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The trial of Oscar Wilde, the dramatic author, on charges of criminal indecency, was resumed before Mr. Justice Wills to-day.

Wilde, who was so weak that he could not stand, was accommodated with a seat in the witness box while giving evidence on his own behalf.

He denied absolutely all the charges, and said that he had always understood that Taylor, who had been previously charged with the same offence and convicted, was a respectable man. With reference to the low social grade of the persons with whom during the trial he had been proved to have associated, Wilde stated that the reason of his friendship was that personally he liked them, and considered "lionised" delightful.

Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., counsel for the prisoner, in addressing the jury, characterised the witnesses against his client as blackmailers, and urged that it was impossible to believe their evidence.

The jury, after deliberating in retirement for two hours, returned a verdict against Wilde of guilty on all the counts.

Mr. Justice Wills, in passing sentence on the two convicted men, Taylor and Wilde, spoke with great emotion, and said he found it difficult enough to restrain his feelings. The verdict of the jury was, his Honor said, correct beyond the shadow of a doubt. He felt that it would be useless to address the prisoners, as they must be dead to all sense of shame. The case was the worst that had ever been tried before him, and he must pass the severest sentence which the law permitted, though he regretted that this was totally inadequate.

Justice Wills then sentenced Wilde and Taylor each to two years' imprisonment, with hard labor.

Taylor bore the sentence well, and left the dock with a firm step, but Wilde seemed quite dazed and stunned. His face was frightfully haggard, and for a few moments he stared with despairing, horror-struck looks straight before him.

Then he muttered weakly a request that he might be permitted to address the judge. No attention was paid to the request, and the gaol warders immediately removed him to the cells.

The trial of Oscar Wilde, the well-known dramatic author, on five charges of abominable indecency, was continued at the Old Bailey to-day, before Mr Justice Wills and a jury.

Public interest in the case was still maintained in a very high degree, and the court and its surroundings were crowded all day.

The accused, although still pale and haggard, giving exterior evidence of much mental suffering, was much firmer in his demeanor in the dock than he was yesterday.

There was little fresh in the evidence adduced, the statements of the several witnesses for the prosecution being much the same as those given at the previous trial, and not shaken in any essential particular by cross-examination.

The case for the Crown being closed.

Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., who appeared for the prisoner, asked his Honor to withdraw from the jury the count alleging indecent conduct on the part of Wilde with the young valet out of work, Charles Parker, at the rooms occupied by the prisoner at the Savoy Hotel. Counsel urged that Parker's evidence was not corroborated and that there was no issue to send to a jury.

Mr. Justice Wills said that in the part of the case relating to what had occurred at the Savoy Hotel, the testimony was so evenly balanced that the wiser course appeared to him to be to submit it to the jury. His duty prevented him from acceding to the request to withdraw the count from the jury, therefore Sir Edward Clarke's application could not be granted.

Sir Edward Clarke drew his Honor's attention next to the count in relation to the young man Edward Shelley, a former employe of a firm of publishers, and urged that the Crown had in this instance failed to make out any case for the determination of a jury.

His Honor agreed with counsel for the defence and dismissed the count. In reviewing the relations between Wilde and young Shelley, the judge said that there had been no corroboration of the single Crown witness in support of its allegations. Shelley, it was apparent, suffered from delusions. He (the judge) could see nothing unnatural in the friendship which Wilde had formed for this young gentleman, who was imbued with strong literary tastes, and had been attracted to Wilde by a literary instinct. The evidence did not show that the friendship between Wilde and Shelley was other than a perfectly honorable one.

The further hearing was then adjourned until next day.