The Portland daily press., 1881-06-09

| whatever it may be worth, he has it now. 1t
Is not the first time that he has been associated
| year or two ago he dubbed himself "Mrs. Lang
trees Oscar Wilde" and declared that his
ldea OF heaven was to sit at the feet of the
Jersey Lily and .pelt her with flowers.s AS
general rule he is favorite with women, who
abuse him before they have met him. bnt al
terward confess that they find him very clever
and agreeable. "And he must be clever. Won
know, because he got the Newdigate medal"
we heard one naive creature say. The rejoind-
er % from one who had not met Mr.. Wilde was,
Il thought some one got that every year." As
matter Of fact, it would appear that the New
dlgate medal was never much of distinction
until Mr.. Wilde made it so by getting it.
Inc question IS constantly asked, by those in
search search OF Information, whether Mr..
Whde Is really sincere in his @sthet-
&c notions or whether he promulgates
them merely in order to gain notoriety,
and is secretly laughing in his sleeve all the
while at those who are duped by his antics and
eccentricities. This is question upon which
public opinion is pretty equally divided. "a
clever man would not be such fool" says
one side; $50 clever man can not be fool"
says the other. We ourselves think that it
takes clever man to be so-original. Mr.
Wilde himself is somewhat ambiguous on tho
point. To one person he is reported to have
said, II should never have believed, had I
not experienced it for myself, how easy il is to
become the most prominent figure in society"
To another he protested, "I have never said or
done anything which has not been the out
come of a genuine sentiment or conviction"
once again he observed, 81 am certain that
have had three separate and distinct souls" II
this be the case, it is possible that he NAV some
day have still another, and that the fourth ten
ant OF his mortality may lead him in quite
other paths than those which he has lately
frequented, thereby realizing prediction
which he is said to have uttered, to the effect
that by-and-by he should give up this kind OF
thing, and attain emnence in some other way
The truth may perhaps be that MIR. Wilde has
discovered within himself a faculty Of influ-
encing-we will not say imposing upon-the
popular mind by the audacious and impertur-
bable proclamation of inconceivable nonsense;
that he has thereupon fooled the popular mind
to the top of its bent, and that in the process
he has inadvertently made himself more or
less.of party to the general delusipn. Among
his other accomplishments, he has written a
good many fugitive verses, and may excusably
consider himself to be lowered with the fatal
gift of artistic genius with all that this is sup
posed to imply OF immunity from the common
lot,and superiority to common limitations. 1t is
easy to multiply sensations and sentiments
especially II you can make them become the
talk of the town. 1t is certain that Mr. Wilde
evinces both diligence and ingenuity in circu-
lating reports about himself and his adyen-
lures. Ii he has confided a memorable alb
surdity to you-such as that he was shut out of
his house the other night and "slept on
III,
your turn to the next person you meet, ten to
one you will be interrupted by, "Oh, he
told me that yesterday" Many of the
texts upon which Du Maurier's pictures are
founded had been circulating in society before
they appeared in Punch. "It is SO hard to live
up to ones blue china!" was an exclamation
which became famous long before Du Maurier
adapted it to his design of the young married
couple who resolve to live up to their teapot.
The episode of the young gentleman who goes
restaurant q 1xv II, ola
OF water is also veritable incident in Mr..
Wllde's career. The attitudes and poses, the
intertwined legs, and cheek resting gpon
clasped hands, and great deal Of the general
tone OF character and phraseology which marks
the Maudle and Postlethwaite school, might
he found, in their germ at least, in the GENTLE
man whom we have attempted to portray. He
perhaps found the suggestions for the SUPER
structure he has raised in such sources as Ros-
settl and Swinburne and Burne-Jones. But he
would never have reached his present emf
nence had not his career been in accord with
one OF the distinct tendencies of the day. He
was acute enough, and fortunate enough, or
unfortunate enough, to perceive this tendency,
and clever enough to give it forcible and con-
spicuous development. Mr.. Oscar Wilde is
one of the signs of the times and in this sense
Is really great man. He has identified him
self with popular (though strictly limited)
movement, and 50 long as that movement en-
dures he will be famous. When it comes to
an end, SO must he. But he will be remem-
bered by the future historian as its chief en-
bodiment. He is the Beau Brummel of mod
ern aesthetic sentimentality, and be his role
more honorable and healthy one than Brum-
meps or not, it must be admitted that he en-
acts it with equal spirit and thoroughness.
