^u^ ^vULi University of California • Berkeley From the Collection of Edward Hellman Heller and Elinor Raas Heller 2 ^ n ^ c 3 O D o to t^ O « S. O o 3 ^ 00 • > ffi w ^ ^ S 5^ CI- ;;• o w < 5* o w ? ^ o >< c < o 09 p2 'O ^ .2 U g o >.>J T3 < *J V g) S 3 -1 = •s ^ ^ 3 T3 { « V v° 1 e« \ T3 > w - . sr"g > i"^ c t-i P^ -G O CS ib OS O 2 o .5 1 c *5 ^ ^1 § 6 So ^2 O c ^-^ .2 .i< CO 4-1 W 12 -a 's w -5 ss J3 J3 LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN A PLAY ABOUT A GOOD WOMAN BY OSCAR WILDE LONDON b^ S^ ELKIN MATHEWS AND JOHN LANE AT THE SIGN OF THE BODLEY HEAD IN VIGO STREET MDCCCXCIII &^ Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable, Printers to Her Majesty. TO THE DEAR MEMORY OF ROBERT EARL OF LYTTON IN AFFECTION AND ADMIRATION Copyright, October 1893. All rights reserved. Entered at Stationers^ Hall. Entered at the Library of Congress, Washington, U.S.A. THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY LORD WINDERMERE LORD DARLINGTON LORD AUGUSTUS LORTON MR. DUMBY MR. CECIL GRAHAM MR. HOPPER PARKER, Butler LADY WINDERMERE THE DUCHESS OF BERWICK LADY AGATHA CARLISLE LADY PLYMDALE LADY STUTFIELD LADY JEDBURGH MRS. COWPER-COWPER MRS. ERLYNNE ROSALIE, Maid THE SCENES OF THE PLAY Act I Morning-room in Lord Windermere's house. Act 1 1 Drawing-room in Lord Windermere' s house. Act III Lord Darlington's rooms. Act IV Same as Act I. Time The Present. Place London. The action of the play takes place within tivefity- four hours, beginning on a Tuesday afternoon at five o'clock^ and ending the next day at i. yd p.m. LONDON : ST. JAMES'S THEATRE Lessee and Manager : Mr. George Alexander February 22nd, 1892 Lord Windermere . . . Lord Darlington . . . Lord Augustus Lorton Mr. Cecil Graham . . . Mr. Dumby Mr. Hopper Parker {Butler) .... Lady Windermere . . The Duchess of Berwick Lady Agatha Carlisle . Lady Plymdale .... Lady Jedburgh .... Lady Stutfield .... Mrs. Cowper-Cowper Mrs. Erlynne .... Rosalie {Maid) .... Mr. George Alexander. Mr.Nutcombe Gould. Mr. H. H. Vincent. Mr. Ben. Webster. Mr. Vane-Tempest. Mr. Alfred Holies. Mr. V. Sansbury. Miss Lily H anbury. Miss Fanny Coleman. Miss Laura Graves. Miss Granville. Miss B. Page. Miss Madge Girdlestone. Miss A. De Win ton. Miss Marion Terry. Miss Winifred Dolan. LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN FIRST ACT Scene — Morning-room of Lord Windermere^ s house in Carlton House Terrace. Doors C. andR. Bureau with books and papers R. Sofa with small tea-table L. Window opening on to terrace L. Table R. \JLady Windermere is at table R., arranging roses in a blue bowl.] [Enter Parker. PARKER Is your ladyship at home this afternoon ? LADY WINDERMERE Yes — who has called ? PARKER Lord Darlington, my lady. LADY WINDERMERE [Hesitates for a moment.'] Show him up — and I 'm at home to any one who calls. PARKER Yes, my lady. [Exi^ C. LADY WINDERMERE It 's best for me to see him before to-night I 'm glad he 's come. [Enter Parker C. PARKER Lord Darlington. [Enter Lord Darlington C. [Exit Parker. LORD DARLINGTON How do you do, Lady Windermere ? LADY WINDERMERE How do you do, Lord Darlington ? No, I can't shake hands with you. My hands are all wet with these roses. Aren't they lovely ? They came up from Selby this morning. LORD DARLINGTON They are quite perfect. [Sees a fan lying on the table.'] And what a wonderful fan ! May I look at it ? LADY WINDERMERE Do. Pretty, isn't it ! It 's got my name on it, and everything. I have only just seen it myself. It 's my husband's birthday present to me. You know to-day is my birthday ? LORD DARLINGTON No? Is it really? LADY WINDERMERE Yes, I 'm of age to-day. Quite an important day in my life, isn't it ? That is why I am giving this party to-night. Do sit down. [Still arranging flowers.'] LORD DARLINGTON [Silling down.] I wish I had known it was your birthday, Lady Windermere. I would have covered the whole street in front of your house with flowers for you to walk on. They are made for you. [A skort pause.] LADY WINDERMERE Lord Darlington, you annoyed me last night at the Foreign Office. I am afraid you are going to annoy me again. LORD DARLINGTON I, Lady Windermere ? [Enter Parker and Footman C, with tray and tea things. LADY WINDERMERE Put it there, Parker. That will do. [ Wipes her 3 hands with her pocket-handkerchief , goes to tea-table L., and sits down.'] Won't you come over, Lord Darlington ? [Exit Parker C. LORD DARLINGTON [Takes chair and goes across L.C^ I am quite miserable, Lady Windermere. You must tell me what I did. [Sits down at table Z.] LADY WINDERMERE Well, you kept paying me elaborate compli- ments the whole evening. LORD DARLINGTON [Smiling.'] Ah, now-a-days we are all of us so hard up, that the only pleasant things to pay are compliments. They 're the only things we can pay. LADY WINDERMERE [Shaking her head.] No, I am talking very seriously. You mustn't laugh, I am quite serious. I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enor- mously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean. LORD DARLINGTON Ah, but I did mean them. [Takes tea which she offers him.] 4 LADY WINDERMERE [Gravely.] I hope not. I should be sorry to have to quarrel with you, Lord Darlington. I like you very much, you know that. But I shouldn't like you at all if I thought you were what most other men are. Believe me, you are better than most other men, and I sometimes think you pre- tend to be worse. LORD DARLINGTON We all have our little vanities. Lady Winder- mere. LADY WINDERMERE Why do you make that your special one ? [Still seated at table L.] LORD DARLINGTON [Still seated L.C.] Oh, now-a-days so many conceited people go about Society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad. Besides, there is this to be said. If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously. If you pretend to be bad, it doesn't. Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism. LADY WINDERMERE Don't you want the world to take you seriously then, Lord Darlington ? 5 LORD DARLINGTON No, not the world. Who are the people the world takes seriously? All the dull people one can think of, from the Bishops down to the bores. I should like you to take me very seriously, Lady Windermere, you more than any one else in life. LADY WINDERMERE Why — why me ? LORD DARLINGTON \After a slight hesitation^ Because I think we might be great friends. Let us be great friends. You may want a friend some day. LADY WINDERMERE Why do you say that ? LORD DARLINGTON Oh ! — we all want friends at times, LADY WINDERMERE I think we 're very good friends already, Lord Darlington. We can always remain so as long as you don't LORD DARLINGTON Don't what ? LADY WINDERMERE Don't spoil it by saying extravagant silly things 6 to me. You think I am a Puritan, I suppose ? Well, I have something of the Puritan in me. I was brought up like that. I am glad of it. My mother died when I was a mere child. I lived always with Lady Julia, my father's elder sister you know. She was stern to me, but she taught me, what the world is forgetting, the difference that there is between what is right and what is wrong. She allowed of no compromise. / allow of none. » LORD DARLINGTON My dear Lady Windermere ! LADY WINDERMERE [Leaning back on the sofa.'] You look on me as being behind the age. — Well, I am ! I should be sorry to be on the same level as an age like this. LORD DARLINGTON You think the age very bad ? LADY WINDERMERE Yes. Now-a-days people seem to look on life as a speculation. It is not a speculation. It is a sacrament. Its ideal is Love. Its purification is sacrifice. LORD DARLINGTON [Siniling.l Oh, anything is better than being sacrificed ! LADY WINDERMERE {Leaning forward?)^ Don't say that. LORD DARLINGTON I do say it. I feel it — I know it. [Enter Parker C. PARKER The men want to know if they are to put the carpets on the terrace for to-night, my lady ? LADY WINDERMERE You don't think it will rain, Lord Darlington, do you ? LORD DARLINGTON I won't hear of its raining on your birthday ! LADY WINDERMERE Tell them to do it at once, Parker. \Exit Parker C. LORD DARLINGTON [Still seated.'] Do you think then — of course I am only putting an imaginary instance — do you think that in the case of a young married couple, say about two years married, if the husband sud- denly becomes the intimate friend of a woman of — well, more than doubtful character, is always calling upon her, lunching with her, and probably 8 paying her bills — do you think that the wife should not console herself? LADY WINDERMERE [Frowning.'] Console herself? LORD DARLINGTON Yes, I think she should — I think she has the right. LADY WINDERMERE Because the husband is vile — should the wife be vile also ? LORD DARLINGTON Vileness is a terrible word, Lady Windermere. LADY WINDERMERE It is a terrible thing, Lord Darlington. LORD DARLINGTON Do you know I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world. Certainly the greatest harm they do is that they make badness of such extraordinary importance. It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious. I take the side of the charming, and you, Lady Windermere, can't help belonging to them. LADY WINDERMERE Now, Lord Darlington. \Rising and crossing R., front of him.'] Don't stir, I am merely going to finish my flowers. \^Goes to table R.C.] LORD DARLINGTON [Rising and moving chair.] And I must say I think you are very hard on modern life. Lady Windermere. Of course there is much against it, I admit. Most women, for instance, now-a-days, are rather mercenary. LADY WINDERMERE Don't talk about such people. LORD DARLINGTON Well then, setting mercenary people aside, who, of course, are dreadful, do you think seriously that women who have committed what the world calls a fault should never be forgiven ? LADY WINDERMERE [^Standing at table.] I think they should never be forgiven. LORD DARLINGTON And men ? Do you think that there should be the same laws for men as there are for women ? LADY WINDERMERE Certainly ! lO LORD DARLINGTON I think life too complex a thing to be settled by these hard and fast rules. LADY WINDERMERE If we had ' these hard and fast rules,' we should find life much more simple. LORD DARLINGTON You allow of no exceptions ? LADY WINDERMERE None ! LORD DARLINGTON Ah, what a fascinating Puritan you are. Lady Windermere ! LADY WINDERMERE The adjective was unnecessary. Lord Darlington. LORD DARLINGTON I couldn't help it. I can resist everything except temptation, LADY WINDERMERE You have the modern affectation of weakness. LORD DARLINGTON \Lookmg at ker.] It 's only an affectation, Lady Windermere. [Enter Parker C. II PARKER The Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle. [Enter the Duchess of Berwick and Lady Agatha Carlisle C. [Exit Parker C. DUCHESS OF BERWICK [Coming down C, and shaking hands.'] Dear Margaret, I am so pleased to see you. You re- member Agatha, don't you ? [Crossing L. C] How do you do, Lord Darlington ? I won't let you know my daughter, you are far too wicked. LORD DARLINGTON Don't say that, Duchess. As a wicked man I am a complete failure. Why, there are lots of people who say I have never really done anything wrong in the whole course of my life. Of course they only say it behind my back. