Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1882-01-21
OSCAR WILDE's LECTURE.
The Young Apostle of Esthetfcisn
Explaining HIS Theories OF
the English Renais.
O8nCe.
from the n. Y, World, J.uu.ry . |

haa contained so due all audience as
That which gathered there last eve
Mug to see Mr.. Oscar Wilde aud per-
haps TO listen to his exposition of
those peculiar views which have dir
tinguished him from everyday folk
in England. Aud Mr.. Wilde wss we'll
worth seeing, his short breeches aud
silk stockings showing to even better
advantage upon the stage than in the
gilded drawing-rooms where the
young apostle has heretofore been
seen IN New York. No suuflower,
nor yet lily, dungled from the but
tonhole OF his coat, indeed there is
room for reasonable doubt as to
| whether his coat; had even one but
toM-holo TO be put to such artistic use.
But judging his coat by the laws OF
the Philistines it was well-fttiDg
coat. and looked as though 1t had beeu
made for tho wearer as real coat and
not as mere piece of decorative
drapery. Promptly at 8 o'clock the
young lecturer came upon the stage,
and with the briefest possible intro
duction from Col. Morse, Mr.. Wilde
began his lecture.
A subject as evasive as beauty, for
beauty was the real subject Of the lec-
ture, is difficult to grasp with logic.
Not analysis, not description " as the
method of trestment. but revelation.
"Beauty cannot be taught, but only
revealed" is the apotheam that Mr..
Wilde never tires of repeating; and
this, fifty enough, is the key 10 his
sLvie. He handled no prosaic subject.
Long melodious sentences, seldom ill.,
yolc oil
meaning as graceful curves reveal
beautiful figure. A vocabulary as
wide as Swin5urne's aud W ell nigh as
musical, modelled on that rich aud
flowing prose which is as marvellous
as wimburne's verse-how could such
II style be dull2 Yet it was never
| obscure. Always the first clear prin-
ciple Of chsste English, simplicity,
| aud the careful attribute of clean
| thought, exactDess, characterized his
style. Almost gorgeous at times, his
language never quite ran away with
him, but Was always equal to the
clear expression OF the most subtle
| fancy. The best parts of the lecture
were its clear glimpses of rare ap-
probation of artistic literary work
from Homer to William Morris
Laugh as one may. perhaps as one
must at times, at the attempt to make
an original out of a caricature (for
the conclusion ia Irresistible that the
real creation is Gilbert and Sullivan's
| and not Wide's), there are piercing
bits OF criticism and evidences Of
clean scholarship discernibie every
! where. ln spite of the frivolous that
is, perhaps unfortunately, insepara-
ole from the man and the subject, it
is not every day that one can sit in
the hearing of 30 keen q critic or catch
| such gllmpses of SO clear a revelation
Of art. Perhaps the young poet may
yet lack strength, but he certainly
toes not lack fueucy, width and fell
city Of style.
Among the many debts, said Mr.
| Wilde, which We owe to the supreme
&c sthetic faculty of Goethe is that he
was the first to teach US to define
beauty in terms the most concrete
possible; to realize it, mean, always
| III its special manifestations. So, iii
the lecture which [ have the honor
to deliver before yon l will not Try
| to give you any abstract defiuitiOn OF
beauty, any such universal formula
for 1t as was sought by the philosophy
of the eighteenth century; still less
10 ocomrnunicate to you that which in
its essence is incOmmuuicable-
| virtue by which particular picture
| or poem affects us with u unique aud
| special joy, but rather to point out
10 you the general ideas which charac-
terize the great Euglish renaissance
Of art in this century. This renais-
| sauce has beeu described as mere re-
| viVal OF Greek modes of thought
aud again as mere revival of
medieval feeling. 1t is really from
the union OF Hellenism in its breadth
lis sanity of purpose; Its calm pos
session. of beauty, with the intensified
individualism. the passionate co!ors
of the romantic spirit that springs
the art of the nineteenth century in
England, as from the marriage OF
Faust and Helen of Troy sprang the
first tendencies of the modern re.
ne,ssance TO the French revolution
aud the desire for perfection which
!l4y at the base of that reyo.
!ution found in young English
poet its most complete and flawles:
realization. Phidias and the achieve.
III Hrmer; Dante prefigures for Us
no passion and color aud intensity ol
italian paiutiDg; the modern love OF
landscape dates from Rosseau; and
1t !s IN Keats that one discerns the
beginning Of the artistic renaissance
OF England, Byron was a rebel and
Shelley dreamer; but i'll the calm.
mess and clearness of his vision, biz
seii-control. his unsrring sense o.
beauty and his recognition of a sep
arate realm for the Imagination
Keats was the pure aud serene artist
'"e forerunner OF the pre- -Raphaeli,e &
school, aud So OF the great romantic
movement of which am to speak.
Ii you ask nlne-tenths of the Brit
ish public about the pre-Raphaelites
you viii hear something about al
eccentric lot of young men to whom
belong sort OF divine crookedues,
ana holy awkwardness in drawing
all the chief objects Of art. To kmo "
nothing about their great men is on.
Of the necessary elements Of Euglist
education. Indeed, the average Eug
ilsh:nan will tell you that Rstheli
} cism is the French for afectatiou OF
he German for dado. The pre-
, Raphaeiites were number of youns
poets ahd painters who banded t.
. gether III London about thirty wears
elHce 10 revoiutionize English poetr,
and painting. They had three things
which tie English public never for
give-youth, power aud enthusiasm
!: Satire paid them the homage which
hcdloa'ity pays to genius. Theil
detractors blinded the public bu
simply confirmed the artists in thei
CONVICTIONS. To disagree with three
iourtns o: all England on all poin,
is one Of the first elements of tn,
sanity.
Pre-Raphaellsm was above al
things return to nature-to draw
and paint nothing but what was seen
With the joining of William Morri
AID Edward Burre Jones TO the ori
ginal board came changes. The lat
ter brought to painting more ex
S quisiie choice, more taultless devo
iioh to beauty, u more intense seek
e ing after perfection. He felt that tin
close imitation OF nature was a dis
! inrbing element in Imaginative art
10 Morris we owe poetry whose per
feet precision anu clcarness Of " orc
L and vision have not been excelled i,
e tho literature OF our country. Thi
: revolution Was not only one OF idea
Dnt Of crestions. The poetry O
Morris. Swlnburne aud Rosetti show
a style f1awisss and fearless, a sus
i tanning consciousness OF the musica
e Value OF each word, distinct ad