16 “monstrous dresses.” [Raymond] and Ricketts, Oscar Wilde: Recollections (London: Nonesuch Press, 1932), p. 16.
17 “the loveliest woman.” Journal of J. E. Courtenay Bodley, Bodleian Library, Oxford University.
18 “great eager eyes.” Lillie Langtry, The Days I Knew (London: Hutchinson, 1925), p. 60.
19 “so colourless.” Ibid.
20 “She is more.” Plays, A Woman of No Importance, p. 109.
21 “Lillie Langtry happens to be.” Noel B. Gerson, Lillie Langtry (London: Hall, 1972), p. 9.
22 “striped awnings.” Margot Asquith, Remember and Be Glad (London: James Barrie, 1952), p. 64.
23 “a soft black Greek Dress.” James Brough, The Prince and the Lily (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1975), p. 174.
24 “there is only one thing.” Dorian, p. 24.
25 “The lotus-leaves.” Poetry, “The New Helen,” p. 91.
26 “You have only wasted.” Ibid., “Roses and Rue,” p. 101.
27 “What has he done.” G. T. Atkinson, “Oscar Wilde at Oxford,” Cornhill Magazine, May 1929, p. 562.
28 “How can you say.” Plays, An Ideal Husband, p. 166.
29 “They are all so alike.” Clark, Willie Wilde to Margaret Campbell, Sept. 2, 1878.
30 “a charming ‘dull gold’ dress.” Clark, uncataloged newspaper clipping.
31 “Beauty is the grand characteristic.” Reading, Lady Wilde to an unnamed correspondent, n.d.
32 “his own perfection.” Writings, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” p. 42.
33 “vivid personality.” Ibid.
34 “limpid and utter.” America, p. 15.
35 “Thou trumpet set.” Poetry, “Fabien dei Franchi,” dedicated “To My Friend Henry Irving,” p. 127.
36 “childish love.” Laurence Irving, Henry Irving: The Actor and His World (London: Faber & Faber, 1951), p. 579.
37 “Why should not degrees.” Humphrey Carpenter, OUDS: A Centenary History of Oxford University Dramatic Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 59.
38 “As a rule.” Dorian, p. 159.
39 “It is not good.” Ibid., p. 113.
40 “How odd it is.” Letters, p. 61.
41 “I cannot hold a Chair.” John Dixon Hunt, The Wider Sea: A Life of John Ruskin (New York: Viking, 1982), p. 574.
42 “Do you know.” Violet Hunt, “I Remember Oscar” and “My Oscar,” Violet Hunt Collection, Olin Library, Cornell University.
43 “always talked less.” Ibid.
44 “out of Botticelli.” Ibid., Violet Hunt biographical notes.
45 “a little in love.” Ibid., Violet Hunt diaries, Feb. 28, 1891.
46 “I really think.” John Ruskin to Margaret Hunt, Feb. 24, 1875, Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
47 “but infinitely delicate.” Ibid., Jan. 26, 1872.
48 “the sweetest Violet.” Letters, p. 64.
49 “wonderful radicalism.” Ibid., p. 68.
50 “an enviable notoriety.” Hunt, “My Oscar.”
51 “as nearly as possible.” Violet Hunt, The Flurried Years (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1926), p. 168.
52 “I believe that Oscar.” Violet Hunt diaries, July 30, 1891.
53 “all the proposal.” Hunt, “My Oscar.”
54 “would never give.” Violet Hunt, Their Lives (London: Stanley Paul, 1916), p. 98.
55 “Oscar’s little water-colour.” Florence Stoker to Philippa Knott, Mar. 14, 1923. Quoted with permission of Sir Rupert Hart-Davis.
CHAPTER SEVEN: AESTHETES AND DANDIES
1 “A man who can dominate.” Plays, A Woman of No Importance, p. 132.
2 “Sardoodledom.” George Bernard Shaw, Our Theatres in the Nineties, vol. 1 (London: Constable, 1932), p. 133.
3 “a stage carpenter.” Frank Harris, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (1916; rev. ed., London: Constable, 1938), p. 257.
4 “Love ends in matrimony.” Robert Hogan, Dion Boucicault: His Life and Times (New York: Twayne, 1969), p. 49.
5 “In the lone tent.” Poetry, “Queen Henrietta Maria,” p. 98.
6 “Will you accept one.” Letters, p. 74.
7 “I have saved Russia.” Plays, Vera, p. 75.
8 “that Titan cry.” Letters, p. 148.
9 “Mes premiers vers.” Mason, p. 285.
10 “only now, too late.” Letters, p. 78.
11 “found out the force.” Ellmann, p. 144.
12 “Swinburne and water.” Punch, July 23, 1881.
13 “England is enriched.” Academy, July 30, 1881.
14 “I live in terror.” Intentions, “The Critic as Artist,” pt. 1, p. 111.
