The Trial of Oscar Wilde Part 10

Sir EDWARD.--"At any rate you were taken to Rochester Road, and the gentleman went with you?"

WITNESS.--"Yes."

Police Constable 396 A was here called into court and took up a position close to the witness-box. He gazed curiously at Atkins, who wriggled about and eyed him uneasily.

Sir EDWARD.--"Now I ask you in the presence of this officer, was the statement made at the police-station that you and the gentleman had been in bed together?"

WITNESS.--"I don't think so."

Sir EDWARD.--"Think before you speak; it will be better for you. Did not the landlady actually come into the room and see you and the gentleman naked on or in the bed together?"

WITNESS.--"I don't remember that she did."

Sir EDWARD.--"You may as well tell me about it. You know. Was that statement made?"

WITNESS.--"Well, yes it was."

Sir EDWARD.--"You had endeavoured to force money out of this gentleman?"

WITNESS.--"I asked him for some money."

Sir EDWARD.--"At the police-station the gentleman refused to prosecute?"

WITNESS.--"Yes."

Sir EDWARD.--"So you and Burton were liberated?"

WITNESS.--"Yes."

Sir EDWARD.--"About two hours ago, Atkins, I asked you these very questions and you swore upon your oath that you had not been in custody at all, and had never been taken to Rochester Road Police Station. How came you to tell me those lies?"

WITNESS.--"I did not remember it."

Atkins looked somewhat crestfallen and abashed. Yet some of his former brazen impudence still gleamed upon his now scarlet face. He heaved a deep sigh of relief when told to leave the court by the judge, who pointed sternly to the doorway.

Of all the creatures a.s.sociated with Wilde in these affairs, this Atkins was the lowest and most contemptible. For some years he had been in the habit of blackmailing men whom he knew to be inclined to perverted s.e.xual vices, and his was a well-known figure up West. He constantly frequented the promenades of the music-halls. He "made up" his eyes and lips, wore corsets and affected an effeminate air. He was an infallible judge of the cla.s.s of man he wished to meet and rarely made a mistake. He would follow a likely subject about, stumble against him as though by accident and make an elaborate apology in mincing, female tones. Once in conversation with his "mark," he speedily contrived to make the latter aware that he did not object to certain proposals. He invariably permitted the beastly act before attempting blackmail, partly because it afforded him a stronger hold over his "victim" and partly because he rejoiced in the disgusting thing for its own sake. He was the b.u.t.t of the ladies of the pavement round Piccadilly Circus, who used to shout after him, enquire sarcastically "if he had got off last night," and if his "toff hadn't bilked him." He would affect to laugh and pa.s.s the thing off with a joke; but, to his intimates, he a.s.sumed a great loathing for women of this cla.s.s, whom he appeared to regard as dangerous obstacles to the exercise of his own foul trade. On several occasions he was a.s.saulted by these women.

To return to the Trial of Wilde and Taylor. As soon as the enquiry was resumed, Mr. Charles Mathews went down into the cells and had an interview with the prisoner Wilde, and on his return entered into serious consultation with his leader, Sir Edward Clarke. In the meanwhile, Taylor conversed with his counsel, Mr. Grain, across the rail of the dock. It was felt that an important announcement bearing on the conduct of the case was likely to be made. It came from Mr. Gill, representing the prosecution.

As soon as Mr. Justice Charles had taken his seat, the prosecuting counsel rose and said that having considered the indictment, he had decided not to ask for a verdict in the two counts charging the prisoners with conspiracy. Subdued expressions of surprise were audible from the public gallery when Mr. Gill delivered himself of this dramatic announcement, and the sensation was strengthened a little later when Sir Edward Clarke informed the jury that both the prisoners desired to give evidence and would be called as witnesses. These matters having been determined upon, Sir Edward Clarke rose and proceeded to make some severe criticisms upon the conduct of the prosecution in what he referred to as the literary part of the case. Hidden meanings, he said, had been most unjustly "read" into the poetical and prose works of his client and it seemed that an endeavour, though a futile one, was to be made to convict Mr. Wilde because of a prurient construction which had been placed by his enemies upon certain of his works. He alluded particularly to "Dorian Gray," which was an allegory, pure and simple. According to the rather musty and far-fetched notions of the prosecution, it was an impure and simple allegory, but Wilde could not fairly be judged, he said, by the standards of other men, for he was a literary eccentric, though intellectually a giant, and he did not profess to be guided by the same sentiments as animated other and less highly-endowed men. He then called Mr. Wilde. The prisoner rose with seeming alacrity from his place in the dock, walked with a firm tread and dignified demeanour to the witness-box, and leaning across the rail in the same easy and not ungraceful att.i.tude that he a.s.sumed when examined by Mr. Carson in the libel action, prepared to answer the questions addressed to him by his counsel. Wilde was first interrogated as to his previous career. In the year 1884, he had married a Miss Lloyd, and from that time to the present he had continued to live with his wife at 16, t.i.te Street, Chelsea. He also occupied rooms in St.