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Isn't he dreadful? Agatha, this is Lord Dar- lington. Mind you don't believe a word he says. [Lord Darlington crosses R.C] No, no tea, thank you, dear. [Crosses and sits on so/a.] We have just had tea at Lady Markby's. Such bad tea, too. It was quite undrinkable. I wasn't at all surprised. Her own son-in-law supplies it. Agatha is looking forward so much to your ball to-night, dear Mar- garet. 12 LADY WINDERMERE [^Seated L.C.] Oh, you mustn't think it is going to be a ball, Duchess. It is only a dance in honour of my birthday, A small and early. LORD DARLINGTON [^Standing L.C] Very small, very early, and very select. Duchess. DUCHESS OF BERWICK [On sofa L.] Of course it 's going to be select. But we know ///«/, dear Margaret, about j>our house. It is really one of the few houses in London where I can take Agatha, and where I feel per- fectly secure about dear Berwick. I don't know what society is coming to. The most dreadful people seem to go everywhere. They certainly come to my parties — the men get quite furious if one doesn't ask them. Really, some one should make a stand against it. LADY WINDERMERE / will, Duchess. I will have no one in my house about whom there is any scandal. LORD DARLINGTON [R.C] Oh, don't say that. Lady Windermere. I should never be admitted ! [Sztting:] DUCHESS OF BERWICK Oh, men don't matter. With women it is different. We 're good. Some of us are, at least. 13 But we are positively getting elbowed into the corner. Our husbands would really forget our existence if we didn't nag at them from time to time, just to remind them that we have a perfect legal right to do so. LORD DARLINGTON It 's a curious thing, Duchess, about the game of marriage — a game, by the way, that is going out of fashion — the wives hold all the honours, and invariably lose the odd trick. • DUCHESS OF BERWICK The odd trick? Is that the husband. Lord Darlington ? LORD DARLINGTON It would be rather a good name for the modern husband. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Dear Lord Darlington, how thoroughly depraved you are ! LADY WINDERMERE Lord Darlington is trivial. LORD DARLINGTON Ah, don't say that, Lady Windermere. LADY WINDERMERE Why do you talk so trivially about life, then ? 14 LORD DARLINGTON Because I think that Hfe is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. [Moves up C] DUCHESS OF BERWICK What does he mean ? Do, as a concession to my poor wits, Lord Darlington, just explain to me what you really mean. LORD DARLINGTON [Coming down back of table.'] I think I had better not, Duchess. Now-a-days to be intelligible is to be found out. Good-bye ! [Shakes hands with Duchess^ And now — [goes tip stage] Lady Windermere, good-bye. I may come to-night, mayn't I } Do let me come. LADY WINDERMERE [Standing up stage with Lord Darlington?^ Yes, certainly. But you are not to say foolish, in- sincere things to people. LORD DARLINGTON [Smiling^ Ah ! you are beginning to reform me. It is a dangerous thing to reform any one, Lady Windermere. [BowSy and exit C. DUCHESS OF BERWICK [ Who has risen, goes C] What a charming, wicked creature ! I like him so much. I 'm quite 15 delighted he 's gone ! How sweet you're looking ! Where do you get your gowns ? And now I must tell you how sorry I am for you, dear Margaret. {Crosses to sofa and sits with Lady Windermere^ Agatha darling ! LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. \Rises^ DUCHESS OF BERWICK Will you go and look over the photograph album that I see there ? LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. {Goes to table up L.] DUCHESS OF BERWICK Dear girl ! She is so fond of photographs of Switzerland. Such a pure taste, I think. But I really am so sorry for you, Margaret. LADY WINDERMERE [Smiling.] Why, Duchess .-' DUCHESS OF BERWICK Oh, on account of that horrid woman. She dresses so well, too, which makes it much worse, sets such a dreadful example. Augustus — you know my disreputable brother — such a trial to us all — well, Augustus is completely infatuated about her. It is quite scandalous, for she is absolutely inadmissible into society. Many a woman has a i6 past, but I am told that she has at least a dozen^ and that they all fit. LADY WINDERMERE Whom are you talking about, Duchess ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK About Mrs. Erlynne. LADY WINDERMERE Mrs. Erlynne ? I never heard of her, Duchess. And what has she to do with me ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK My poor child ! Agatha, darling! LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Will you go out on the terrace and look at the sunset ? LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. \Exit through window L. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Sweet girl ! So devoted to sunsets ! Shows such refinement of feeling, does it not ? After all, there is nothing like Nature, is there ? 17 C LADY WINDERMERE But what is it, Duchess ? Why do you talk to me about this person ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK Don't you really know ? I assure you we 're all so distressed about it. Only last night at dear Lady Jansen's every one was saying how extra- ordinary it was that, of all men in London, Windermere should behave in such a way. LADY WINDERMERE My husband — what has he got to do with any woman of that kind ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK Ah, what indeed, dear ? That is the point. He goes to see her continually, and stops for hours at a time, and while he is there she is not at home to any one. Not that many ladies call on her, dear, but she has a great many disreputable men friends — my own brother particularly, as I told you — and that is what makes it so dreadful about Winder- mere. We looked upon him as being such a model husband, but I am afraid there is no doubt about it. My dear nieces — you know the Saville girls, don't you i* — such nice domestic creatures — plain, dreadfully plain, but so good — well, they 're always at the window doing fancy work, and making ugly things for the poor, which I think so useful of them in these dreadful socialistic days, and this terrible woman has taken a house in Curzon Street, right opposite them — such a respect- able street, too. I don't know what we 're coming to ! And they tell me that Windermere goes there four and five times a week — ;they see him. They can't help it — and although they never talk scandal, they — well, of course — they remark on it to every one. And the worst of it all is that I have been told that this woman has got a great deal of money out of somebody, for it seems that she came to London six months ago without anything at all to speak of, and now she has this charming house in Mayfair, drives her ponies in the Park every after- noon and all — well, all — since she has known poor dear Windermere. LADY WINDERMERE Oh, I can't believe it ! DUCHESS OF BERWICK But it's quite true, my dear. The whole of London knows it. That is why I felt it was better to come and talk to you, and advise you to take Windermere away at once to Homburg or to Aix, where he '11 have something to amuse him, and where you can watch him all day long. I assure you, my dear, that on several occasions after I was first married, I had to pretend to be very ill, and was obliged \o drink the most un- pleasant mineral waters, merely to get Berwick out of town. He was so extremely susceptible. Though I am bound to say he never gave away any large sums of money to anybody. He is far too high-principled for that ! 19 LADY WINDERMERE {Interrupting.'] Duchess, Duchess, it's impos- sible ! {Rising and crossing stage to C] We are only married two years. Our child is but six months old. [Sits in chair R. of L. table.] DUCHESS OF BERWICK Ah, the dear pretty baby! How is the little darling ? Is it a boy or a girl ? I hope a girl — Ah, no, I remember it 's a boy ! I 'm so sorry. Boys are so wicked. My boy is excessively immoral. You wouldn't believe at what hours he comes home. And he 's only left Oxford a few months — I really don't know what they teach them there. LADY WINDERMERE Are all men bad ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK Oh, all of them, my dear, all of them, without any exception. And they never grow any better. Men become old, but they never become good. LADY WINDERMERE Windermere and I married for love. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Yes, we begin like that. It was only Berwick's brutal and incessant threats of suicide that made me accept him at all, and before the year was out, 20 he was running after all kinds of petticoats, every colour, every shape, every material. In fact, before the honeymoon was over, I caught him winking at my maid, a most pretty, respectable girl. I dismissed her at once without a character. — No, I remember I passed her on to my sister ; poor dear Sir George is so short-sighted, I thought it wouldn't matter. But it did, though — it was most unfortunate. [Rises.] And now, my dear child, I must go, as we are dining out. And mind you don't take this little aberration of Windermere's too much to heart. Just take him abroad, and he '11 come back to you all right. LADY WINDERMERE Come back to me ? [C] DUCHESS OF BERWICK [L.C.] Yes, dear, these wicked women get our husbands away from us, but they always come back, slightly damaged, of course. And don't make scenes, men hate them ! LADY WINDERMERE It is very kind of you, Duchess, to come and tell me all this. But I can't believe that my husband is untrue to me. