OSCAR WILDE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 10282, 13 April 1895, Page 2

OSCAR WILDE.

FURTHER REVELATIONS AND ARRESTS EXPECTED. [per press association.] London, April 12.— Very damaging evidence has been adduced against Oscar Wilde and Taylor, who have been further remanded. It has been discovered tlv.t the police have been watching tho pair for some time. REMINISCENSES OF HIM AND HIS FAMILY. From some personal recollections of Oscar Wilde which ippearcd recently in an English journal, the Auckland Herald gives a few sides - lights about him and his family, which may be worth noting just now. There is no doubt about his being Irish, born and bred. He is quite as Irish as T. P. O'Connor ; and if ho still kept his second name of O'Flahertie — which is entered in the Oxford Calender, — it would be a constant testimony to his Celtic origin. His father, Sir William Robert Wilde, tho eminent Dublin oculist, who was knighted by the Lord-Lieutenant for his services in connection with the Irish census, was a native of the we3t oi Ireland. After he became celebrated he bought a place in Galway— Moytura, in the midst of frild and romantic scenery. Amonst Sir William Wilde's many contributions to Irish antiquities and folklore is a book on Lough Corrib, full of valuable information, mostly gleaned on tho spot. / It is from his mother, however, that Oscar inherits his brilliance, his poetic gifts, and his taste for paradox and epigram. Lady Wilde is a daughter of Archdeacon Elgee, an Irish clergyman with a strrin of Italian blood. Lady Wilde's second name, Francesea, shows that the family was of Italian extraction, and her striking appearance — large dark eyes aud amount of colour in dress and decoration —'quite bears out this theory. She is closely related on her mother s side to the Maturin family — Froneh Huguenots who sottled in Dublin aftor 1688. Everyone has heard of the Rev. Charles Jlaturin, the " brilliant and eccentric Maturin," principally ki own from a gruesome tragedy of his allied " Bertram,' which was | roduced at Drury Lane in May,lßl6, and ran for 22 nights, bringing in the author £1000. Whenever Maturin wished to be left undisturbed he was in the habit of pasting a black wafer on his forehead, to show that he was in the agonies of composition. Jane Francesca Elgee showed remarkable gifts for acquiring languages and early began to spout poetry. Under the name of Speranza, she wrote hu»dreds of poems of a pronounced Nationalistic type, and also contributed largely to the Nation. When there was talk of a leader to the Young Irish party, the writer of these glowing articles was suggested by those who, did not know that they were written by a woman. One of the strongest of Lady Wilde's poems is "A Million a Decade ?" After her marriage with Sir William Wilde, her splendid house at Merrion-square became the meeting-place for all sorts and conditions of men — political leaders, actors, poets, and journalists. It was like a Paris salon at a Dublin house. Father Healy's humorous face was often seen there. W. J. Fitzpatrick, tho biographer of Lever, melan- I choly and aristocratic, Professor Mahaff v, observant and cynical, were constant visitors. Dr. Tiadall sometimes recited with a fun all his own ; and there wa3 talk, stimulating and brilliant, in which Lady Wilde took a leading part. One of her great gifts is Vart de faire un salon. Oscar Wilde had a striking University career. '"At Trinity College, Dublin, he gained a scholarship and carried off tho Berkeley gold medal. At Oxford ho gained the Nowdigate prize for Emjlish verse, and took a first-class. After this ho travelled in Greeco with Professor Mahaffy. After her husband s death Lady Wilde came to London, and settled at Oakley-street, Chelsea, with her eldest son. Horo she still lives ; but, al»3 ! hor popular Saturday receptions no longer are held. They used to be quite a feature of society. Even in summer there was demijour, the blinds were pulled down, the curtains were dr.nvn, red shaded lamps were lie, and Lady Wilde glided about with soft white tulle lippets hanging about her still handsome face, and a long train of rich silk or sitin sweeping tho ground. No one was ever moped or bored at her house. She never forget anyone ; she was always tactful, prompt, and full of resource. " Every lady in the room has written a book," she used to observe, and she generally remombercd the name of it. The The American twang and tho Irish brogue mot together ; there were French and Russians — editors and essayists ; John Strange Winter, Mrs Fenwick Miller, Mr H. D. Twill, and Lady Hardy and her daughter Iza Duffus Hardy, wero often to be seen. There was, of course, great fluttering of the dovecotes when Oscar Wilde appeared. At the first glamour (says the writer from whom we qiiote) of his wonderful smile, the susceptible ones gave in and were ready to join the army of love-sick maidens in '' Patience." Once he came out in a pink shirt and 1 yellow buttonhole, and shed a radiance over the room. His talk is like his play3— epigrammatic and full of point. His mother and he seem to stimulate one another.

" Have you got any counsel to defend you ?" asked tho judge at the Old Bailey whon a youthful prisoner was ushered into tho dook. " Yes, sir," was tho answer. " Where is ho ?" said his lordship. "It is not a ' he,' sir ; it's a lady,' 1 replied the urchin. Tho judge and tho little army of the briefless looked around in some alarm for tho youthful Portia, for they had not heard of tho invasion of the English bar by 'women. It subsequently transpired that tho ' counsel for tho defence ' was an eldorly matron who had come to givo the lad a good character, and her advocacy was successful ouough to induce the jury to give him tho bonofit of the doubt. Tho Austrian Emporor has conferred the Silver Crown of Merit upon a young gendarme who has paid a high price for tho devotion with which he saved a young girl's 1 life. Ho was patrolling outside tho town of (Ttipanjag when he heard a young shepherdess cry for help. A viper had bitten tho girl's hand, and the gendarme did not hesitate to suck tho wound, and the girl did not suffer from the poison. The young man's face howovor, swelled alarmingly, and soon after ho began to suffer from epileptic fits. For six months he was in hospital alternating betwoon insensibility and delirium He lias now beou dismissed as a hopeless inyalid.