The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-03-28

The following communication to the
New York Herald published some time
since, may prove of some interest to
our readers, as giving in a measure an
insight into the character of the chief
exponent Of esthetic culture. The cor
respondent says:
Having read the critiques which
have recently appeared in your columns
on the poems Of Oscar Wilde, as well
as the brief mention of his parentage,
in your issue of the 18th inst, 1 offer
the following short biographical notice,
believing that il may interest many of
the myriad readers of the Herald. Mr..
Oscar Wilde is the son Of my esteemed
and lamented friend the late eminent
surgeon Sir William Wilde, for many
years previous to H3eedemise, surgeon
~oculist to ts the queen, the
founder and lifelong chief of staff of
st. Marks Ophthalmic and Aurat hos
pItal, Dublin, and no less distinguished
as one Of the most ardent and brilliant
of Irish psychologists (having been
twice elected president Of the Royal
Irish academy, and, as is manifest In
his Shores of Lough Corrib and Tough
Mask besides many other scholarly
contributions unfolding the primeval
story of historic Ireland. K%nighthood
was conferred on him in recognition
| chiefly of his arduous and successful
labors in producing the first elaborate
and reliable ensus of his native land,
a work pronounced to be the most ex-
haustive and complete extant in Europe
Mr.. Wilde's mother is the world famed
~'>peraDZa,' dear to Irish hearts, whose
patriotic poems and lyrics are familiar
as household words wherever the liber-
ty inspired gems Of English literature
are read and appreciated. She is also
the author Of prose works of fiction, re-
| plete with rare descriptive metaphysical
ability, C.. g., The First Temptation
My intimate acquaintance with the sub
ject OF this cursory sketch dates about
1855. on the occasion of the sudden and
fatal illness of his little sister, Isola,
the most gifted and lovable child of
eight years that 1 have ever seen. L
attended her professionally at the house
of her uncle, the husband of Sir Will
liam's only sister, Rev. VIM. Noble,
rector of Mastrim or Edgeworthstown,
which was the home Of the celebrated
Maria Edgeworth. Oscar Wilde was
hen an a~fectionate, gentle, retiring,
dreamy hoy, about ten years old, and /
recollect instituting, in conversation
with his uncle, a comparison between
himself and his elder brother Willie,
u very clever lad, and our assigning the
need of superiority in mental depth to
'Ossie, although 1 believe Lady Wilde
was disposed to the opposite opinion.
His lonely and ~inconsolable grief seek
ing vent in1ong and frequent visits to
his SISTERS or v in the village cemete-
terry hard by, and in touching, albeit
boyisb poetic illusions, seemed to fore
ado the pudding yotary OF the
MUSES.. His scholastic and collegiate
career, though above mediocre, were
n u marked by any decided evidences of
extraordinary talent, but he was always
u fast and valued friend among the
select few Of his youthful associates. l
would add that maturer years and
ripened judgment will doubtless, in
poetic efforts, correct the faults your
reviewer has so eandidly, yet so kindly
indicated. A mind SO richly endowed,
and u heart 81 warm, both inherited,
must find their true expression portray
ing the e~levating, the noble and the
good IN poetry aesthetic in the highest
sense of the term" L. r. F.