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Pretty child ! I was like that once. Now I know that all men are monsters. [Lady Winder- mere rings bell.] The only thing to do is to feed 21 the wretches well, A good cook does wonders, and that I know you have. My dear Margaret, you are not going to cry ? LADY WINDERMERE You needn't be afraid, Duchess, I never cry. DUCHESS OF BERWICK That 's quite right, dear. Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones. Agatha, darling ! LADY AGATHA [Enteriug- L.] Yes, mamma. [Stands back of table L.C.] DUCHESS OF BERWICK Come and bid good-bye to Lady Windermere, and thank her for your charming visit. [Coming down again.] And by the way, I must thank you for sending a card to Mr. Hopper — he 's that rich young Australian people are taking such notice of just at present. His father made a great fortune by selling some kind of food in circular tins — most palatable, I believe — I fancy it is the thing the servants always refuse to eat. But the son is quite interesting. I think he 's attracted by dear Agatha's clever talk. Of course, we should be very sorry to lose her, but I think that a mother who doesn't part with a daughter every season has no real affection. We're coming to-night, dear. [Parker opens C. doors."] And remember my advice, 22 take the poor fellow out of town at once, it is the only thing to do. Good-bye, once more ; come, Agatha. [Exeunt Duchess and Lady Agatha C. LADY WINDERMERE How horrible ! I understand now what Lord Darlington meant by the imaginary instance of the couple not two years married. Oh ! it can't be true — she spoke of enormous sums of money paid to this woman. I know where Arthur keeps his bank book — in one of the drawers of that desk. I might find out by that. I will find out. [Opens drawer.] No, it is some hideous mistake. [Rises and goes C] Some silly scandal ! He loves me ! He loves me\ But why should I not look? I am his wife, I have a right to look ! [Returns to bureau, takes out book and examines it, page by page, smiles and gives a sigh of relief ^ I knew it ! there is not a word of truth in this stupid story. [Puts book back in drawer. As she does so, starts and takes out another book.] A second book — private — locked ! [Tries to open it, but fails. Sees paper knife on bureati, and with it cuts cover from book. Begins to start at the first page^ * Mrs, Erlynne — ;^6oo — Mrs. Erlynne — ;^700 — Mrs. Erlynne — ;^400.' Oh ! it is true ! it is true ! How horrible ! [Throws book on floor.] [Enter Lord Witidermere C. LORD WINDERMERE Well, dear, has the fan been sent home yet ? 23 [Goin£- R.C. Sees book.'] Margaret, you have cut open my bank book. You have no right to do such a thing ! LADY WINDERMERE You think it wrong that you are found out, don't you ? LORD WINDERMERE I think it wrong that a wife should spy on her husband. LADY WINDERMERE I did not spy on you. I never knew of this woman's existence till half an hour ago. Some one who pitied me was kind enough to tell me what every one in London knows already — your daily visits to Curzon Street, your mad infatuation, the monstrous sums of money you squander on this infamous woman ! [^Crossing L.] LORD WINDERMERE Margaret ! don't talk like that of Mrs. Erlynne, you don't know how unjust it is ! LADY WINDERMERE [Turning to him.'\ You are very jealous of Mrs. Erlynne's honour. I wish you had been as jealous of mine. 24 LORD WINDERMERE Your honour is untouched, Margaret. You don't think for a moment that [Puts book back into desk."] LADY WINDERMERE I think that you spend your money strangely. That is all. Oh, don't imagine I mind about the money. As far as I am concerned, you may squander everything we have. But what I do mind is that you who have loved me, you who have taught me to love you, should pass from the love that is given to the love that is bought. Oh, it 's horrible ! [Sits on sofa."] And it is I who feel degraded ! you don't feel anything. I feel stained, utterly stained. You can't realise how hideous the last six months seem to me now — every kiss you have given me is tainted in my memory. LORD WINDERMERE [Crossing to her."] Don't say that, Margaret. I never loved any one in the whole world but you. LADY WINDERMERE [Rises."] Who is this woman, then ? Why do you take a house for her ? LORD WINDERMERE I did not take a house for her. 25 D LADY WINDERMERE You gave her the money to do it, which is the same thing. LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, as far as I have known Mrs- Erlynne LADY WINDERMERE Is there a Mr. Erlynne — or is he a myth ? LORD WINDERMERE Her husband died many years ago. She is alone in the world. LADY WINDERMERE No relations ? [A pause.] LORD WINDERMERE None. LADY WINDERMERE Rather curious, isn't it ? [L.] LORD WINDERMERE [L.C.] Margaret, I was saying to you — and I beg you to listen to me — that as far as I have known Mrs. Erlynne, she has conducted herself well. If years ago 26 LADY WINDERMERE Oh ! [Crossing- R.C.] I don't want details about her life ! LORD WINDERMERE [C] I am not going to give you any details about her life. I tell you simply this — Mrs. Erlynne was once honoured, loved, respected. She was well born, she had position — she lost every- thing — threw it away, if you like. That makes it all the more bitter. Misfortunes one can endure — they come from outside, they are accidents. But to suffer for one's own faults — ah ! — there is the sting of life. It was twenty years ago, too. She was little more than a girl then. She had been a wife for even less time than you have. LADY WINDERMERE I am not interested in her — and — you should not mention this woman and me in the same breath. It is an error of taste. [Sitting R. at desk.] LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, you could save this woman. She wants to get back into society, and she wants you to help her. [Crossing to her.] LADY WINDERMERE Me! 27 LORD WINDERMERE Yes, you. LADY WINDERMERE How impertinent of her ! [A pause.] LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, I came to ask you a great favour, and I still ask it of you, though you have discovered what I had intended you should never have known, that I have given Mrs. Erlynne a large sum of money. I want you to send her an invitation for our party to-night. [Standing- L. of her.'] LADY WINDERMERE You are mad ! [Rises.] LORD WINDERMERE I entreat you. People may chatter about her, do chatter about her, of course, but they don't know anything definite against her. She has been to several houses — not to houses where you would go, I admit, but still to houses where women who are in what is called Society now-a-days do go. That does not content her. She wants you to receive her once. LADY WINDERMERE As a triumph for her, I suppose ? 28 LORD WINDERMERE No ; but because she knows that you are a good woman — and that if she comes here once she will have a chance of a happier, a surer life than she has had. She will make no further effort to know you. Won't you help a woman who is trying to get back ? LADY WINDERMERE No ! If a woman really repents, she never wishes to return to the society that has made or seen her ruin. LORD WINDERMERE I beg of you, LADY WINDERMERE {^Crossing to door 7?.] I am going to dress for dinner, and don't mention the subject again this evening. Arthur [Going to him C\ you fancy because I have no father or mother that I am alone in the world, and that you can treat me as you choose. You are wrong, I have friends, many friends. LORD WINDERMERE [Z.6'.] Margaret, you are talking foolishly, recklessly. I won't argue with you, but I insist upon your asking Mrs. Erlynne to-night. 29 LADY WINDERMERE [i^.C] I shall do nothing of the kind. [Cross- ing L.C.'\ LORD WINDERMERE You refuse ? [(T.] LADY WINDERMERE Absolutely ! LORD WINDERMERE Ah, Margaret, do this for my sake ; it is her last chance. LADY WINDERMERE What has that to do with me ? LORD WINDERMERE How hard good women are ! LADY WINDERMERE How weak bad men are ! LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, none of us men may be good enough for the women we marry — that is quite true — but you don't imagine I would ever — oh, the sugges- tion is monstrous ! LADY WINDERMERE Why should you be different from other men ? 30 I am told that there is hardly a husband in London who does not waste his life over some shameful passion. LORD WINDERMERE I am not one of them. LADY WINDERMERE I am not sure of that ! LORD WINDERMERE You are sure in your heart. But don't make chasm after chasm between us. God knows the last few minutes have thrust us wide enough apart. Sit down and write the card. LADY WINDERMERE Nothing in the whole world would induce me. LORD WINDERMERE \Crossing to bureau^ Then I will ! \Rings electric belly sits and writes card.] LADY WINDERMERE You are going to invite this woman ? [Cross- ing to him.'] LORD WINDERMERE Yes. [Pause. Enter Parker. Parker ! 31 PARKER Yes, my lord. [Comes down L.C.] LORD WINDERMERE Have this note sent to Mrs, Erlynne at No. 84A Curzon Street. [Crossing to L.C. and giving note to Parker?