15 “In an age like this.” Letters, p. 79.
16 “We Irish are too poetical.” Yeats, p. 135.
17 “coarse impertinence.” More Letters, p. 37.
18 “It is only the unimaginative.” “Olivia at the Lyceum,” Dramatic Review, May 30, 1885.
19 “artistic creation is absolutely subjective.” Intentions, “The Critic as Artist,” pt. 2, p. 182.
20 “Art takes life.” Writings, “The Decay of Lying,” p. 68.
21 “Nobody else’s work.” “A Talk with Mr. Oscar Wilde,” Sketch, Jan. 9, 1895.
22 “Good artists exist.” Dorian, p. 81.
23 “The grand cool flanks.” Poetry, “Charmides,” p. 56.
24 “licentious and may do.” Clark, Robert H. W. Miles to Oscar Wilde, Aug. 21, 1881.
25 “It is quite consummate.” Punch, Oct. 30, 1880.
26 “The Lily had carried me.” Ibid., Dec. 25, 1880.
27 “Why should he Be anything?” Ibid., Feb. 12, 1881.
28 “Aesthete of Aesthetes!” Ibid., June 25, 1881.
29 “Burne Jones suddenly hissed out.” Hunt, “I Remember Oscar.”
30 “To have done.” New York World, Jan. 8, 1882.
31 “Though the Philistines.” Gilbert and Sullivan, Patience, p. 13.
32 “to show the rich.” George Woodcock, The Paradox of Oscar Wilde (New York: Macmillan, 1950), p. 111.
33 “a profound sensation.” W. F. Morse to unnamed correspondent, Nov. 8, 1881, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York City.
CHAPTER EIGHT: A SECOND SELF
1 “Nothing should be able.” Writings, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” p. 25.
2 “knows me perfectly.” Letters, p. 517.
3 “a clever and accomplished man.” James Russell Lowell, New Letters of James Russell Lowell, ed. M. de Wolfe Howe (London: Harper Bros., 1932), p. 262.
4 “The gentleman who brings.” Letters, p. 123 n.
5 “Their chilling touch.” Writings, “The Decay of Lying,” p. 71.
6 “I have nothing to declare.” Frank Harris, Oscar Wilde: His Life and Confessions (London: Constable, 1938), p. 44.
7 “the Atlantic is a disappointment.” New York World, Jan. 3, 1882.
8 “seem to get a hold.” Critic, “The American Man,” p. 61.
9 “On the whole.” Ibid.
10 “When people are tied.” Ibid., p. 62.
11 “Massa Wilde is too busy.” America, p. 72.
12 “In a free country.” Letters, p. 87.
13 “is rapidly becoming bald.” Ibid.
14 “Did you hear.” Plays, The Importance of Being Earnest, p. 253.
15 “first well-dressed philosopher.” Ibid., An Ideal Husband, p. 212.
16 “Extraordinary thing.” Ibid., p. 213.
17 “I now understand.” Letters, p. 85.
18 “the lord of language.” Letters, p. 458.
19 “Since you have heard.” America, p. 58.
20 “sepulchral voice.” New York Times, Jan. 10, 1882.
21 “a rhythmic chant.” New York World, Jan. 3, 1882.
22 “It must be produced.” Mikhail, p. 37.
23 “Nobody is sanguine.” America, p. 28.
24 “utterly devoid of color.” Ibid., p. 31.
25 “large and regular.” New York W
orld, Jan. 3, 1882.
26 “upper half of his person.” Washington Post, Jan. 24, 1882.
27 “a short after-dinner jacket.” America, p. 161.
28 “The essence of good dressing.” New York Daily Tribune, Jan. 8, 1882.
29 “I have been quite amused.” Mary Watson, People I Have Met (San Francisco: Francis, 1890), p. 48.
30 “If you survive.” Richard Butler Glaenzer, Decorative Art in America (New York: Brentano’s, 1906), p. 18.
31 “reading of a good vigorous attack.” America, p. 205.
32 “I wished that I had one.” Ibid.
33 “the poor man’s friend.” Ibid., p. 241.
34 “I know.” New York Tribune, Feb. 12, 1882.
35 “Ah! Don’t say.” Intentions, “The Critic as Artist,” pt. 2, p. 206.
36 “dreadful monstrosities.” America, p. 251.
37 “hang them where time.” Ibid.
38 “was noble and beautiful.” Ibid., p. 178.
39 “I didn’t expect.” Ibid., p. 179.
40 “the basis for a new civilization.” Omaha Weekly Herald, Mar. 24, 1882.
41 the term homosexuality. The Oxford English Dictionary’s first edition (1933) notes that the term was first recorded in 1897; in the OED’s second edition (1989) the date given is 1892: the date for the English translation of Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis.
