Oscar Wilde Interviews and Recollections Volume 1 Also by E. H. Mikhail The Social and Cultural Setting of the I 8gos John Galsworthy the Dramatist Comedy and Tragedy Sean O'Casey: A Bibliography of Criticism A Bibliography of Modern Irish Drama I8gg-I970 Dissertations on Anglo-Irish Drama The Sting and the Twinkle: Conversations with Sean O'Casey (co-editor with John 0' Riordan) J. M. Synge: A Bibliography of Criticism Contemporary British Drama I950-I976 J. M. Synge: Interviews and Recollections (editor) W. B. Yeats: Interviews and Recollections (two volumes) (editor) English Drama I goo-I 950 Lady Gregory: Interviews and Recollections (editor) Oscar Wilde: An Annotated Bibliography of Criticism A Research Guide to Modern Irish Dramatists OSCAR WILDE Interviews and Recollections Volume I Edited by E. H. Mikhail Selection and editorial matter© E. H. Mikhail 1979 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1979 978-o-333-2.4040-3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means without permission First published 1979 by THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD London and Basingstoke Associated companies in Delhi Dublin Hong Kong Johannesburg Lagos Melbourne New rork Singapore Tokyo British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Oscar Wilde, interviews and recollections Vol. 1 1. Wilde, Oscar I. Mikhail, Edward Halim 828'.8'og PR5823 ISBN 978-1-349-03925-8 ISBN 978-1-349-03923-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-03923-4 This book is sold subject to the standard conditions of the Net Book Agreement To Isabelle Contents Acknowledgements XI Biographical Table XV Introduction XIX INTERVIEWS AND RECOLLECTIONS Oscar Wilde at Trinity College Dublin Sir Edward Sullivan Memories of Trinity Days Horace Wilkins 2 Oscar Wilde at Magdalen College Oxford Sir David Hunter- Blair 3 Oscar Wilde: an Oxford Reminiscence W. W. Ward 12 Oscar Wilde at Oxford G. T. Atkinson Oscar Wilde at the Divinity Exam Douglas Sladen 21 A Gay Spirit Edgar Jepson 22 Oscar Wilde the Aesthete Francis Gribble 23 The Aesthetic Craze Sir Frank Benson 26 Oscar Wilde's Courage Robert Harborough Sherard 28 Oscar Wilde and Frank Miles Frank Harris 30 Oscar Wilde and the Pre-Raphaelite Movement Mrs]. Comyns Carr 33 Oscar Wilde before America Violet Hunt 35 Oscar Wilde's Arrival 36 The Theories of a Poet 39 On the Philadelphia Express 42 Oscar Wilde and Whitman 46 Oscar Wilde in Boston Mrs Thomas Bailey Aldrich 48 A Man of Culture Rare 50 Speranza's Gifted Son 53 Vlll CONTENTS Oscar Wilde in Omaha 58 The Sunflower Poet 59 Oscar Wilde Mary Watson 64 The Apostle of Estheticism Talks Plainly 67 Oscar Wilde in Denver 76 Oscar Wilde in Colorado Mrs J. Comyns Carr 78 Beauty's Great Exponent 79 Oscar Wilde in Montreal 8 I Oscar Wilde: The Arch-Aesthete on Aestheticism 84 Aestheticism's Apostle 86 Oscar Wilde in the West 87 The Apostle of Modern Art 8g The Aesthetic Apostle go Oscar Wilde Talks of Texas gi The Great Esthete 93 Oscar Dear, Oscar Dear! g6 Oscar Wilde in New York Anna, Comtesse de Bremont IOO The Apostle of Beauty in Nova Scotia 105 My Quarrel with Oscar Wilde Sir James Rennell Rodd I I I Oscar Wilde Returns I I 4 My First Meeting with Oscar Wilde Robert Harborough Sherard I I 7 A Dinner with Oscar Wilde Edmond de Goncourt I 2 I Breakfast with Oscar Beverley Nichols I 22 Oscar Wilde in Chelsea Ernest Rhys I 24 Oscar Wilde and Art Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson I 25 Oscar Wilde and his Mother Gertrude Atherton I 26 Memories of Oscar Wilde L. B. Walford I28 At Lady Wilde's Reception Anna, Comtesse de Bremont I33 Oscar Wilde and His Mother Walter T. Spencer I35 Oscar Wilde under the Limelight Katharine Tynan I37 A Kind Man H. M. Swanwick I 39 My Introduction to Oscar Wilde A. H. Cooper-Prichard I42 My First Meeting with Oscar Wilde W. B. Yeats I44 Reminiscences of Oscar Wilde Walter Crane I 50 Memories of Oscar Wilde Arthur Fish I 52 The Reminiscences of a Short Life Herbert Vivian I 54 Oscar Wilde William Rothenstein I 58 A Golden Evening Sir Arthur Conan Doyle I6I CONTENTS IX And So Wilde Came to Lunch Lady Emiry Luryens Recollections of Oscar Wilde Henri de Regnier My First Meeting with Oscar Wilde Jean Joseph-Renaud An English Poet in Paris Jacques Daurelle The Diner-Out A. J. A. Symons Oscar Wilde at the Lyric Club Luther Munday The Unwritten Introduction Frederic Whyte The Dramatist Hesketh Pearson 'That Man Will Be Eaten by Worms' Ernest Rhys Lady Windermere's Fan Anna, Comtesse de Bremont The Censure and Salome 'I Adore Paris' Oscar Wilde Salome Adolphe Rette How Oscar Wilde Dreamed of Salome Gomez Carrillo Oscar Wilde Michael Field Oscar Wilde at The Vale C. J. Holmes My Memories of Oscar Wilde Louise Jopling 203 A