^ There is no answer ! \Exit Parker C LADY WINDERMERE Arthur, if that woman comes here, I shall insult her. LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, don't say that. LADY WINDERMERE I mean it. LORD WINDERMERE Child, if you did such a thing, there's not a woman in London who wouldn't pity you. LADY WINDERMERE There is not a good woman in London who would not applaud me. We have been too lax. We must make an example. I propose to begin to-night. [Picking up fan.l Yes, you gave me this fan to-day ; it was your birthday present. If that woman crosses my threshold, I shall strike her across the face with it. 32 LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, you couldn't do such a thing. LADY WINDERMERE You don't know me ! [Moves R.] [Enter Parker. Parker ! PARKER Yes, my lady. LADY WINDERMERE I shall dine in my own room, I don't want dinner, in fact. See that everything is ready by half-past ten. And, Parker, be sure you pro- nounce the names of the guests very distinctly to-night. Sometimes you speak so fast that I miss them. I am particularly anxious to hear the names quite clearly, so as to make no mistake. You understand, Parker? PARKER Yes, my lady. LADY WINDERMERE That will do ! [Exit Parker C. [Speaking to Lord Windermere^ Arthur, if that woman comes here — I warn you 33 E LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, you '11 ruin us ! LADY WINDERMERE Us ! From this moment my life is separate from yours. But if you wish to avoid a public scandal, write at once to this woman, and tell her that I forbid her to come here ! LORD WINDERMERE I will not — I cannot — she must come ! LADY WINDERMERE Then I shall do exactly as I have said. [Goes R.] You leave me no choice. [Exzi R. LORD WINDERMERE [Calling after ker.] Margaret ! Margaret ! [A pause.] My God ! What shall I do ? I dare not tell her who this woman really is. The shame would kill her. [Sinks down into a chair and buries his face in his hands.] Act Drop 34 SECOND ACT Scene — Drawing-room in Lord Windermere's house. Door R.U. opening into ball-room, wJiere band is playing. Door L. through which guests are entering. Door L. U. opens on to illuminated terrace. P alms y flowers, and brilliant lights. Room crowded with guests. Lady Windermere is receiving them. DUCHESS OF BERWICK [ Up C] So strange Lord Windermere isn't here. Mr. Hopper is very late, too. You have kept those five dances for him, Agatha ? [Comes down.] LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. DUCHESS OF BERWICK [Sitting on so/a.] Just let me see your card. I 'm so glad Lady Windermere has revived cards. — They 're a mother's only safeguard. You dear simple little thing! [Scratches out two names.] No nice girl should ever waltz with such particu- larly younger sons ! It looks so fast ! The last 37 two dances you might pass on the terrace with Mr. Hopper. [Enter Mr. Dumby and Lady Plymdale from the ball-room. LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. DUCHESS OF BERWICK [Fanning herself. 1 The air is so pleasant there. PARKER Mrs. Cowper-Cowper. Lady Stutfield. Sir James Royston. Mr. Guy Berkeley. [These people enter as announced. DUMBY Good evening, Lady Stutfield. I suppose this will be the last ball of the season ? LADY STUTFIELD I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It 's been a delight- ful season, hasn't it ? DUMBY Quite delightful ! Good evening. Duchess. I suppose this will be the last ball of the season ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK I suppose so, Mr. Dumby. It has been a very dull season, hasn't it ? 38 DUMBY Dreadfully dull ! Dreadfully dull ! MRS. COWPER-COWPER Good evening, Mr. Dumby. I suppose this will be the last ball of the season ? DUMBY Oh, I think not. There'll probably be two more. [ Wanders back to Lady Plymdale^ PARKER Mr. Rufford. Lady Jedburgh and Miss Graham. Mr. Hopper. [These people enter as announced. HOPPER How do you do, Lady Windermere ? How do you do. Duchess ? \Bows to Lady Agatha^ DUCHESS OF BERWICK Dear Mr. Hopper, how nice of you to come so early. We all know how you are run after in London. HOPPER Capital place, London ! They are not nearly so exclusive in London as they are in Sydney, DUCHESS OF BERWICK Ah ! we know your value, Mr. Hopper. We 39 wish there were more like you. It would make life so much easier. Do you know, Mr. Hopper, dear Agatha and I are so much interested in Australia. It must be so pretty with all the dear little kangaroos flying about. Agatha has found it on the map. What a curious shape it is ! Just like a large packing case. However, it is a very young country, isn't it ? HOPPER Wasn't it made at the same time as the others. Duchess ? DUCHESS OF BERWICK How clever you are, Mr. Hopper. You have a cleverness quite of your own. Now I mustn't keep you. HOPPER But I should like to dance with Lady Agatha, Duchess. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Well, I hope she has a dance left. Have you a dance left, Agatha ? LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. DUCHESS OF BERWICK The next one ? 40 LADY AGATHA Yes, mamma. HOPPER May I have the pleasure ? [^Lady Agatha bows."] DUCHESS OF BERWICK Mind you take great care of my little chatter- box, Mr. Hopper. l^Lady Agatha and Mr. Hopper pass into ball- room.] [Enter Lord Windermere L. LORD WINDERMERE Margaret, I want to speak to you. LADY WINDERMERE In a moment. \The music stops.] PARKER Lord Augustus Lorton. [Enter Lord Augustus. LORD AUGUSTUS Good evening, Lady Windermere. DUCHESS OF BERWICK Sir James, will you take me into the ball-room? Augustus has been dining with us to-night. I really have had quite enough of dear Augustus for the moment. [Sir James Royston gives the Duchess his arm and escorts her into the ball-room^ 41 F PARKER Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Bowden. Lord and Lady Paisley. Lord Darlington. [ These people enter as announced. LORD AUGUSTUS [ Coming up to Lord Windermere?^ Want to speak to you particularly, dear boy. I 'm worn to a shadow. Know I don't look it. None of us men do look what we really are. Demmed good thing, too. What I want to know is this. Who is she ? Where does she come from ? Why hasn't she got any demmed relations? Demmed nuisance, relations ! But they make one so demmed respectable. LORD WINDERMERE You are talking of Mrs. Erlynne, I suppose ? I only met her six months ago. Till then, I never knew of her existence. LORD AUGUSTUS You have seen a good deal of her since then. LORD WINDERMERE \Coldly?\ Yes, I have seen a good deal of her since then. I have just seen her. LORD AUGUSTUS Egad! the women are very down on her. I have been dining with Arabella this evening ! By 42 Jove ! you should have heard what she said about Mrs. Erlynne. She didn't leave a rag on her. . . . [Aside.] Berwick and I told her that didn't matter much, as the lady in question must have an extremely fine figure. You should have seen Arabella's expression ! . . . But, look here, dear boy. I don't know what to do about Mrs. Erlynne. Egad ! I might be married to her ; she treats me with such demmed indifference. She's deuced clever, too ! She explains everything. Egad ! she explains you. She has got any amount of explanations for you — and all of them different LORD WINDERMERE No explanations are necessary about my friend- ship with Mrs. Erlynne. LORD AUGUSTUS Hem ! Well, look here, dear old fellow. Do you think she will ever get into this demmed thing called Society ? Would you introduce her to your wife? No use beating about the confounded bush. Would you do that ? LORD WINDERMERE Mrs. Erlynne is coming here to-night. LORD AUGUSTUS Your wife has sent her a card ? LORD WINDERMERE Mrs. Erlynne has received a card. 43 LORD AUGUSTUS Then she 's all right, dear boy. But why didn't you tell me that before. It would have saved me a heap of worry and demmed misunderstandings ! [Ladjf Agatha and Mr. Hopper cross and exit on terrace L. U.E. PARKER Mr. Cecil Graham ! l^Enter Mr. Cecil Graham. CECIL GRAHAM \Bows to Lady Windermere, passes over and shakes hands with Lord Windermere^ Good evening, Arthur. Why don't you ask me how I am? I like people to ask me how I am. It shows a wide-spread interest in my health. Now, to-night I am not at all well. Been dining with my people. Wonder why it is one's people are always so tedious? My father would talk morality after dinner. I told him he was old enough to know better. But my experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all. Hullo, Tuppy ! Hear you 're going to be married again ; thought you were tired of that game. LORD AUGUSTUS You 're excessively trivial, my dear boy, ex- cessively trivial ! 44 CECIL GRAHAM By the way, Tuppy, which is it? Have you been twice married and once divorced, or twice divorced and once married? I say you've been twice divorced and once married. It seems so much more probable. LORD AUGUSTUS I have a very bad memory. I really don't remember which. [Moves away R?\ LADY PLYMDALE Lord Windermere, I 've something most par- ticular to ask you. LORD WINDERMERE I am afraid — if you will excuse me — I must join my wife. LADY PLYMDALE Oh, you mustn't dream of such a thing. It's most dangerous now-a-days for a husband to pay any attention to his wife in public. It always makes people think that he beats her when they're alone. The world has grown so suspicious of anything that looks like a happy married life. But I'll tell you what it is at supper. \Moves towards door of ball-room^ LORD WINDERMERE [C] Margaret ! I must speak to you. 45 LADY WINDERMERE Will you hold my fan for me, Lord Darlington ? Thanks. [Comes down to him.^ LORD WINDERMERE [Crossing to ker.] Margaret, what you said before dinner was, of course, impossible ? LADY WINDERMERE That woman is not coming here to-night ! LORD WINDERMERE [R.C.] Mrs. Erlynne is coming here, and if you in any way annoy or wound her, you will bring shame and sorrow on us both. Remember that ! Ah, Margaret ! only trust me ! A wife should trust her husband ! LADY WINDERMERE [C] London is full of women who trust their husbands. One can always recognise them. They look so thoroughly unhappy. I am not going to be one of them. [Moves up.] Lord Darlington, will you give me back my fan, please ? Thanks. ... A useful thing a fan, isn't it ? ... I want a friend to-night, Lord Darlington : I didn't know I would want one so soon. LORD DARLINGTON Lady Windermere! I knew the time would come some day ; but why to-night ? 46 LORD WINDERMERE I will tell her. I must It would be terrible if there were any scene. Margaret . . . PARKER Mrs. Erlynne ! \Lord Windermere starts. Mrs. Erlynne enters, very beautifully dressed and very dignified. Lady Windermere clutches at her fan, then lets it drop on the floor. She bows coldly to Mrs. Erlynne, who bows to her sweetly in turn, and sails into the room.] LORD DARLINGTON You have dropped your fan, Lady Windermere. [Picks it up and hands it to her.] MRS. ERLYNNE [C.] How do you do, again, Lord Windermere ? How charming your sweet wife looks ! Quite a picture ! LORD WINDERMERE [In a low voice.] It was terribly rash of you to come ! MRS. ERLYNNE [Smiling.] The wisest thing I ever did in my life. And, by the way, you must pay me a good deal of attention this evening. I am afraid of the 47 women. You must introduce me to some of them. The men I can always manage. How do you do, Lord Augustus? You have quite neglected me lately. I have not seen you since yesterday. I am afraid you 're faithless. Every one told me so. LORD AUGUSTUS [R.] Now really, Mrs. Erlynne, allow me to explain. MRS. ERLYNNE [R.C.] No, dear Lord Augustus, you can't explain anything. It is your chief charm. LORD AUGUSTUS Ah ! if you find charms in me, Mrs. Erlynne [Tkey converse together. Lord Windermere moves uneasily about the room watching Mrs. Erlynne?