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Original paragraph in
The West Australian - Friday, April 5, 1895
The West Australian - Friday, April 5, 1895
Most similar paragraph from
The Sydney Morning Herald - Friday, April 5, 1895
The Sydney Morning Herald - Friday, April 5, 1895
Difference
The trial of the Marquis of Queensberry for criminally libelling Mr. Oscar Wilde, the well-known dramatist, has begun. The alleged libel
was contained on a post-card which the Marquis left with the hall porter at Mr. Wilde's club. The defence is justification, the Marquis declaring that the
letter was written with the object of saving his son, Lord Alfred Douglas, from immoral influences exerted over him by Mr. Wilde. The defence is based on
revelations contained in certain letters from Mr. Wilde to Lord Alfred Douglas. For some of these letters Mr. Wilde has had, it is alleged, to pay heavy
blackmail. The letters, which were of a very gushing character, were found in some old clothes which Lord Alfred Douglas had given away.
Yesterday the plaintiff, Mr. Wilde, was subjected to a very severe cross-examination, with a view to showing that his novel Dorian Grey
and articles in the Chameleon, a magazine with which he is connected, were intended to inspire criminal practices. Mr. Wilde insisted that they were
merely the expression of his artistic faculty. His letters to Lord Alfred Douglas were, he said, prose poems, extraordinary perhaps, but not justifying an
immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of his alleged blackmailers £21, and lunched with him afterwards in a private room. He admitted also
that he was on terms of intimacy with two lads who were not his social equals. He had given them money and expensive presents, but that was because he
liked them.
The prosecutor was stringently crossexamined with the view of showing that his novel, "Dorian Grey," a story of an artist and his model,
which appeared in Lippincott's Magesine, his articles in other magazines, and the Chameleon, with which he is connected, inspired to criminal practices.
Oscar Wilde insisted that the articles were merely the expression of an artistic faculty. The letters to Lord Alfred Douglas were "prose poems,"
"extraordinary perhaps, but not justifying an immoral interpretation." He admitted that he gave one of the alleged blackmailers £21. and afterwards
entertained him at luncheon in a private room. Wilde also admitted having been on terms of intimacy with two lads not his social equals, and that he gave
them considerable sums of money and expensive presents. He did this because he "liked them."
Mr. Wilde's epigrams, paradoxes and extravagant statements while in the witness-box caused much amusement. The case was adjourned, the
Marquis of Queensberry being admitted to bail. The case is attracting a very large amount of interest, and the Court in which the trial is taking place is
crowded at each sitting.