -21/- net. Twelve copies of each, signed by the author, were issued on -Japan vellum. Of this edition No. 4 of each play is in the British -Museum. - -INTENTIONS. - -1st edition, 1891, 7/6; new edition, 1894, 3/6. - -LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN AND A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE. - -With a specially designed binding to each volume by Charles Shannon. -500 copies, sm. 4to, 7/6 net, and 50 copies large paper, 15/- net. - -THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY. - -Of the 1st edition 250 copies on hand-made paper, signed by the author, -were issued at 21/-, dated 1891. The small paper editions are not -dated. The 2nd (1894) can be distinguished from the 1st (1891) by the -publisher's name, Ward, Lock and Bowden, Limited, on the title-page. -The published price of each was 6/-. - -POEMS. - -Bogue's 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions are dated 1881, pp. 236. The 4th and -5th editions (1882) have several alterations made by the author in -the text, and contain 234 pages only. The edition published by Elkin -Mathews and John Lane in 1892 consisted of 220 copies (200 for sale), -on hand-made paper, with cover design by Charles Ricketts, price 15/-. -The text is a reprint of Bogue's 1882 editions. - -RAVENNA. - -Forged imitations of Messrs. Shrimpton and Son's edition are common. -They can be distinguished from the originals by the omission of the -Arras of Oxford University on cover and title-page. - -SALOMÉ. - -The edition in French, limited to 600 copies (500 for sale), printed -in Paris, was published by the Librairie de l'Art Indépendant, Paris, -and Messrs. Matthews and Lane, London; pp. 84, purple wrappers lettered -in silver, 5/- net. The English edition was translated by Lord Alfred -Douglas and pictured by Aubrey Beardsley with 10 illustrations, -title-page, tail-piece, and cover design. 500 copies, small 4to, 15/- -net; 100 copies large paper, 30/- net. - -THE SPHINX. - -Decorated throughout in line and colour and bound in a design by -Charles Ricketts. 250 copies at £2/2/- net, and 25 on large paper at -£5/5/- net. - - - * * * * * - - -Translations of many of Oscar Wilde's works have appeared in French, -German, Polish, Hungarian, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and other foreign -languages. Full particulars of all editions will be included in 'A -Bibliography of Oscar Wilde' by Walter Ledger and Stuart Mason, now in -preparation. - - - - IN PREPARATION. - - - The - - Sonnets of Oscar Wilde - - Now First Collected. - - EDITED, WITH NOTES, BY - - STUART MASON. - - - - - Views and Reviews - - The Uncollected Prose Writings and - - Letters of Oscar Wilde. - - EDITED BY - - STUART MASON. - - - - - The - - Bibliography of Oscar Wilde - - BY - - Walter Ledger and Stuart Mason. - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Oscar Wilde, a study, by André Gide - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OSCAR WILDE, A STUDY *** - -***** This file should be named 53226-0.txt or 53226-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/2/2/53226/ - -Produced by Winston Smith. 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