^ LORD DARLINGTON [ To Lady Windermere^ How pale you are ! LADY WINDERMERE Cowards are always pale ! LORD DARLINGTON You look faint. Come out on the terrace. LADY WINDERMERE Yes. [ To Parker?^ Parker, send my cloak out. 48 MRS. ERLYNNE {^Crossing to her.'] Lady Windermere, how beautifully your terrace is illuminated. Reminds me of Prince Doria's at Rome. \^Lady Windermere bows coldly , and goes off with Lord Darlington.'] Oh, how do you do, Mr. Graham ? Isn't that your aunt, Lady Jedburgh ? I should so much like to know her. CECIL GRAHAM [^After a moment's fusitation and embarrassment.] Oh, certainly, if you wish it. Aunt Caroline, allow me to introduce Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE So pleased to meet you, Lady Jedburgh. [^Sits beside her on the so/a.] Your nephew and I are great friends. I am so much interested in his political career. I think he's sure to be a wonderful success. He thinks like a Tory and talks like a Radical,and that 's so important now-a-days. He 's such a brilliant talker, too. But we all know from whom he inherits that. Lord Allandale was say- ing to me only yesterday, in the Park, that Mr. Graham talks almost as well as his aunt. LADY JEDBURGH [R.] Most kind of you to say these charming things to me ! [Mrs. Erlynne smiles^ and continues conversation.] 49 G DUMBY [To Cecil Graham.'] Did you introduce Mrs. Erlynne to Lady Jedburgh ? CECIL GRAHAM Had to, my dear fellow. Couldn't help it ! That woman can make one do anything she wants. How, I don't know. DUMBY Hope to goodness she won't speak to me ! [Saunters towards Lady Plymdale.'] MRS. ERLYNNE [C. To Lady Jedburghi\ On Thursday .<' With great pleasure. [Rises, and speaks to Lord Win- dermere, laughing.] What a bore it is to have to be civil to these old dowagers ! But they always insist on it ! LADY PLYMDALE [To Mr. Dumby.] Who is that well-dressed woman talking to Windermere ? DUMBY Haven't got the slightest idea ! Looks like an edition de luxe of a wicked French novel, meant specially for the English market. MRS. ERLYNNE So that is poor Dumby with Lady Plymdale ? I hear she is frightfully jealous of him. He doesn't 50 seem anxious to speak to me to-night. I suppose he is afraid of her. Those straw-coloured women have dreadful tempers. Do you know, I think I '11 dance with you first, Windermere. [Lord Windermere bites Ids lip and frowns^ It will make Lord Augustus so jealous ! Lord Augustus ! \Lord Augustus comes down.] Lord Windermere insists on my dancing with him first, and, as it 's his own house, I can't well refuse. You know I would much sooner dance with you. LORD AUGUSTUS [ IVit/i a low dow.] I wish I could think so, Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE You know it far too well. I can fancy a per- son dancing through life with you and finding it charming. LORD AUGUSTUS [Placing his hand on his white waistcoat.] Oh, thank you,, thank you. You are the most ador- able of all ladies ! MRS. ERLYNNE What a nice speech ! So simple and so sincere ! Just the sort of speech I like. Well, you shall hold my bouquet. [Goes towards ball-room on Lord Windermere' s arm.] Ah, Mr. Dumby, how are you ? I am so sorry I have been out the last three times you have called. Come and lunch on Friday. 51 DUMBY [ With perfect nonchalance^ Delighted ! \Lady Plymdale glares with indignation at Mr. Duniby. Lord Augustus follows Mrs. Erlynne and Lord Windennere into the ball-room holding bouquetP[ LADY PLYMDALE \To Mr. Dumby.l What an absolute brute you are ! I never can believe a word you say ! Why did you tell me you didn't know her ? What do you mean by calling on her three times running ? You are not to go to lunch there ; of course you understand that ? DUMBY My dear Laura, I wouldn't dream of going ! LADY PLYMDALE You haven't told me her name yet ! Who is she? DUMBY [^Coughs slightly and smooths his hair.] She 's a Mrs. Erlynne. LADY PLYMDALE That woman ! DUMBY Yes ; that is what every one calls her. LADY PLYMDALE How very interesting ! How intensely interest- ing ! I really must have a good stare at her. [Goes 52 to door of ball-room and looks In.] I have heard the most shocking things about her. They say she is ruining poor Windermere. And Lady Winder- mere, who goes in for being so proper, invites her ! How extremely amusing ! It takes a thoroughly good woman to do a thoroughly stupid thing. You are to lunch there on Friday ! DUMBY Why? LADY PLYMDALE Because I want you to take my husband with you. He has been so attentive lately, that he has become a perfect nuisance. Now, this woman is just the thing for him. He'll dance attendance upon her as long as she lets him, and won't bother me. I assure you, women of that kind are most useful. They form the basis of other people's marriages. DUMBY What a mystery you are ! LADY PLYMDALE [Looking- at him.'] I wish j LADY WINDERMERE She came here once as your guest. She must come now as mine. That is but fair. LORD WINDERMERE She should never have come here. LADY WINDERMERE {Rising^ It is too late, Arthur, to say that now. [Moves azvay.] LORD WINDERMERE [Rising.] Margaret, if you knew where Mrs. Erlynne went last night, after she left this house, you would not sit in the same room with her. It was absolutely shameless, the whole thing. no LADY WINDERMERE Arthur, I can't bear it any longer. I must tell you. Last night {Enter Parker with a tray on wJiicJi lie Lady Windermere^ s fan and a card. PARKER Mrs. Erlynne has called to return your ladyship's fan which she took away by mistake last night. Mrs. Erlynne has written a message on the card. LADY WINDERMERE Oh, ask Mrs. Erlynne to be kind enough to come up. \Reads card.] Say I shall be very glad to see her. [Exit Parker. She wants to see me, Arthur. LORD WINDERMERE \Takes card and looks at it.] Margaret, I beg- yon not to. Let me see her first, at any rate. She 's a very dangerous woman. She is the most dangerous woman I know. You don't realise what you're doing. LADY WINDERMERE It is right that I should see her. LORD WINDERMERE My child, you may be on the brink of a great sorrow. Don't go to meet it. It is absolutely necessary that I should see her before you do. Ill LADY WINDERMERE Why should it be necessary ? \^Enter Parker. PARKER Mrs. Erlynne. \Enter Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE {Exit Parker. How do you do, Lady Windermere ,■' {To Lord Windermere.'\ How do you do ? Do you know, Lady Windermere, I am so sorry about your fan. I can't imagine how I made such a silly mistake. Most stupid of me. And as I was driving in your direction, I thought I would take the oppor- tunity of returning your property in person with many apologies for my carelessness, and of bidding you good-bye. LADY WINDERMERE Good-bye? {Moves towards sofa with Mrs. Erlynne and sits down beside /ler.] Are you going away, then, Mrs. Erlynne ? MRS. ERLYNNE Yes ; I am going to live abroad again. The English climate doesn't suit me. My — heart is affected here, and that I don't like. I prefer living in the south. London is too full of fogs and — and serious people. Lord Windermere. Whether the fogs produce the serious people or whether the serious people produce the fogs, I don't know, but 112 the whole thing rather gets on my nerves, and so I 'm leaving this afternoon by the Club Train. LADY WINDERMERE This afternoon ? But I wanted so much to come and see you. MRS. ERLYNNE How kind of you ! But I am afraid I have to go. LADY WINDERMERE Shall I never see you again, Mrs. Erlynne ? MRS. ERLYNNE I am afraid not. Our lives lie too far apart. But there is a little thing I would like you to do for me. I want a photograph of you, Lady Windermere — would you give me one? You don't know how gratified I should be. LADY WINDERMERE Oh, with pleasure. There is one on that table. I '11 show it to you. [Goes across to the table.'] LORD WINDERMERE [Comi7ig up to Mrs. Erlynne and speaking in a low voice.] It is monstrous your intruding your- self here after your conduct last night. MRS. ERLYNNE [With an amused smile.] My dear Winder- mere, manners before morals ! 113 p LADY WINDERMERE [^Returning.'] I 'm afraid it is very flattering — I am not so pretty as that. ^Showing photograph?^ MRS. ERLYNNE You are much prettier. But haven't you got one of yourself with your little boy ? LADY WINDERMERE I have. Would you prefer one of those ? MRS. ERLYNNE Yes. LADY WINDERMERE I '11 go and get it for you, if you '11 excuse me for a moment. I have one upstairs. MRS. ERLYNNE So sorry, Lady Windermere, to give you so much trouble. LADY WINDERMERE \Moves to door i?.] No trouble at all, Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE Thanks so much. \Exit Lady Windermere R. You seem rather out of temper this morning, Windermere. Why should you be ? Margaret and I get on charmingly together. 114 LORD WINDERMERE I can't bear to see you with her. Besides, you have not told me the truth, Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE I have not told her the truth, you mean. LORD WINDERMERE [Standmg C] I sometimes wish you had. I should have been spared then the misery, the anxiety, the annoyance of the last six months. But rather than my wife should know — that the mother whom she was taught to consider as dead, the mother whom she has mourned as dead, is living — a divorced woman, going about under an assumed name, a bad woman preying upon life, as I know you now to be — rather than that, I was ready to supply you with money to pay bill after bill, extravagance after extrava- gance, to risk what occurred yesterday, the first quarrel I have ever had with my wife. You don't understand what that means to me. How could you ? But I tell you that the only bitter words that ever came from those sweet lips of hers were on your account, and I hate to see you next her. You sully the innocence that is in her. [Moves L.C.] And then I used to think that with all your faults you were frank and honest. You are not. MRS. ERLYNNE Why do you say that ? 115 LORD WINDERMERE *You made me get you an invitation to my wife's ball. MRS. ERLYNNE For my daughter's ball — yes. LORD WINDERMERE You came, and within an hour of your leaving the house you are found in a man's rooms — you are disgraced before every one, [Goes up stage C] MRS. ERLYNNE Yes. LORD WINDERMERE [Turnifig round on her.'