The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-01-12
Oscar Wilde.
How They Gossip About Him.

The New York correspondent of the Phila-
delphia Press has seen Oscar Wilde, the apos-
tie of the new cult, and talks about him in this
fashion:
There are three or four rather well kuown
men of this town. any one of whom comes
nearer to the emphasized aesthetic of Du Maui
rier and Gilbert than does Oscar Wilde. You
will readily guess the names of the New York
ers mean, If it amuSeS you to try; and ii your
eyes happen to expresf respectful and even
persistent interest the next time you encounter
one of them in public place, he will not be
offended. At least two of these domestic
aesthetics will condescend 50 far as to discuss
with you, in the most amiably candid manner,
the qualities in themselves that command your
admiration.
At the reception given to Mr.. Wilde the 9TH
or afternoon by the enterprising proprietor of
The Hour, one of the gentlemen whom you
and / have in mind sought to engage the Eng
lishman in an interchange of thought appropri-
ate to the occasion. The dialogue was very
much like this:
sYou must know that already we have the
germs of such movement here-perhaps
should say an echo of your movements con-
slant tendency toward freer, franker Art"
ooh, l dare say"
ga number of us have declared war upon
the crude and commonplace.
''Naturally, you know"
"Lafarge and Louis Tiffany have the true
idea, think. Clarence Cook certainly has it.
You know his handiwork? No? Some of our
in modest way. O'Donovsn is on the right
track in clay"
sob, 1 dessay."
"There'sa a satisfa ction in working on a
straight line to a definite end, although the pc
cuniary encouragement is sometimes not what
it might be-
s'Oh, naturally, you know
"But the better you know us the more
ground You will find for an earnest hopeful
ness in regard to the future of Art on this side
of the Atlantic"
81 dessay."
At this point Mrs. John Bgelow and Miss
Gabrielle Greeley interrupted the most distinct
expression of his views and purposes that Mr..
Wilde has undertaken, outside OF business
hours since his arrival.
Mr. Wilde has been burlesqued by the New
York reporters. After a ten minutes conyersa-
tion with him, any good judge OF character
would report thus: He is ridiculous beyond
the common neither in what he does nor in
what he says He belongs to the class of hui
man beings uniting an excessive love of appro-
baton with watchfal eye for the main chance
"a type so familiar to everybody that it has
never been thought worthy OF special study.
His affectations and eccentricities are the re-
suit of deliberate and shrewd calculation.
He works aesthetics for purpose, as Mallock
works ethics, and with hardly less skill in his
way. When Mr.. Wilde left Oxford whore he
had been considered by his fellows as an ordi-
narily good fellow, he found himself at the
front door of society very much wearied OF
such young men. His only chance to get
foothoid was by hitting upon something quite
new, for he had not rank, wealth, personal
beauty or great wit to recommend him to no.
| tice. He had wit enough, however, to see
| that it was better to be laughed at than to be
| ignored. He had somewhat salacious fancy
| and knack at turning Swinburnian stanza;
| SO he advisedly set about concentrating, in his
| personal demeanor and utterances, the sort of
| thing that can be traced in its growth from
| vague origin in Ruskin to a tolerably distinct
| idea in the contemporary Dantemaniacs. He
| might have gone in on atheletics, instead of
aesthetics, with the same purpose and a similar
result bat Mr. Wilde, although of large frame
| is physically flabby.
a London acquaintance of mine, who has
| watched the course of Mr., Wilde's campaign
| in English society, says thatit has been con-
| ductsd with great adroitness. But he insists
| that the tall young poet owes more to Punch
| than he would be willing to acknowledge: in
| other words, that it was DulMaurier who cre-
| ated Wilde's opportunity, and not Wilde who
| afforded Du Maurer his. The aesthetic will be
| taken up by some fashionable people here, II
his manager permits, not because he is soulful
| ly intense, but simply in the legitimate way
| houses he visits in London. He does not act
| or talk in way to strengthen the theory that
| he is a fool He is heavy-faced-"c "chowder-
| faced" coast New Englander would call
| him-is not quick witted when timed by the
| Yankee standard, and does some vulgar things
with the most charming unconsoiousness
Mr.. Wilde may properly be discussed with
| candor since it is no secret that he comes to
America to exhibit himself for money. He
honors us by selecting this country as the field
where the yearnings that have already ad-
vanced him socially shall be made to yield IL