The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003 Page: 571
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Oscar Wilde Lectures in Texas, 1882
that several parties were removed from the hall. Wilde and the audience
were also annoyed by the ringing of a large gong in the saloon below.
Echoing the Post, the Longview Democrat declared the Houston speech "ex-
ceedingly drawling and affected. He did not catch on there very effective-
ly." Despite the surface disapproval, it turned out that Houston took its
unusual guest seriously, especially the Houston Post. The paper not only
covered the speech but contained a long editorial about both the lectur-
er and the lecture. The editorial writer dealt at length with Wilde's orato-
ry, declaring that his delivery would never become accepted by the Amer-
ican people. After criticizing Wilde's "fugitive remarks," "desultory
illustrations," and lack of "bold and logical expositions," the writer noted
that the "drift of his address was thoroughly good." As he explained:
Mr. Wilde certainly has noble ideas of human life and of the principles that tend
to elevate and make it happy. He may insist too roundly upon the necessity of that
decorative principle, but after the first calls and hungry nature are satisfied there
can be no doubt that Mr. Wilde's ideas of the beautiful should prevail, and that
neglect and contempt argue badly for the head and heart of a people and prove
them devoid of refinement. A young community must grow into an appreciation
of those principles and if Wilde has stirred any latent sentiment in those who have
ignored the value of this principle, or if he has encouraged the hearts of those
who recognized the reign of the beautiful in art and nature we should thank him
heartily. To treat such a man who is very different indeed from the foolish popu-
lar idea of the aesthetic Quixote charging upon American realism with a sun-
flower, with discourtesy and ridicule is neither wise nor manly. We think Mr.
Wilde's manner, dress and delivery very unfortunate, but must confess that we cor-
dially wish that his noble and blissful sentiments in respect to the ordering of a
true and happy life would sink deep into the hearts of this people.47
Wilde left Houston on June 24, returning to New Orleans on the Texas
and New Orleans line. He lectured a second time in the Crescent City,
this time on "The House Beautiful" because he had already spoken there
on the decorative arts. From New Orleans he followed the Gulf Coast,
pausing to spend a night with Jefferson and Varina Davis at Beauvoir,
their home near Biloxi, Mississippi, before lecturing in Mobile. From
there his itinerary went across Alabama, into Georgia, the Carolinas, and
Virginia where he ended his speaking tour of the South at Richmond on
July 11. Once back in New York he made a few more speeches in the area
and Canada's Maritime Provinces, finally returning to England on board
the S.S. Bothia on December 27, 1882.48
47 Houston Daily Post,June 24, 1882 (1st and 2nd quotations); LongvewDemocrat,June 3o, 1882
(3rd quotation); Houston Daily Post, June 25, 1882 (last quotations).
48 See Eileen Knott, William Warren Rogers, and Robert David Ward, "Oscar Wilde in Vicks-
burg, at Beauvoir, and other Southern Stops," Journal of Mississippi Hstory, 59 (Fall, 1997),
183-219; William Warren Rogers and Robert David Ward, "An Aesthete at Large: Oscar Wilde in2003
571
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 106, July 2002 - April, 2003, periodical, 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101223/m1/649/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.