1t Is needless to remark that Mr.. Wilde has
had an abundance of disciples of his own sex,
but none OF them have achieved anything ap-
preaching to the notoriety of their prophet,
and none, perhaps, have kept up the game so
long. Indeed, to be really distinguished
aesthete" is by no means so easy matter as
might be supposed. Quite possibly it may be
The very most trying and exhausting enter
prise that sane human being could attempt
We know that in medi8yal times the office of
The fool or jester was no sinecure. The de-
mands of society were inexorable and endless
The fool must always be ready with his folly,
Dr. woe to him! Mr.. Oscar Wilde NAV we'll
have felt an analogous strain upon his own re-
sources. Day by day the necessity for the in
Vention OF some fresh extravaganza presses up
On him. 1t is almost appalling to reflect how
weary and at his Wits and he must sometimes
Even if he holds out, society will sooner or lat
'r turn to something else, and will not be
grateful to him who has kept it amused so
ong. 1t is depressing prospect.
As for the female priestesses Of the faith, 1t
would be difficult as well as all ungracious
ask to identify them. Few or none of them have
ucceeded in becomings generally known. III
here be concrete Mrs. Cimabue- Browne,
probably no two persons would be agreed as
% who she is This ambiguity arises from
wo causes: the lack OF sufficiently marked
emale individuality, and deficiency OF
purpose. Mrs. Cimabue- Browne
S type rather than an individual The
Issumption of the character is device where
" woman who is not naturally noticeable
nay appear noticeable. 1t is question of
ostume and pose, and of the repetition of
ew extravaganeies in the way of adverbs and
detectives, such as intense Subtle" "con-
ummate," etc. The costume is, upon the
whole, the best part of the affair. English
'ttire; but now, under the combined influence
II Worth and Postleshwaite, most of them
lress more becomingly than of yore. Certain
lngainly conventionalities are being done
emains, 1t is something to have got rid of the
A woman may dress now
,retty nearly as she pleases, and If her good
tars have vouchsafed her anything approach
ng to taste, she is not debarred, as formerly,
rom taking advantage of it to the utmost. At
he Private View at the Academy, and still
more at the Grosvenor, Mrs. Cimabue- Browne
hows us from year to year what progress she
las made, and we go to see her more than to
tudy the pictures. Sometimes she looks gro
esquely hideous, often she looks rather we'll,
md once in a while extremely pretty. The
argon will disappear by-and-by, but the new
light in clothes will remain, and, it may be
loped, improve. When each woman is al
owed 10 dreSS In tne way that becomes her
'est, and-which is still more to the purpose
las learned how to do it, the aesthetic school,
which has been ridiculed 80 much will be said
o have deserved not i'll Of the community.
The same is true of the present craze for house
decoration. AT one time every new follower
# the fashion aped the dull blue-greens of the
irst examples, but now the desire for real
'eauty in any and every form is being culti-
Tated, and each house is in some measure the
efiection of tho special beauty liked of its
master, and not slavish imitation of the last
fad. But at the worst q replica Of
beautiful thing is certainly more desirable
han that of an ugly one, and we remember
he time when much ridicue was cast on
Wealthy homes by the fact they were all of one
,attern, and that your next door neighbor's
ntrance hall was precisely like your own-and
hey were both ugly.
OF course ridicule has no effect in deterring
he disciples of cult, the essence of which Is
is Righteousness. The only method of putting
IN end to such thing is to neglect it, and no
me seems to have thought of doing that. 1t
8, as we have said, a natural outgrowth Of the
and indeterminate condition of peo-
lies minds in this great hot-bed Of modern
ivilization-one of the effects of skepticism
citing upon brains not strong enough to COM
'rehend its meaning, but desirous Of being sin
he SWIM" Perhaps it owes good part Of its
to the very critics who have la
,Ored most diligently to exDOse its ahsurditv