Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-08-01

Somewhere about the early "s0's"
the writer stood waiting to take 81
train at the entrance to the New
York. New Haven and Hartford Rail-
way station in the old Grand Central
depot in New York Suddenly there
emerged from the portal a notable
figure of a well-conditioned man. His
face was smooth and his countenance
was smooth and fat with a great ex-
panse of jowl. He walked heavily
and entered waiting brougham with
a languid air.
The attire of this man was simple,
with the simplicity of elegance, and his
clothes bore the stamp of the supreme
art of the tailor. The suit he wore
was of the softest, feeciest gray, his
cap of the same material. His linen
was of the whitest and finest. His
tie was of azure blue, and in it was a
beautiful translucent pearl.
This man was Oscar Wilde, then
spreading the cult of aestheticism in
America. His appearance on that
beautiful June morning left an i'm
preston on the mind of the observer,
who saw him never to be effaced.
And now there is another impression
imprinted on the tablets of memory
picture sketched above This is the
beautiful face of Lord Alfred Doug
las, brother of the present Marquis
of Queensberry, whose name, in a
literary sense, will always be associ-
ated with that of Wilde, the poet and
dramatist, and who is himself a poet
of no mean order.
The countenance of Lord Alfred
Douglas appears as frontispiece to
his book, oscar Wilde and Myself
just published in thiScountry by Duff
field & Co. of New York. This book is
a pathetic appeal. 1t is am answer to
the scandalous, false statements that
have been made against this scion of
the ancient and memorable house of
Douglas, ever since he was so unfor-
tunate as to have made the ac-
quaintance of Wilde and to have been
deceived by the glamor of the lat
ters culture and his talents
The work is also a specific answer
to that book of Wilde. the DE Pro-
fundis." which for pathos and hypo-
critical religiousity hardly can be ri
vailed. But, especially, Lord Alfred S
book is an answer to the suppressed
portions of the DE Profundis," that
part of the work. or letter, which
Wilde's literary executor, Ross, pre-
scented to the British Museum as a
gift to the nation. to be kept invio-
late until 1860 This portion of the
manuscript Lord Alfred is prevented
from quoting, though he has an at
tested copy. by injunction of the
court.
He, as we'll as others, know that
this part of the work is a violently
libellous attack upon him, and his
mother. the Dowager Marchioness of
Queensberry.
''All my life, from twenty years of
age up says Lord Alfred, has been
overshadowed and filled with scandal
and grief through my association with
this man, Oscar Wilde. But
l am not going to waste my breath in
vain regrets. l have absolutely an
easy conscience with regard to my
treatment of Wilde, both before and
since his death If l have hurt any
body at all, 1t has been myself and my
family, and / have done this only
through misplaced loyalty to him
whom | regarded as my friend, and a
too high regard for chivalry
For my own indiscretions and care
lessness / could not honestly blame
anybody. ! have been punished for
them, and shall doubtless go on be-
ing punished for them; but there they
are and all the water in the sea will
not wash them OUT
Through the work of Lord Alfred
there is a sign of that spirit which
in one of his ancestors so astonished
the naughty Queen Elizabeth by its