\ Therefore I have a right to look upon you as what you are — a worth- less, vicious woman. I have the right to tell you never to enter this house, never to attempt to come near my wife MRS. ERLYNNE [Coldly.'] My daughter, you mean. LORD WINDERMERE You have no right to claim her as your daughter. You left her, abandoned her when she was but a child in the cradle, abandoned her for your lover, who abandoned you in turn. ii6 MRS. ERLYNNE [Rising-.] Do you count that to his credit, Lord Windermere — or to mine ? LORD WINDERMERE To his, now that I know you. MRS. ERLYNNE Take care — you had better be careful. LORD WINDERMERE Oh, I am not going to mince words for you. I know you thoroughly. MRS. ERLYNNE [Looking steadily at him.'] I question that. LORD WINDERMERE I do know you. For twenty years of your life you lived without your child, without a thought of your child. One day you read in the papers that she had married a rich man. You saw your hideous chance. You knew that to spare her the ignominy of learning that a woman like you was her mother, I would endure anything. You began your blackmailing. MRS. ERLYNNE [Shrugging her shoulders.] Don't use ugly words, Windermere. They are vulgar. I saw my chance, it is true, and took it. 117 LORD WINDERMERE Yes, you took it — and spoiled it all last night by being found out. MRS. ERLYNNE [ With a strange smile.'] You are quite right, I spoiled it all last night. LORD WINDERMERE And as for your blunder in taking my wife's fan from here and then leaving it about in Darlington's rooms, it is unpardonable. I can't bear the sight of it now. I shall never let my wife use it again. The thing is soiled for me. You should have kept it and not brought it back. MRS. ERLYNNE I think I shall keep it. \^Goes up.] It's ex- tremely pretty. \^Takes up fan.] I shall ask Margaret to give it to me. LORD WINDERMERE I hope my wife will give it you. MRS. ERLYNNE Oh, I 'm sure she will have no objection. LORD WINDERMERE I wish that at the same time she would give you a miniature she kisses every night before she prays — It 's the miniature of a young innocent-looking girl with beautiful dark hair. ii8 MRS. ERLYNNE Ah, yes, I remember. How long ago that seems! [Goes to sofa and sits down.] It was done before I was married. Dark hair and an innocent expres- sion were the fashion then, Windermere ! [A pause.] LORD WINDERMERE What do you mean by coming here this morning? What is your object ? [Crossing- L.C. and sitting^ MRS. ERLYNNE [ With a note of irony in her voice.] To bid good-bye to my dear daughter, of course. [Lord Windermere bites his under lip in anger. Mrs. Erlynne looks at him, and her voice and manner become serious. In her accents as she talks there is a note of deep tragedy. For a moment she reveals herself^ Oh, don't imagine I am going to have a pathetic scene with her, weep on her neck and tell her who I am, and all that kind of thing. I have no ambition to play the part of a mother. Only once in my life have I known a mother's feelings. That was last night. They were terrible — they made me suffer — they made me suffer too much. For twenty years, as you say, I have lived childless, — I want to live childless still. [Hiding her feelings with a trivial laugh.] Besides, my dear Winder- mere, how on earth could I pose as a mother with a grown-up daughter? Margaret is twenty-one, and I have never admitted that I am more than twenty-nine, or thirty at the most. Twenty-nine when there are pink shades, thirty when there are not. So you see what difficulties it would involve. 119 No, as far as I am concerned, let your wife cherish the memory of this dead, stainless mother. Why should I interfere with her illusions ? I find it hard enough to keep my own. I lost one illusion last night. I thought I had no heart. I find I have, and a heart doesn't suit me, Windermere. Somehow it doesn't go with modern dress. It makes one look old. [^Takes tip hand-mirror from table and looks into it.] And it spoils one's career at critical moments. LORD WINDERMERE You fill me with horror — with absolute horror. MRS. ERLYNNE [Rising-.] I suppose, Windermere, you would like me to retire into a convent or become a hospital nurse, or something of that kind, as people do in silly modern novels. That is stupid of you, Arthur ; in real life we don't do such things — not as long as we have any good looks left, at any rate. No — what consoles one now-a-days is not repentance, but pleasure. Repentance is quite out of date. And besides, if a woman really repents, she has to go to a bad dressmaker, otherwise no one believes in her. And nothing in the world would induce me to do that. No ; I am going to pass entirely out of your two lives. My coming into them has been a mistake — I discovered that last night. LORD WINDERMERE A fatal mistake. 120 MRS. ERLYNNE [Smiling.'l Almost fatal. LORD WINDERMERE I am sorry now I did not tell my wife the whole thing at once. MRS. ERLYNNE I regret my bad actions. You regret your good ones — that is the difference between us. LORD WINDERMERE I don't trust you. I will tell my wife. It's better for her to know, and from me. It will cause her infinite pain — it will humiliate her terribly, but it 's right that she should know. MRS. ERLYNNE You propose to tell her ? LORD WINDERMERE I am going to tell her. MRS. ERLYNNE [Going- up to him.'] If you do, I will make my name so infamous that it will mar every moment of her life. It will ruin her, and make her wretched. If you dare to tell her, there is no depth of degra- dation I will not sink to, no pit of shame I will not enter. You shall not tell her — I forbid you. 121 LORD WINDERMERE Why? MRS. ERLYNNE [After a pausel] If I said to you that I cared for her, perhaps loved her even — you would sneer at me, wouldn't you ? LORD WINDERMERE I should feel it was not true. A mother's love means devotion, unselfishness, sacrifice. What could you know of such things ? MRS. ERLYNNE You are right. What could I know of such things ? Don't let us talk any more about it — as for telling my daughter who I am, that I do not allow. It is my secret, it is not yours. If I make up my mind to tell her, and I think I will, I shall tell her before I leave the house — if not, I shall never tell her. LORD WINDERMERE {Angrily.'] Then let me beg of you to leave our house at once. I will make your excuses to Margaret. [Enter Lady Windermere R. She goes over to Mrs. Erlynne with the photograph in her hand. Lord Windermere moves to back of sofa, and anxiously watches Mrs. Erlynne as the scene pro- gresses.] 122 LADY WINDERMERE I am so sorry, Mrs. Erlynne, to have kept you waiting. I couldn't find the photograph anywhere. At last I discovered it in my husband's dressing- room — he had stolen it. MRS. ERLYNNE [Takes the photograph from her and looks at iti\ I am not surprised — it is charming. \Goes over to sofa with Lady Windermere, and sits down be- side her. Looks again at the photograph^ And so that is your little boy ! What is he called ? LADY WINDERMERE Gerard, after my dear father. MRS. ERLYNNE [Laying the photograph down.] Really ? LADY WINDERMERE Yes. If it had been a girl, I would have called it after my mother. My mother had the same name as myself, Margaret. MRS. ERLYNNE My name is Margaret too. LADY WINDERMERE Indeed ! 123 MRS. ERLYNNE Yes. [Pause.] You are devoted to your mother's memory, Lady Windermere, your husband tells me. LADY WINDERMERE We all have ideals in life. At least we all should have. Mine is my mother. MRS. ERLYNNE Ideals are dangerous things. Realities are better. They wound, but they 're better. LADY WINDERMERE \Shaki7ig her head.] If I lost my ideals, I should lose everything. MRS. ERLYNNE Everything ? LADY WINDERMERE Yes. [Pause]. MRS. ERLYNNE Did your father often speak to you of your mother ? LADY WINDERMERE No, it gave him too much pain. He told me how my mother had died a few months after I 124 was born. His eyes filled with tears as he spoke. Then he begged me never to mention her name to him again. It made him suffer even to hear it. My father — my father really died of a broken heart. His was the most ruined life I know. MRS. ERLYNNE [Rz'smg:] I am afraid I must go now, Lady Windermere. LADY WINDERMERE [Rz'sm^^.] Oh no, don't. MRS. ERLYNNE I think I had better. My carriage must have come back by this time. I sent it to Lady Jedburgh's with a note. LADY WINDERMERE Arthur, would you mind seeing if Mrs. Erlynne's carriage has come back ? MRS. ERLYNNE Pray don't trouble, Lord Windermere. LADY WINDERMERE Yes, Arthur, do go, please. [Lord Wmdermere hesitates for a mornent and looks at Mrs. Erlynne. She remains quite impassive. He leaves the room.l [To Mrs. Erlynne.] Oh! What am I to say to 125 you ? You saved me last night ? [Goes towards her.'] MRS. ERLYNNE Hush — don't speak of it. LADY WINDERMERE I must speak of it. I can't let you think that I am going to accept this sacrifice. I am not. It is too great. I am going to tell my husband everything. It is my duty. MRS. ERLYNNE It is not your duty — at least you have duties to others besides him. You say you owe me something ? LADY WINDERMERE I owe you everything. MRS. ERLYNNE Then pay your debt by silence. That is the only way in which it can be paid. Don't spoil the one good thing I have done in my life by telling it to any one. Promise me that what passed last night will remain a secret between us. You must not bring misery into your husband's life. Why spoil his love ? You must not spoil it. Love is easily killed. Oh ! how easily love is 126 killed ! Pledge me your word, Lady Windermere, that you will never tell him. I insist upon it. LADY WINDERMERE [ With bowed head.'] It is your will, not mine. MRS. ERLYNNE Yes, it is my will. And never forget your child — I like to think of you as a mother. I like you to think of yourself as one. LADY WINDERMERE \Looking u/>.] I always will now. Only once in my life I have forgotten my own mother — that was last night. Oh, if I had remembered her I should not have been so foolish, so wicked. MRS. ERLYNNE [With a slight shudder^ Hush, last night is quite over. [Enter Lord Windermere. LORD WINDERMERE Your carriage has not come back yet, Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE. It makes no matter. I '11 take a hansom. There is nothing in the world so respectable as a good Shrewsbury and Talbot. And now, dear Lady Windermere, I am afraid it is really good-bye. 127 [Moves up C] Oh, I remember. You'll think me absurd, but do you know I 've taken a great fancy to this fan that I was silly enough to run away with last night from your ball. Now, I wonder would you give it to me ? Lord Winder- mere says you may. I know it is his present. LADY WINDERMERE Oh, certainly, if it will give you any pleasure. But it has my name on it. It has ' Margaret ' on it. MRS. ERLYNNE But we have the same Christian name. LADY WINDERMERE Oh, I forgot. Of course, do have it. What a wonderful chance our names being the same ! MRS. ERLYNNE Quite wonderful. Thanks — it will always remind me of you. [Shakes hands with her.l [Enter Parker. PARKER Lord Augustus Lorton. Mrs. Erlynne's carriage has come. [Enter Lord A ugustus. LORD AUGUSTUS Good morning, dear boy. Good morning. Lady Windermere. [Sees Mrs. Erlynne.'] Mrs. Erlynne ! 