Great Poseur Constance, Lady Benson 206 Of Oscar Wilde W. Graham Robertson 208 The Beginnings of A Woman of .No Importance Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree 214 Oscar Wilde Blackmailed Hesketh Pearson 216 A Woman of .No Importance Julia .Neilson 219 The Raconteur A. Hamilton Grant 220 New Views of Mr. Oscar Wilde Percival W. H. A/my 228 The Oscar Wilde Rule Hesketh Pearson 235 'I Never Walk' Wilfrid Scawen Blunt 237 With Tree at the Haymarket W. H. Leverton 238 An Ideal Husband Gilbert Burgess 239 Haymarket Memories Julia .Neilson 243 Nobody Reads Nowadays Squire Bancroft 245 Mr. Oscar Wilde on Mr. Oscar Wilde 246 Appendix Oscar Wilde's American Lecture Tour Acknowledgements I wish to express my gratitude to Dr Brian F. Tyson who read this work in typescript and made many valuable suggestions. At various stages I also received useful comments, information, support or assistance from Miss Barbara Dickinson, Mrs Jeane Handerek, Mr Montgomery Hyde, Mr Merlin Holland, Professor William A. Armstrong, Mrs Jacqueline McCartin and Mrs Christine Bender. I am grateful to Miss Bea Ramtej for her patience and skill in typing and preparing the final manuscript; to Mr Tim Farmiloe of Macmillan for his interest and encouragement and to Miss Julia Brittain and her colleagues of the same firm for their help in seeing the book through the press. Thanks are due to the University of Lethbridge for granting me sabbatical leave to complete this work. It is also a pleasant duty to record my appreciation to the staff of the University of Lethbridge Library; the British Library, London; the Newspaper Library, Colindale; the National Library oflreland, Dublin; the University of California Library, Los Angeles; the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; and the New York Public Library. The editor and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: Adam International Review for the extract from 'And So Wilde Came to Lunch' by Lady Emily Lutyens, published in Vol. XXII, Nos. 241-243 ( 1954); Edward Arnold Ltd for the extracts 'My Quarrel with Oscar Wilde' by Sir James Rennell Rodd from Social and DiploTTUltic Memories I884-18y3 and 'Memories of Oscar Wilde' by L. B. Walford from Memories of Victorian London; Associated Book Publishers Ltd for the extract from An Artist's Reminiscences by Walter Crane, published by Methuen & Co. Ltd; Ernest Benn Ltd and Charles Scribner's Sons for the extracts 'Oscar Wilde at Trinity College Dublin' by Sir Edward Sullivan from Oscar Wilde: The Man- the Artist, the Martyr by Boris Brasol and 'The Aesthetic Craze' by Sir Frank Benson from My Memoirs; Ernest Benn Ltd for the extract 'Oscar Wilde- and Art' by Sir Johnston xu ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Forbes-Robertson from A Player Under Three Reigns; The Bodley Head for the extract from T wenry Years of my Life by Louise Jopling; The Bodley Head for the extracts 'Oscar Wilde at the Lyric Club' from A Chronicle of Friendships by Luther Munday; 'With Tree at the Haymarket' from Through the Box-Office Window: Memories of Fifty Years at the Haymarket Theatre by W. H. Leverton; and the extract from The Real Oscar Wilde by Robert Harborough Sherard, published by T. Werner Laurie Ltd; Jonathan Cape Ltd on behalf of the Estate of Frederick Whyte for the extract from William Heinemann: A Memoir, Jonathan Clowes Ltd on behalf of the Conan Doyle Estate for the extract 'A Golden Evening' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from Memories and Adventures; Constable & Co. Ltd for extracts from T wenry Years of My Life by Douglas Sladen; Crowding Memories by Mrs Thomas Bailey Aldrich; Forry Years in my Bookshop by Walter T. Spencer and Self and Partners by C. J. Holmes; Curtis Brown Ltd on behalf of Beverley Nichols for the extract 'Breakfast with Oscar' from Horizon, VI (Autumn 1964); Curtis Brown Ltd on behalf of the Executors for Gertrude Atherton and Liveright Publishing Corporation, for the extract from Adventures of a .Novelist, by Gertrude Atherton, US Copyright renewed 1959 by Muriel Atherton Russell; J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd and Miss Stella Rhys for the extracts 'Oscar Wilde in Chelsea' from Everyman Remembers and 'That Man Will be Eaten by Worms' from Wales England Wed by Ernest Rhys; The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, for the extract 'I Never Walk' by Wilfred Scawen Blunt from My Diaries: Being A Personal .Na"ative of Events r888--r914; Victor Gollancz Ltd for the extract 'A Kind Man' by H. M. Swanwick from I Have Been Young; Grove Press Inc., for the extract 'Oscar Wilde and Frank Miles' by Frank Harris from My Life and Loves; Hamish Hamilton Ltd for the extract from Time Was (1931), by W.