The Yorkshire Evening Post - Monday, April 8, 1895

"You are not an artist," said Wilde at the Old Bailey when Mr. Carson refused to take some piece of shameless immorality as "a work of pure beauty." "No, I am not an artist," rejoined Mr. Carson, "and when I hear some of your answers I am very glad of it."

MR. CARSON'S MODESTY.

Mr. Carson, far from joining in the general chorus of approval which has greeted his masterly display of cross-examination, says that he never had a much easier case. "Carson is the coming Russell of his day so far as cross-examination is concerned," remarked one M.P. the other night. It was curious, and at the same time rather pleasant (remarks a Parliamentary writer) to observe bitter political opponents patting Mr. Carson on the shoulders, and saying, "Well done!" You might have seen Mr. Tim Heaiy and Mr. Swift MacNeill acting so.

HOW SOME LETTERS WERE SECURED.

One of the principal witnesses who was to have been called to support Lord Queenberry's case left his lodgings in London some time ago rather hurriedly, leaving his rent unpaid. An agent of the solicitor called to inquire after the missing lodger, and was told that nothing was known of him, but on payment of the rent due he could have a box which had been left behind. Needless to say, the rent was paid and the box taken away in triumph. When opened it was found to contain a score or so of important letters.

WILDE AT MAGDALEN.

Oscar Wilde while at Oxford was the only Demy who was in the best Magdalen set, and who frequented the Junior Common-room, of which he was the life and soul, for he kept the table in a roar with his constant flow of Irish wit. He occupied charming rooms looking over the Cherwell and Magdalen Bridge, which were known as "Prince Rupert's Rooms." Dining at the Mitre Hotel, being driven by his friends on drags and tandems, a little languid boating on the upper river, a good deal of "loo" and "nap," were (the Morning says) the amusements of Mr. Wilde's undergraduate days. Though he had not been to an English public school, he more than held his own against the sixth form men from Eton and Harrow, for he took a first-class with the greatest ease in Moderations and "Greats," and was a brilliant classical scholar.

TAKING OFF THE NAME.

Mr. Sydney Grundy writes to the Telegraph:—"I wonder on what principle of law, or justice, or common sense, or good manners, or Christian charity, an author's name is blotted from his work. If a man is not to be credited with what he has done well, by what right is he punished for what he has done ill?

OSCAR WILDE'S INCOME.

A correspondent writes that from his plays and literary work Oscar Wilde was earning £10,000 a year.

LORD ALFRED DOUGLAS'S DEVOTION.

Questioned by a reporter as to what he was going to do now, Lord Alfred Douglas replied, "If Mr. Wilde should be locked up I shall get a house near the prison and live there till he comes out."

IN THE "BLACK MARIA."

After the hearing of the trial on Saturday, Wilde and Taylor were removed to the gaoler's quarters to await their conveyance to Holloway. The prisoners were kept strictly apart. Wilde could not restrain his penchant for talking, and referred to the harshness oi the magistrate in refusing to allow bail. Apparently he was not aware of the fact that the gravity of the charge precluded all possibility of temporary freedom. Every consideration was shown to Wilde, notwithstanding his peevishness. He meekly followed tha officer, pausing only for an instant at the steps of the van to have a deep-drawn sigh. A minute afterwards the door of the "Black Maria" had closed upon him, and in less than half-an-hour Wilde was within the gates of Holloway Gaol.

IN THE CELLS.

When Wilde arrived at Holloway Gaol he was conveyed to one of the better class cells, the occupation of which is provided for by the prison regulations on payment of about a shilling a day. It has been arranged that one of the prisoners at Holloway shall perform the menial duties which every prisoner is bound himself to perform unless prepared to pay for a substitute. His meals will be supplied by a local caterer, and he will be allowed to receive a daily visit from a friend. He will, however, be obliged to forego cigarette smoking, and to attend the parade of the prisoners at the gaol awaiting trial.

"Q."

The Marquess of Queensberry, before he brought the quarrel between himself and Oscar Wilde to a head, had for three months been quietly living at Kinmount House, his seat in Dumfriesshire. On leaving, he made a short sojourn at Carlisle, and then went up to London. Whatever new discoveries he made there, he appears not to have acted on the spur of the moment. In fact, he was in town for some three weeks before he took the final step. His son, Lord Alfred Douglas, is some 25 years old, not, as was stated the other day, 19 or 20.

UNDERGRADUATES TOGETHER.

Mr. Edward Carson and Mr. Oscar Wilde were undergraduates together in Trinity College, Dublin, upwards of 20 years ago, and were, indeed, members of the same class. Oscar Wilde was a scholar of Trinity, and one of the best classics of his year. Mr. Carson's Academic career was, comparatively speaking, undistinguished.

THE JURY'S INTENTION.

It is said that the jury at the Old Bailey were prepared to return a verdict acquitting Lord Queensberry soon as the case for the prosecution was closed. An intimation to this effect was, it is believed, conveyed to the judge, and may not improbably have reached Sir Edward Clarke's ears. Whether this had anything to do with the abrupt termination of the case we cannot say.

Evening Herald - Monday, April 8, 1895

Mr Carson, Q C, is the hero of the hour. His brilliant cross-examination of Wilde has placed him in the foremost rank of English lawyers. When he appeared in the House of Commons on Friday his features, always pallid, were drawn and haggard to a painful extent ; his eyes were dull and glazed, and his general demeanour was that of a man fatigued in every limb. The moment he set foot in the lobby he was the recipient of congratulation. Men like Sir Frank Lockwood and Mr Darling hastened to compliment their co-worker upon his success, and a few minutes later the Attorney-General took Mr Carson behind the chair for the same purpose.

Mr Carson, says a Parliamentary reporter, far from joining in the general chorus of approval which has greeted his masterly display of cross-examination, says that he never had a much easier case; and with the generous instinct of a successful man rising rapidly to the top of the ladder, he declares that Sir Edward Clarke’s statement in the opening part of the case was, under the circumstances, and in face of the tremendous difficulties under which he laboured, a real masterpiece. "I have never heard anything to equal it in all my life," was the way in which he worded his tribute to his learned friend.

"Carson is the coming Russell of his day so far as cross-examination is concerned," remarked one member. It was curious, and at the same time rather pleasant, to observe bitter political opponents patting Mr Carson on the shoulders, and saying, "Well done!" You might have seen Mr Tim Healy and Mr Swift MacNeill acting so, and you would have admitted that it did them honour. Mr Carson was never an infant prodigy, nor did his star shine very brightly at college. On the contrary, he was little known there. Mr Ross, another Irish Q C, who entered the House at the same time, was a far more distinguished member of Trinity College, Dublin. He was easily before Mr Carson in every scholastic competition, took the gold medal for oratory, and came out as the finest Classic of his year.

Irishmen were pretty much on evidence in this remarkable case. Mr Wilde and Mr Carson are Dublin men. Mr Gill, who appeared for the Crown in the criminal charge on Saturday, is also an Irishman. So is Mr Justice Henn Collins. He is a graduate of both Dublin and Cambridge. Mr Wilde’s father, the late Sir William Wilde, was the leading oculist here, and Mr Justice Henn Collins’s father, the late Mr Collins, Q C, was one of the leaders of the Irish Bar.

Mr Edward Carson and Mr Oscar Wilde were undergraduates together in Trinity College, upwards of twenty years ago, and were, indeed, members of the same class. Oscar Wilde was a scholar of Trinity, and one of the best classics of his year. Mr Carson’s Academic career was, comparatively speaking, undistinguished. It is worth mentioning perhaps also that in those early days there was a marked antipathy between the two men.

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