128 MRS. ERLYNNE How do you do, Lord Augustus? Are yoM quite well this morning ? LORD AUGUSTUS [Coldfy.] Quite well, thank you, Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE You don't look at all well, Lord Augustus. You stop up too late — it is so bad for you. You really should take more care of yourself Good- bye, Lord Windermere. [Goes towards door with a bow to Lord A ugustus. Suddenly smiles and looks back at him.'] Lord Augustus! Won't you see me to my carriage ? You might carry the fan. LORD WINDERMERE Allow me ! MRS. ERLYNNE No ; I want Lord Augustus. I have a special message for the dear Duchess. Won't you carry the fan, Lord Augustus ? LORD AUGUSTUS If you really desire it, Mrs. Erlynne. MRS. ERLYNNE {Laughing.'] Of course I do. You'll carry it 129 R so gracefully. You would carry off anything gracefully, dear Lord Augustus. [ When she reaches the door she looks back for a moment at Lady Windermere. Their eyes meet. Then she turns, and exit C. followed by Lord Augustusi\ LADY WINDERMERE You will never speak against Mrs. Erlynne again, Arthur, will you ? LORD WINDERMERE {Gravely^ She is better than one thought her. LADY WINDERMERE She is better than I am. LORD WINDERMERE [Smiling as he strokes her hair.] Child, you and she belong to different worlds. Into your world evil has never entered. LADY WINDERMERE Don't say that, Arthur. There is the same world for all of us, and good and evil, sin and innocence, go through it hand in hand. To shut one's eyes to half of life that one may live securely is as though one blinded oneself that one might walk with more safety in a land of pit and precipice. 130 LORD WINDERMERE [Moves down with her.] Darling, why do you say that ? LADY WINDERMERE [Sz'ls on sofa^ Because I, who had shut my eyes to life, came to the brink. And one who had separated us LORD WINDERMERE We were never separated. LADY WINDERMERE We never must be again. Oh Arthur, don't love me less, and I will trust you more. I will trust you absolutely. Let us go to Selby. In the Rose Garden at Selby the roses are white and red. [Enter Lord Augustus C. LORD AUGUSTUS Arthur, she has explained everything ! [Lady Windermere looks horribly frightened at this. Lord Windermere starts. Lord Augustus takes Windermere by the arm and brings hitn to front of stage. He talks rapidly and in a low voice. Lady Windermere stands watching them in terror^ My dear fellow, she has explained every demmed thing. We all wronged her immensely. It was 131 entirely for my sake she went to Darlington's rooms. Called first at the Club — fact is, wanted to put me out of suspense — and being told I had gone on — followed — naturally frightened when she heard a lot of us coming in — retired to another room — I assure you, most gratifying to me, the whole thing. We all behaved brutally to her. She is just the woman for me. Suits me down to the ground. All the conditions she makes are that we live entirely out of England. A very good thing, too. Demmed clubs, demmed climate, demmed cooks, demmed everything. Sick of it all! LADY WINDERMERE \Frightenedi\ Has Mrs. Erlynne ? LORD AUGUSTUS [Advancing towards her with a low bow!\ Yes, Lady Windermere — Mrs. Erlynne has done me the honour of accepting my hand. LORD WINDERMERE Well, you are certainly marrying a very clever woman ! LADY WINDERMERE [ Taking her husbands hand.'l Ah, you 're marry- ing a very good woman ! Curtain 132 List of Books in Relies Jettres Mrmaifiivf Mtionsin ALL BOOKS IN THIS CATALOGUE ARE PUBLISHED AT NET PRICES 1S93 Telegraphic Address — ' Bodleian, London ' A WORD must be said for the manner in which the publishers have produced the volume {i.e. "The Earth Fiend"), a sumptuous folio, printed by Constable, the etchings on Japanese paper by Mr. Goulding. The volume should add not only to Mr. Strang's fame but to that of Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, who are rapidly gaining distinction for their beautiful editions of belles-lettres.' — Daily Chronicle, Sept. 24, 1892. Referring to Mr. Le Gallienne's 'English Poems' and ' Silhouettes ' by Mr. Arthur Symons : — ' We only refer to them now to note a fact which they illustrate, and which we have been observing of late, namely, the recovery to a certain extent of good taste in the matter of printing and binding books. These two books, which are turned out by Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane, are models of artistic publishing, and yet they are simplicity itself. The books with their excellent printing and their very simplicity make a harmony which is satisfying to the artistic sense.' — Sunday Sun, Oct. 2, 1892. ' Mr. Le Gallienne is a fortunate young gentleman. I don't know by what legerdemain he and his publishers work, but here, in an age as stony to poetry as the ages of Chatterton and Richard Savage, we find the full edition of his book sold before publication. How is it done, Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane? for, without depreciating Mr. Le Gallienne's sweetness and charm, I doubt that the marvel would have been wrought under another publisher. These publishers, indeed, produce books so de- lightfully that it must give an added pleasure to the hoarding of first editions.' — Katharine Tynan in Tke Irish Daily Independent. ' To Messrs. Elkin Mathews and John Lane almost more than to any other, we take it, are the thanks of the grateful singer especially due ; for it is they who have managed, by means of limited editions and charming workmanship, to impress book- buyers with the belief that a volume may have an aesthetic and commercial value. They have made it possible to speculate in the latest discovered poet, as in a new company — with the difference that an operation in the former can be done with three half-crowns. St James s Gazette. September 1893. List of Books IN BELLES LETTRES {Including some Transfers) PUBLISHED BY Elkin Mathews and John Lane VIGO STREET, LONDON, W. A''. B. — The A uthors and Publishers reserve the right of reprinting any book in this list if a second edition is called for, except in cases where a stipulation has been made to the contrary, and of printing a separate edition of any of the books for America irrespective of the numbers to which the English editions are limited. The numbers mentioned do not include the copies sent for review or to the public libraries. ADDLESHAW (PERCY). Poems, i2mo. 5s. net. [In preparation. ALLEN (GRANT). The Lower Slopes : A Volume of Verse. 600 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net. [Immediately. ANT.EUS. The Backslider and other Poems. 100 only. Small 4to. 7s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. BEECHING (H. C), J. W. MACKAIL, & J. B. B. NICHOLS Love in Idleness. With Vignette by W. B. ScOTT. Fcap. 8vo, half vellum. 12s.net. [Very few remain. Trans/erred by the Authors to the present Publishers. THE PUBLICATIONS OF BENSON (ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER). Poems. 550 copies. i2mo. 5s. net. BENSON (EUGENE). From the Asolan Hills : A Poem. 300 copies. Imp. l6mo. 5s.net. [Very few remain. BINYON (LAWRENCE). Poems. i2mo. 5s. net. [In preparation. BOURDILLON (F. W.). A Lost God : A Poem. With Illustrations by H. J. Ford. 500 copies. 8vo. 6s. net. [ Very few remain. BOURDILLON (F. W.). AiLES d'Alouette. Poems printed at the private press of Rev. H. Daniel, Oxford. 100 only. i6mo. £1, IDS. net. [Very few remain. BRIDGES (ROBERT). The Growth of Love. Printed in Fell's old English type at the private press of Rev. H. Daniel, Oxford. 100 only. Fcap. 410. £2, I2s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. COLERIDGE (HON. STEPHEN). The Sanctity of Confession : A Romance. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. net. [A few remain. CRANE (WALTER). Renascence: A Book of Verse. Frontispiece and 38 designs by the Author. Imp, i6mo. 7s. 6d. net. [Very few remain. Also a few fcap. 4to. £1^ is. net. And a few fcap. 410, Japanese vellum. £1, iss. net. CROSSING (WM.). The Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor. With 1 1 plates. Svo, cloth. 4s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. ELKIN MATHEWS JOHN LANE HAKE (DR. T. GORDON). A Selection from his Poems. Edited by Mrs. Meynell. Crown 8vo. $3. net. \Imtnediately. HALLAM (ARTHUR HENRY). The Poems, together with his essay ' On Some of the Characteristics of Modern Poetry and on the Lyrical Poems of Alfred Tennyson.' Edited, with an Introduction, by Richard Le Gallienne. 550 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net. [ Very few remain. HAMILTON (COL. IAN). The Ballad of Hadji and other Poems. Etched Frontispiece by Wm. Strang. 550 copies. i2mo. 3s. net. Transferred by the Atit/wr to the present Publishers. HAYES (ALFRED). The Vale of Arden and Other Poems. With Title- page and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net. \_In preparation. HICKEY (EMILY H.). Verse Tales, Lyrics and Translations. 300 copies. Imp. l6mo. 5s. net. HORNE (HERBERT P.). DiVERSi Colores : Poems. With ornaments by the Author. 250 copies. i6mo. 5s. net. IMAGE (SELWYN). Carols and Poems. With decorations by H. P. Horne. 250 copies. 5s. net. [/« preparation, JAMES (W. P.). Romantic Professions : A Volume of Essays. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. ^Immediately. JOHNSON (EFFIE). In the Fire and Other Fancies. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 500 copies. Imp. i6mo. 3s. 6d. net. THE PUBLICATIONS OF JOHNSON (LIONEL). The Art of Thomas Hardy : .Six Essays. With Etched Portrait by Wm. Strang, and Bibliography by John Lane. