The Thames Star - Tuesday, April 9, 1895

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The sudden termination of the libel case Oscar Wilde v. the Marquis of Queensbury, and the arrest of the plaintiff on charges implying the grossest immorality have naturally cause a great sensation in society circles at home. Wilde, who was born in 1856, was the son of Sir William R. Wills Wilde, M.D., surgeon-oculist to Her Majesty, and man of letters, while his mother, Lady Wilde, is known as a poetess of no mean ability. He was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, afterwards proceeding to Trinity College, Dublin, of which he was a scholar, and, on obtaining the Berkeley gold medal for Greek, he went to Oxford in 1874. He obtained first demyship at Magdalen College; a first-class in Moderations, 1876; and a first-class in Greats, and thew Newdigate prize for English poetry 1878. He went to London the following year and was the originator of the Æsthetic movement. He published a volume of poems in 1880, and in 1881 he proceeded to America where he delivered over 200 lectures on Art. His drama of "Vera" was produced in New York in 1882; "The Happy Prince and other Fairy Tales" was published in 1888. He is also the author of "Dorian Gray"; "The Duchess of Padua," a five-act tragedy produced at the Star Theatre, New York, in 1891; "Lady Windermere's Fan," a successful comedy produced at the St. James' Theatre, London, in 1892; "Salome," a play written in French for Sara Bernhardt; "A Woman of No Importance," a comedy produced at the Haymarket Theatre in 1893; and a farcical piece entitled "The Importance of being Earnest," which was produced at the St. James' Theatre, London, last February. He has also contributed many clever articles to the leading magazines. In 1884 he married Constance, daughter of Mr Horace Lloyd, Q.C., and has a son and daughter aged respectively 10 and 9 years. It is probably that the evidence which will be forthcoming in support of the present charges will reveal a state of affairs almost unheard of.