Chapter I: Front Matter

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

In this plain-text version formatting symbols are used as follows:

Underscores indicate _italics_
Double colons indicate ::underlining::

Pages 313-315 in the original text are printed in two columns. For purposes of more accessible display on electronic devices, in this plain-text version of the book, the text from the columns has been placed one following the other instead of side-by-side.

Inconsistencies in the author's use of hyphens and accent marks have been left unchanged, as in the original text. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected without comment. One example of a typographical error is on page 144 where the word "miuutes" was corrected to "minutes". In cases other than obvious typographical errors, the author's spelling has been left unchanged from the original text with the following three exceptions:

1. Page 126 the word "worldings" was changed to "worldlings" in the
phrase: "... guests are all mere worldlings...."

2. Page 262 the quoted phrase from the original: "Fait vour quelle
sera votre votre maturite" was changed to: "Fait voir quelle sera
votre maturite" which is the correct wording from the poem "A Theodore
de Banville" by Charles Baudelaire.

3. Page 317 the name "Bazil" was changed to "Basil" in the phrase:
"... Basil Hallward's studio...." to correspond with the author's
other spellings of the name Basil Hallward.

Two items in the index, which were out of alphabetical order ("De Profundis--Biblical influence" and "Shaw, G. B.") were placed in correct alphabetical order in this version.

OSCAR WILDE

::THIRD EDITION::

THE LIFE OF
OSCAR WILDE

WITH A CHAPTER CONTRIBUTED BY
THE PRISON WARDER WHO HELD
THIS UNHAPPY MAN IN GAOL

_Very fully Illustrated and with Photogravure
Frontispiece, and a Biography_

By

ROBERT HARBOROUGH SHERARD

_Demy 8vo, Cloth gilt_

_Also a limited edition de luxe_

OSCAR WILDE,

_From a Crayon Portrait by_ S. WRAY.

OSCAR WILDE

BY

LEONARD CRESSWELL INGLEBY

LONDON
T. WERNER LAURIE

NEW YORK
MITCHELL KENNERLEY

MCMVII

CONTENTS

PAGE

PART I

OSCAR WILDE: THE MAN 3

PART II

THE MODERN PLAYWRIGHT
The Dramatist 95
"Lady Windermere's Fan" 104
"A Woman Of No Importance" 119
"The Ideal Husband" 129
"The Importance Of Being Earnest" 149

PART III

THE ROMANTIC DRAMAS
"Salome" 161
"The Duchess of Padua" 199
"Vera, or the Nihilists" 207
"The Florentine Tragedy" 215
"The Woman Covered With Jewels" 220

PART IV

THE WRITER OF FAIRY STORIES
The Fairy Stories 227

PART V

THE POET
Poems 245

PART VI

THE FICTION WRITER
Fiction 301

PART VII

THE PHILOSOPHY OF BEAUTY 331

PART VIII

"DE PROFUNDIS" 359

INDEX 397