James's Place, which were rented for the purposes of his literary labours, as it was quite impossible to secure quiet and mental repose at his own house, when his two young sons were at home. He had heard the evidence in this case against himself, and a.s.serted that there was no shadow of a foundation for the charges of indecent behaviour alleged against himself.

Mr. Gill then rose to cross-examine and the Court at once became on the _qui vive_. Wilde seemed perfectly calm and did not change his att.i.tude, or tone of polite deprecation.

Mr. GILL.--"You are acquainted with a publication ent.i.tled 'The Chameleon'?"

WITNESS.--"Very well indeed."

Mr. GILL.--"Contributors to that journal are friends of yours?"

WITNESS.--"That is so."

Mr. GILL.--"I believe that Lord Alfred Douglas was a frequent contributor?"

WITNESS.--"Hardly that, I think. He wrote some verses occasionally for the 'Chameleon,' and, indeed, for other papers."

Mr. GILL.--"The poems in question were somewhat peculiar?"

WITNESS.--"They certainly were not mere commonplaces like so much that is labelled poetry."

Mr. GILL.--"The tone of them met with your critical approval?"

WITNESS.--"It was not for me to approve or disapprove. I leave that to the Reviews."

Mr. GILL.--"At the trial Queensberry and Wilde you described them as 'beautiful poems'?"

WITNESS.--"I said something tantamount to that. The verses were original in theme and construction, and I admired them."

Mr. GILL.--"In one of the sonnets by Lord A. Douglas a peculiar use is made of the word 'shame'?"

WITNESS.--"I have noticed the line you refer to."

Mr. GILL.--"What significance would you attach to the use of that word in connection with the idea of the poem?"

WITNESS.--"I can hardly take it upon myself to explain the thoughts of another man."

Mr. GILL.--"You were remarkably friendly with the author? Perhaps he vouchsafed you an explanation?"

WITNESS.--"On one occasion he did."

Mr. GILL.--"I should like to hear it."

WITNESS.--"Lord Alfred explained that the word 'shame' was used in the sense of modesty, _i. e._ to feel shame or not to feel shame."

Mr. GILL.--"You can, perhaps, understand that such verses as these would not be acceptable to the reader with an ordinarily balanced mind?"

WITNESS.--"I am not prepared to say. It appears to me to be a question of taste, temperament and individuality. I should say that one man's poetry is another man's poison!" (Loud laughter.)

Mr. GILL.--"I daresay! There is another sonnet. What construction can be put on the line, 'I am the love that dare not speak its name'?"

WITNESS.--"I think the writer's meaning is quite unambiguous. The love he alluded to was that between an elder and younger man, as between David and Jonathan; such love as Plato made the basis of his philosophy; such as was sung in the sonnets of Shakespeare and Michael Angelo; that deep spiritual affection that was as pure as it was perfect. It pervaded great works of art like those of Michael Angelo and Shakespeare. Such as 'pa.s.seth the love of woman.' It was beautiful, it was pure, it was n.o.ble, it was intellectual--this love of an elder man with his experience of life, and the younger with all the joy and hope of life before him."

The witness made this speech with great emphasis and some signs of emotion, and there came from the gallery, at its conclusion, a medley of applause and hisses which his lords.h.i.+p at once ordered to be suppressed.

Mr. GILL.--"I wish to call your attention to the style of your correspondence with Lord A. Douglas."

WITNESS.--"I am ready. I am never ashamed of the style of any of my writings."