The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-04-11
OSCAR WILDE.
he Came, He Lectured, and He is
About to Depart.
How His Lecture Was Received.

The reception given Oscar Wilde
on his appearance at the Theatre
last night showed conclusiveIy that
to curiosity was due the very liberal
attendance. The announcement
that he was to lecture here gave
quite an impetus to the interest that
had already been manifested in this
peculiar individual, and number
Of projects had been set on foot in
connection with him. Fortunately
for the good sense of the young
ladies of this intellectual city, they
were abandoned, and he has come
and gone his way unmolested. He
is, on the whole, a jolly good fellow !;
sharp as a whip, and has enough
sense to know how the ducats can
best be seduced from the astute
American. AS soon as a person
lands in America he becomes a poll
tician and statesman and is pre-
pared to run government; this, of
necessity, involves marked intelli-
gence, and the consequence is that
fools are unknown on this broad
continent. 1t is not, therefore, sur
priSing to see the average Ameri-
can willing to spend his money for
the rare privilege of seeing a person
who is conceded to be fool. Oscar
was sharp enough to detect this ;
and concluded that he could afford
to be seen as fool if the sharp
Yankee would put up the money
for it. There is this difference at
least between Oscar and his hear
ers-his folly is pecuniary adYan-
tage. while the nearer is in that de-
lightful dilemma to which the old
adage refers" the fool and his
money are soon parted
On Monday afternoon Mr.. Wilde
visited President John Taylor at
the Gardo House, and he went
through the building. He also
visited other points of interest. In
fact, he saw as much as possible and
was seen as little as possible.
AT THE THEATRE.
Before o'clock last night quite a
large audience assembled at the
theatre to lear the lecture of Mr..
Wilde on "Art Decoration" 1t was
about twenty minutes past eight
when he made his appearance, and
he walked straight to the front and
centre of the stage, where Il stand
had beeA prepared besiae what was
q small table. There was a little
applause and a slight buzz of COM
ment on his appearance, which was
not entirely favorable t. the artistic
elegance of the design Of the gar
ments with which he had adorned
himself. His dress consisted
of a black velvet coat
somewhat approaching the conven-
ventiUnal claw-hammer in style, a
black velvet vest, TufieS at the
throat, breast and wrists, la Sir
Walter Raleigh, black knee
breecheS. black stockings and low
pumps with pointed toes anG silver
buckles, made up the above dress
Above these seeming relics of the
fifteenth century appeared large.
heavy face, partially concealed 0y
long. straight hair. which fell the
shoulders. \ gentleman, who had
been talking about the photographs
of the aesthetic, upon the appearance
of the original InVOluntarIly used
the words of Rufus ChOate when he
saw his OWL photograph: cit is ug y
as the deYil-but it is like, very
like
The delivery of the lecture was as
odd and unpleasant to the ear as his
appearance was to the eye. There
was an utter absence of expression,
and the lecturer reminded his hear
ers OF a school boy who goes on the
platform for the first time to speak
his piece" and who remembers the
words very we'll but has no recOlIec-
ton OF the ideas they convey. An
unpleasant stress laid upon the ac-
cented syllables Of all polysyllabic
words, gave the voice an OScilla-
ton, as it were, between two fixed
points very near together, and from
whichit could not escape. j is habit
Of speaking was so mOnOt"nOus as
to cause fatigue to the listeners,
and in great measure prevented
them from catching the ideas adj
vanced. Another unfortunate habit
of The lecturer is that Of lifting his
voice at the end of sentence as If
something more were to be said, and
then starting in the next sentence
in such manner as to leave his lis
tenerS wondering what 1t was tnat
the lecturer had forgotten.
The style was not more m0nOtOnous
than the manner Of delivery. There
was total abSence of gesture, ex-
ceptsan altOgether'GcO frequent shake
Of the 'head which was inclined
backward nearly the whole time.
Twice or thrice only he used his
right hand very slightly by way OF
gesture and then subsidized, or
pulled out his handkerchief or al
fectiOn9tely disturbed his long
straight tresseS. He seemed 10 take
no interest whatever in his remarks.
for his eyes wandered about anG
was INEXPENSIVE and unmoYed
and seemed as Indifferent as man
well could be who was talking to q
large and presumably intelligent
audience. There was no attempt
| at enthusiasm and the 0uiV I'M