The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1895-04-12
FIRST NoTORlETY ACHIEVED
Stories of His Experiences While on
His Tour. Caricatured by Du
Maurier and SatirIzed 10y Gil
bert. Some Accounts of
His Many Plays.

been what he was trying for. Neither
the caricaturist nor the satirist dipin-
ished the ardor with which Wilde pur
sued what was vaguely called ;estheti
oism. The Bunthornes of Patience
made mp in exaos imitation of Wilde
and he posed in tho Hobbies of the Same
Sheaters and composed phrases which
outdid In liiylike languor the phrases
Gilbert had thought to DO satires. One
of the songs of PATIENCE which seems
TO contain more Or less pointed al
ausion to Wilde runs:
Then sentimental passion of vegetable
fashion
Should excite Your languid spleen:
An attachment q In Plato, for d basbf,,l vornc
potato,
Or not too French French bean.
enough the Philistinas may jostle You will
rank ns IN apostle
In the sentimental band,
IL you walk down Piccadilly with poppy OF
lily
In your medieval hand.
And every one will shy
AS you walk your mystic way
"n he's content with n vegetable love TINT
would certainly not suit me-
way what most particularly pure young
man this pure young man must be-"
The more limp Du Maurier drew his
oaricaturo the limper was Oscar when
no confronted the next assemblage; the
longer Du Maurior made his peoples
hair the longer Wilde staid away from
the barber's.
Up to that time, 10 years ago, Wilde
had done little else to attract attention
to himself He was known to be tho son
OF exceptionally clever parents and win
ner of the Newdigate at Oxford but be-
sides cieYeriy advertising himself and
writing a few verses he had done 10
clever original work and was not scri.
ously considered. His reputation as
lecturer, man Of fashion, wit poet. nov
elist. essayist, playwright, has been
made in most particulars in the last half
dozen years, I'll since his Iecturing tour
IN this country.
he came hero about 10 years ago,
frankly advertised as freak lecturing
on "estheticism. Ho wore knee
breeohes, silk hose, lace cuffs and was
otherwise variously freakish in his
dress At Boston half hundred Har-
ward boys marched into his lecture hall
dressed as he was, each carrying % lily.
Wilde's noted imperturbability did not
desert him. He merely lisped, How
tenderly droll!" and went OH with his
lecture
In q western city lie was the guest of
club among whose members were
number of stout drinkers. They under
look to tank up the nsthete,' ms they
expressed it. The process was long.
AS the sun was breaking into the club
windows Wilde locked about over
room strewn with falling braves and
SAID to the one man still able to COM
prehend speech:
We've had oharmingly quiet lit
Bic evening. Don't you feel like bit Of
run about town before BREAKFAST
But those who met him under normal
conditions found Mr.. Wilde n witty,
engaging talker, unusually well inform
cd on wide range Of literary and art
SUBJECTS, and quite able to care for him
self in any mental encounter. The pub
lie at large, not knowing this of him,
refused to accept him or his cult seri-
ously, and Wilde returned to England
richer only in experiences and q few
hundred pounds. He had apologists, not
OF his class, for his "lilylike" eccen-
Srioities.
About three years ago his play,
Lady Windermere's FAM was pro-
duced in London and later here, and
shat at once made him ono of tho most
talked about playwrights living. There
was not much seriously Objectionable in
the sentiments expressed in this play,
not to theater goers who had become &C.
oustomed to ''Divoroon" and its kind,
and this did not seem to satisfy Mr..
wilde. He wrote "Salome, wrote it
IN French, and arranged with Sarah
Bernhardt to produce it in London, but
the lord chamberlain refused to author
ize it's production, or, to put it the ia.
miliar way, prohibited it. and Wilde
threatened to go to France to live,
which the Marquis Of Queensberry ex-
pressed longing for him to do, but he
did not.
A year and a half ago Mr.. Wilde
managed to contrive and have ventilat.
ed in The Pail Mall Budget a quarrel
with T. p. O'Connor. in which he ex-
pressed his opinion of the Ordinary
journalist" in manner intended to in.
crease the scope Of the quarrel, but it
did not
In spite Of the harsh things which
nave been written lately about the
moral quality Of his later literary work,
recent London critic wrote of him:
Mr. Oscar Wilde has o very whole
4 s So influence upon contemporary
IL