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net. Also 150 copies, large paper, with proofs of the portrait. £i, is. net. [Very shortly. JOHNSON (LIONEL). A Volume OF Poems. i2mo. 5s.net. [In preparation. KEATS (JOHN). Three Essays, now issued in book form for the first time. Edited by H. BuxTON Forman. With Life-mask by Haydon. Fcap. 4to. los. 6d. net. [Very few remain. LEATHER (R. K.). Verses. 250 copies. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. net. Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers. LEATHER (R. K.), & RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. The Student and the Body-Snatcher and Other Trifles. 250 copies. Royal i8mo. 3s. net. Also 50 copies large paper, ys. 6d. net. [ Very/eiu remain. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). Prose Fancies. With Cover Design and Title-page by Will Rothenstein. 5s. net. Also a limited large paper edition. 12s.6d.net. {In preparation. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). The Book Bills of Narcissus. An Account rendered by Richard le Gallienne. Second Edition, Crown 8vo, buckram. 3s. 6d. net. ELKIN MATHEWS <&> JOHN LANE LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). English Poems. Second Edition, i2mo. 5s. net. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). George Meredith : Some Characteristics. With a Biblio- graphy (much enlarged) by John Lane, portrait, etc. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net. LE GALLIENNE (RICHARD). The Religion of a Literary Man. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. Also a special edition on hand-made paper. los. 6d. net. [Immediately. LETTERS TO LIVING ARTISTS. 500 copies, Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. Very few remain. MARSTON (PHILIP BOURKE). A Last Harvest : Lyrics and Sonnets from the Book of Life. Edited by Louise Chandler MouLTON. 500 copies. Post 8vo. 5s. net. Also 50 copies on large paper, hand-made. los. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. MARTIN (W. WILSEY). Quatrains, Life's Mystery and other Poems. i6mo. 2s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. MARZIALS (THEO.). The Gallery of Pigeons and Other Poems. Post 8vo. 4s. 6d. net. [ Very few remain Transj erred by the Author to the present Publishers. MEYNELL (MRS.), (ALICE C. THOMPSON). Poems. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s. 6d. net. A few of the 50 large paper copies (First Edition) remain. I2S. 6d. net. THE PUBLICATIONS OF MEYNELL (MRS.). The Rhythm of Life, and other Essays. Second Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 3s, 6d. net. A few of the 50 large paper copies (First Edition) remain. I2s. 6d. net. MURRAY (ALMA). Portrait as Beatrice Cenci. With critical notice containing four letters from Robert Browning. 8vo, wrapper. 2s. net. NETTLESHIP (J. T.). Robert Browning : Essays and Thoughts. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net. Half a dozen of the Whatman large paper copies (First Edition) remain. £1, is. net. NOBLE (JAS. ASHCROFT). The Sonnet in England and Other Essays. Title- page and Cover Design by Austin Young. 600 copies. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. Also 50 copies large paper. 12s. 6d. net. NOEL (HON. RODEN). Poor People's Christmas. 250 copies. i6mo. is. net. [ Very few remain. OXFORD CHARACTERS. A series of lithographed portraits by Will Rothenstein, with text by F. York Powell and others. To be issued monthly in term. Each number will contain two portraits. Part L ready Sept. 1893, will contain portraits of Sir Henry Acland, K.C.B., F.R.S., M.D., and of Mr. W. A, L. Fletcher, of Christ- church, President of the University Boat Club. 350 copies only, folio, wrapper, 5s. net per part ; 50 special copies containing proof impressions of the portraits signed by the artist, los. 6d. net per part. PINKERTON (PERCY). Galeazzo : A Venetian Episode and other Poems. Etched Frontispiece. i6mo. 5s. net. [ Very few remain. Trans/erred by ilie Author to the present Publishers. ELKIN MATHEWS «&' JOHN LANE RADFORD (DOLLIE). Songs. A New Volume of Verse. [In preparation. RADFORD (ERNEST). Chambers Twain. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 250 copies. Imp. i6mo. 5s. net. Also 50 copies large paper, ios.6d.net. \Very few rtmain. RHYMERS' CLUB, THE BOOK OF THE. A second series is in preparation. SCHAFF (DR. P.). Literature and Poetry : Papers on Dante, etc. Portrait and Plates, 100 copies only. 8vo. los. net. SCOTT (WM. BELL). A Poet's Harvest Home : with an Aftermath, 300 copies. i2mo. 5s.net. [Very few remain. *»* IVill not be reprinted. STODDARD (R. H.). The Lion's Cub; with other Verse. Portrait. ICO copies only, bound in an illuminated Persian design. Fcap. 8vo. 5s. net. [ Very few remain. SYMONDS gOHN ADDINGTON). In the Key of Blue, and other Prose Essays. Cover designed by C. S. Ricketts. Second Edition. Thick Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net. THOMPSON (FRANCIS). A Volume of Poems. With Frontispiece, Title-page and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. 500 Copies. Pott 4to. 5s. net. [/« preparation. TODHUNTER (JOHN). A Sicilian Idyll. Frontispiece by Walter Crane. 250 copies. Imp. i6mo. 5s. net. Also 50 copies large paper, fcap. 410. los. 6d. net. [ Very few remain. THE PUBLICATIONS OB" TOMSON (GRAHAM R.). After S unset. A Volume of Poems. With Title-page and Cover Design by R. Anning Bell. i2mo. 5s. net. Also a limited large paper edition. 12s. 6d. net. \.In preparation. TREE (H. BEERBOHM). The Imaginative Faculty : A Lecture delivered at the Royal Institution. With portrait of Mr. Tree from an unpublished drawing by the Marchioness of Granby. Fcap. 8vo, boards. 2s. 6d. net. TYNAN HINKSON (KATHARINE). Cuckoo Songs. With Title-page and Cover Design by Laurence Housman. 500 copies. 5s. net. [/« preparation. VAN DYKE (HENRY). The Poetry of Tennyson. Third Edition, enlarged. Crown 8vo. 5s. 6d. net. The late Laureate hitnself gave valuable aid in correcting various details. WATSON (WILLIAM). The Eloping Angels : A Caprice. Second Edition, Square l6mo, buckram. 3s. 6d. net. WATSON (WILLIAM). Excursions in Criticism : being some Prose Recrea- tions of a Rhymer. Second Edition. i2mo. 5s.net. WATSON (WILLIAM). The Prince's Quest, and other Poems. With a Bibliographical Note added. Second Edition. l2mo. 4s. 6d. net. WED MORE (FREDERICK). Pastorals of France — Renunciations. A volume of Stories. Title-page by John Fulleylove, R.I. Crown 8vo. 5s. net. A/lew of the large paper copies of Renunciations (First EditiotC) remain. los. 6d, net. ELKIN MATHEWS &- JOHN LANE WICKSTEED (P. H.). Dante. Six Sermons. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. net. WILDE (OSCAR). The Sphinx. A poem decorated throughout in line and colour, and bound in a design by Charles Ricketts. 250 copies. £2, 2s. net. 25 copies large paper. £^, 5s. net. [In preparation. WILDE (OSCAR). The incomparable and ingenious history of Mr. W. H., being the true secret of Shakespear's sonnets now for the first time here fully set forth, with initial letters and cover design by Charles Ricketts. 500 copies, los. 6d. net. Also 50 copies large paper. 21s.net. \ln preparation. WILDE (OSCAR). Dramatic Works, now printed for the first time with a specially designed Title-page and binding to each volume, by CHARLES Shannon. 500 copies. 7s. 6d. net per vol. Also 50 copies large paper, iss. net per vol. Vol. I. Lady Windermere's Fan : A Comedy in Four Acts. Vol. II. A Woman of No Importance : A Comedy in Four Acts. Vol. III. The Duchess of Padua : A Blank Verse Tragedy in Five Acts. \In preparation. WILDE (OSCAR). Salom6 : A Tragedy in one Act, done into English. With II Illustrations, title-page, and Cover Design by Aubrey Beardsley. 500 copies. 15s. net. Also 100 copies, large paper. 30s.net. \ln preparation. WYNNE (FRANCES). Whisper. A Volume of Verse. With a Memoir by Katharine Tynan and a Portrait added. Fcap. 8vo, buckram. 2s. 6d. net. Transferred by the Author to the present Publishers. 14 PUBLICATIONS OF ELKIN MATHEWS &' JOHN LANE The Hobby Horse A new series of this illustrated magazine will be published quarterly by subscription, under the Editorship of Herbert P. Home. Subscription £i per annum, post free, for the four numbers. Quarto, printed on hand-made paper, and issued in a limited edition to subscribers only. The Magazine will contain articles upon Literature, Music, Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and the Decorative Arts; Poems ; Essays ; Fiction ; original Designs ; with reproduc- tions of pictures and drawings by the old masters and contemporary artists. There will be a new title- page and ornaments designed by the Editor. Among the contributors to the Hobby Horse are : The late Matthew Arnold. Lawrence Binyon. Wilfrid Blunt. Ford Madox Brown. The late Arthur Burgess. e. burne-jones, a.r.a. Austin Dobson. Richard Garnett, LL.D. F. York Powell. Christina G. Rossetti. W. M. Rossetti. John Ruskin, D.C.L., LL.D. Frederick Sandys. The late W. Bell Scott. Frederick J. Shields. J. H. Shorthouse. A. J. HiPKiNS, F.S.A. i James Smetham. Selwyn Image. j Simeon Solomon. Lionel Johnson. i A. Somervell. Richard Le Gallienne. t The late J. Addington Svmonds Sir F. Leighton, Bart., P.R.A. | Katharine Tynan. T. Hope McLachlan. ' G. F. Watts, R.A. May Morris. < Frederick Wedmork. C. Hubert H. Parry, Mus, Doc. Oscar Wilde. A. W. Pollard. Etc Etc Prospectuses on Application. THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO STREET, LONDON, W. * Nearly every book put out by Messrs. Elkin Mathews & John Lane, at the Sign of the Bodley Head, is a satisfaction to the special senses of the modern bookman for bindings, shapes, types, and papers. They have surpassed themselves, and registered a real achievement in English bookmaking by the volume of " Poems, Dramatic and Lyrical, " of Lord De Tabley. ' Newcastle Daily Chronicle. ' A ray of hopefulness is stealing again into English poetry after the twilight greys of Clough and Arnold and Tennyson. Even unbelief wears braver colours. Despite the jeremiads, which are the dirges of the elder gods, England is still a nest of singing-birds [,teste the Catalogue of Elkin Mathews and John Lane).'— Mr. Zangwill in Pall Mall Magazine. Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable Printers to Her Majesty »