admirable talker but he was invariably smiling, eager, full of life and the joy
of living, and above all given to unmeasured praise of whatever and whoever
pleased him. This gift of enthusiastic admiration was not only his most
engaging characteristic, but also, perhaps, the chief proof of his extraordinary
ability. It was certainly, too, the quality which served him best all through
his life. He went about declaring that Mrs. Langtry was more beautiful than
the 'Venus of Milo,' and Lady Archie Campbell more charming than Rosalind and
Mr. Whistler an incomparable artist. Such enthusiasm in a young and brilliant
man was unexpected and delightful and doors were thrown open to him in all sets.
Those who praise passionately are generally welcome guests and if Oscar could
not praise he shrugged his shoulders and kept silent; scarcely a bitter word
ever fell from those smiling lips. No tactics could have been more successful
in England than his native gift of radiant good-humour and enthusiasm. He got
to know not only all the actors and actresses, but the chief patrons and
frequenters of the theatre: Lord Lytton, Lady Shrewsbury, Lady Dorothy Nevill,
Lady de Grey and Mrs. Jeune; and, on the other hand, Hardy, Meredith, Browning,
Swinburne, and Matthew Arnold--all Bohemia, in fact, and all that part of
Mayfair which cares for the things of the intellect.
But though he went out a great deal and met a great many distinguished people,
and won a certain popularity, his social success put no money in his purse.
It even forced him to spend money; for the constant applause of his hearers
gave him self-confidence. He began to talk more and write less, and cabs and
gloves and flowers cost money. He was soon compelled to mortgage his little
property in Ireland.
At the same time it must be admitted he was still indefatigably intent on
bettering his mind, and in London he found more original teachers than in
Oxford, notably Morris and Whistler. Morris, though greatly overpraised during
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