Difference
Oscar Wilde was subjected to a stringent cross-examination, with a view of showing that "Dorian Grey" and some articles in the magazine Chameleon, with which he is connected are of an immoral tendency. Wilde insisted that they are merely the expression of an artistic faculty. His letters to Lord A. Douglas were prose poems, extraordinary, perhaps, but not justifying an immoral interpretation. He admitted that he gave one of his alleged blackmailers L21, and lunched with him in a private room afterwards. The case has been adjourned. Defendant was admitted to bail.
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 as 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.