Table Talk - Friday, May 17, 1895

Without Prejudice.
BY "THE IDLER."

Very few know or remember at the present day that the scandal in which Mr. Oscar Wilde now plays a leading part is not the first in which the Wilde family has figured. In 1862, Mr. Wilde's father, the late Sir William Wilde, who was an eminent oculist practising in Dublin, was defendant in an action which at the time created a great sensation, throughout the kingdom. A Miss Travis, who acquired some literary repute under the pen-name of Francis Boyle Pryce, was the plaintiff. Miss Travis sought to recover enormous damages from Sir William Wilde for assault. She had been on terms of the closest intimacy with the Wilde family, and was almost looked upon as one of themselves. The case was, that on a certain occasion Sir William Wilde placed her under chloroform, in his study at Merrion Square, and when she "came to," she found she was the victim of a great crime. Miss Travers had, as her counsel at the trial, the celebrated forensic orator and brilliant advocate, the late Mr. Isaac Butt, Q.C. Sir William Wilde's defence was a total denial of the truth of the charge. Miss Travis did not succeed in her action. Sir William Wilde was an accomplished Irish antiquary, and was knighted for having compiled a magnificent catalogue of the exhibits in the Royal Irish Academy.