42 “I have come.” Philadelphia Press, Jan. 18, 1882.
43 “I can only say.” America, p. 75.
44 “Why, Oscar.” Ibid., p. 76.
45 “Good-by, Oscar.” Ibid., p. 77.
46 “I admire him.” Philadelphia Press, Jan. 17, 1882.
47 “a great big, splendid boy.” Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, vol. 2 (Boston: Small, Maynard, 1914), p. 145.
48 “of one of Ireland’s noblest daughters.” America, p. 224.
49 “I do not know.” Michael J. O’Neill, “Irish Poets of the Nineteenth Century: Unpublished Lecture Notes of Oscar Wilde,” University Review, Spring 1955.
50 “gift of natural eloquence.” Jane Wilde, Social Studies, p. 134.
51 “one of the great tragedies.” Critic, “Mr. Froude’s Blue Book,” p. 136.
52 “the easy victim.” Boston Transcript, Jan. 28, 1882.
53 “I do wish.” Letters, p. 92 n. 3.
54 “good and dramatic.” Clark, Dion Boucicault to Oscar Wilde, [1882].
55 “As I look about me.” America, p. 125.
56 “create an artistic movement.” Ibid., p. 162.
57 “achieved a real triumph.” Ibid., p. 128.
58 “I hate to fly.” Philadelphia Press, June 17, 1882.
59 “galloped, racing.” Poetry, “Ravenna,” p. 31.
60 “with its grizzly bears.” Oscar Wilde, The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, vol. 7 (New York: Doubleday, 1923), “The American Invasion,” p. 157.
61 “I was told.” Critic, “Impressions of America,” p. 9.
62 “The first course.” America, p. 318.
63 “The amazement of the miners.” Letters, p. 112.
64 “only rational method.” America, p. 318.
65 “I was reproved.” Ibid., p. 314.
66 “a man is.” Bernard Thornton, “Oscar Wilde: A Reminiscence,” Theatre, June 1918.
67 “It is very annoying.” Letters, p. 121.
68 “No mention.” Ibid.
69 “even the papers.” Ibid., p. 110.
70 “lose heart.” Clark, Joaquin Miller to Oscar Wilde, Feb. 9, 1882.
71 “Who are these scribes.” Mason, p. 119.
72 “Perhaps after all.” Dorian, p. 63.
73 “American women.” Plays, A Woman of No Importance, p. 104.
74 “I come from a modern country.” Fiction, “The Canterville Ghost,” p. 59.
75 “an excellent example.” Ibid., p. 60.
CHAPTER NINE: NEW SCENARIOS
1 “Experience is the name.” Plays, Lady Windermere’s Fan, p. 45.
2 “I thought you had sailed.” Clark, Lady Wilde to Oscar Wilde, [1882].
3 “You are still the talk.” Ibid.
4 “burst like a resplendent meteor.” Clara Lanza, “Literary New York in the Eighties,” Bookman (New York), Mar. 1920.
5 “Like many others.” Elisabeth Marbury, “My Crystal Ball,” Saturday Evening Post, Sept. 15, 1923.
6 “was gaudy and his shirtfront.” New York Times, Oct. 24, 1882.
7 “I would rather have discovered.” America, p. 404.
8 “As for the love-smitten.” Ibid., p. 418.
9 “You have made me pretty.” Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, ed. Martha A. Sandweiss (New York: Abrams, 1991), p. 67.
10 “the natural and infallible laws.” Francis A. Durivage, “Delsarte,” Atlantic Monthly, May 27, 1871.
11 “Do not yet despair.” Percy MacKaye, Epoch: The Life of Steele MacKaye, vol. 1 (New York: Boni & Liveright, 1927), p. 444.
12 “with the great actresses.” Letters, p. 125.
13 “The world is at our feet.” MacKaye, Epoch, p. 446.
14 “a chef d’oeuvre.” Letters, p. 124.
15 “Shall we get hence?” James Rennell Rodd, Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf (Portland, Maine, 1906), p. 37. 112 “false friend.” Letters, p. 144.
16 “Olympian attitude.” James Rennell Rodd, Social and Diplomatic Memoirs, 1884–1893 (London: Arnold, 1922), p. 25.
17 “I will certainly take care.” Fiction, “The Devoted Friend,” p. 124.
18 “should be left alone.” Ibid., p. 117.
19 “I saw the wretched.” Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Jane Morris: Their Correspondence, ed. John Bryson and Janet Camp Troxell (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976), p. 188.
20 “a subconscious influence.” Yeats, p. 285.
21 “not nearly so nice.” Hunt, “I Remember Oscar.”
22 “Oh, Miss Violet.” Hunt, Flurried Years, p. 13.
23 “full pouting pale lips.” Hunt, Their Lives, p. 99.
24 “I like Wagner’s music.” Dorian, p. 70.
