Oscar Wilde, Volume 1 (of 2)

s misfortunes arose from his being edu

Men are obstinate, slow, trusting a bank-balance rather than brains; and giving way reluctantly to sharp-witted superiority. The road up to power or influence in England is full of pitfalls and far too arduous for those who have neither high birth nor wealth to help them. The natu

d, we shall find almost every element that conduces to popularity. By talent and conviction he was the natural pet of the aristocracy whose selfish prejudices he defended and whose leisure he amused. The middle class, as has been noted, disliked and desp

opular actor, and neglected no opportunity of turning the limelight on his own doings. As he said,

ce in some paper, I think it was The Pall Mall

uld I bother? I've done nothing

e every opportunity of advertising yourself. You remember the Latin word, 'Fame springs from one's own house.' Like other wise sayings, it's not quit

aim himself, eh? and de

replied with a s

it is more strenuously puffed. The journalist is my 'John the Baptist.' What would you give, when a book of yours comes out, to be able to write a long article drawing attention to it in The

wondered since whether Oscar's worldly wisdom was original o

t it; and the reputation won with many will amply countervail the disdain of a few.... And surely no small number of those who are of solid nature, and

, when he was asked to give a list of the hundred best books, as Lord Avebury and other mediocrities had do

mouth in town. Some theatre was opened which was fou

"nothing so distinctive

nd asked him in passing, how the hostess, Lady S--, could be rec

on till you come to someone looking like a public monumen

bout himself because of his exaggerated vanity and reflection afterwards found grounds to justify his inclination. But whatever the motive m

m ostentator" (He had a knack of showing o

es of heart or head or soul could have brought a young man to

part they were persons usually called "sexual inverts," who looked to the brilliancy of his intellect to gild their esoteric indulgence. This class in England is almost wholly recruited from the aristocracy and the upper middle-class that apes the "smart set." It is an inevitable

ards suffered. Public schools are the nurseries of all vice and immorality. A

re understood by English mothers, it is safe to say that every boarding-house in every school would di

usually distinguished by a certain artistic sympathy, and often by most attractive, intellectual qualities. As a rule the epicene have soft voices a

aph spoke with contempt of these "decadents" and "?sthetes" who, it asserted, "could be numbered in London society on the fingers of one hand"; but even The Daily Telegraph must have known that in the "smart set" alone there are hundr

r of the Roman Church in the middle-ages may well be compared to the influence exerted by those whom I have designated as Oscar Wilde's fuglemen in the England of today. The easiest way to success in London society is to be notorious in this sense. Whatever career one may have chosen, however humble one's birth, one is then certain of finding distinguished friends and impassioned advocates. If you happen to be in the army and unmarried, yo

arlike achievements, should allow themselves to be steered in ordinary times by epicene ?sthetes. But no one who knows the facts will deny that these men are pro

his name came up among men in town, the accusation of abnormal viciousness was either made or hinted. Everyone spoke as if there were no doubt about his tastes, and this in spite of the habitual reticence of Englishmen. I could not understand how the imputation came to be so bold and uni

ly years in London was completely undeserved. I, too, must say that in the first period of our friendship, I never noticed anything t

ccepted the editorship of a lady's paper, The Woman's World, and was always mocking at the selection of himself as the "fittest" for such a post: he had grown noticeably bolder. I told myself that an assured income and position give confidence; but at bottom a