25 “Great Heaven!” Alvin Redman, ed., The Epigrams of Oscar Wilde (London: Senate, 1952), p. 163.
26 “I am glad.” Plays, The Importance of Being Earnest, p. 265.
27 “are awfully expensive.” Plays, A Woman of No Importance, p. 108.
28 “A cigarette is the perfect type.” Dorian, p. 107.
29 “black upon white.” Robert Harborough Sherard, The Story of an Unhappy Friendship (London: Hermes Press, 1902), p. 28.
30 “unfit for publication.” Letters, p. 757.
31 “But you can read.” Poetry, “The Sphinx,” p. 143.
32 “The only thing.” Ian Small, Oscar Wilde Revalued: An Essay on New Materials and Methods of Research (Greensboro, N.C.: ELT Press, 1993), p. 141.
33 “I don’t want money.” Dorian, p. 56.
34 “So nice and warm.” Sherard, Real Oscar Wilde, p. 200.
35 “All that belonged.” Ibid., p. 52.
36 “The only reflection.” Clark, Robert Sherard to A.J.A. Symons, May 13, 1937.
37 “the look of someone.” Walter Sickert, A Free House! Or, the Artist as Craftsman, ed. Osbert Sitwell (London: Macmillan, 1947), p. 44.
38 “the one Christian poet.” Letters, p. 488.
39 “Verlaine is in the gutter.” Ada Leverson, Letters to the Sphinx from Oscar Wilde and Reminiscences of the Author (London: Duckworth, 1930), p. 24.
40 “au sexe douteux.” L’Écho de Paris, Dec. 17, 1891.
41 “Oscar Wilde’s young man.” Algernon Swinburne, The Swinburne Letters, ed. Cecil Y. Lang, vol. 4 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1960), p. 312.
42 “English public.” Letters, p. 303, trans. quoted in Ellmann, p. 352 n.
43 “chef d’oeuvre.” Ibid., p. 136.
44 “Robert, this is very tedious.” Sherard, Real Oscar Wilde, p. 238.
45 “The play in its present form.” Mary Anderson to Oscar Wilde, n.d., private collecti
on.
46 “is quite tragic.” Vincent O’Sullivan, Aspects of Wilde (London: Constable, 1936), p. 120.
47 “Never be afraid.” Letters, p. 143.
48 “It was not.” de Brémont, Oscar Wilde and His Mother, p. 38.
49 “It comes as near failure.” New York Times, Aug. 21, 1882.
50 “Kelly, Kelly.” Clark, unpublished memoirs of James Edward Kelly, uncataloged.
51 “Dion Boucicault told me.” Ibid.
52 “They say here.” Mary Anderson to William Winter, Sept. 18, 1882 (partial letter), Black Sun Books Catalogue (New York).
CHAPTER TEN: MRS. OSCAR WILDE
1 “Our most fiery moments.” Letters, p. 185.
2 “The real drawback.” Dorian, p. 101.
3 “By the by.” Ellmann, p. 234.
4 “I can’t help.” Letters, p. 152 n. 3.
5 “who relived their tragedies.” Clark, Otho Lloyd to A.J.A. Symons, May 27, 1937.
6 “I can sympathize.” Dorian, p. 64.
7 “Anybody can sympathize.” Writings, “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” p. 50.
8 “a grave, slight violet-eyed.” Letters, p. 154.
9 “I am so anxious.” Ibid.
10 “I am with Oscar.” Ibid., n. 3.
11 “No man has any real success.” Redman, Epigrams, p. 42.
12 “a very good acting play.” Hyde Collection, Mary Hyde (Viscountess Eccles), Constance Lloyd to Oscar Wilde, Nov. 11, 1883, quoted in Ellmann, p. 244.
13 “decidedly extra affected.” Letters, p. 152.
14 “Well … may I propose.” Plays, The Importance of Being Earnest, p. 263.
15 “Prepare yourself.” Letters, p. 153.
16 “if Constance makes as good a wife.” Ibid., p. 153 n. 2.
17 “I am so cold.” Hyde, Constance Lloyd to Oscar Wilde, n.d. [1883].
18 “Do you not remember.” Oscar Wilde, The Duchess of Padua (New York: Buckles, 1906), p. 66.
19 “We are, of course.” Letters, p. 155.
20 “Do you believe.” Hyde, Constance Lloyd to Oscar Wilde, [1883].
21 “I don’t think.” Ibid.
22 “She scarcely ever speaks.” Ellmann, p. 255.
23 “It’s a ridiculous attachment.” Fiction, “The Happy Prince,” p. 96.
24 “cold and practical.” Letters, p. 153.
25 “I hear that Oscar’s fiancée.” Violet Hunt diaries, April 27, 1884.
26 “My Dear Little Sister.” Clark, Willie Wilde to Constance Wilde [1884].
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