Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions — Volume 1

This etext was prepared by Hollis Ramsey <holliser@ev1.net>
Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions, Volume 1
by Frank Harris
Introduction
Shaw's Memories
The Appendix
The crucifixion of the guilty is still more awe-inspiring than the crucifixion of the innocent; what do we men know of innocence?
I was advised on all hands not to write this book, and some English friends who have read it urge me not to publish it.
You will be accused of selecting the subject, they say, because sexual viciousness appeals to you, and your method of treatment lays you open to attack.
You criticise and condemn the English conception of justice, and English legal methods: you even question the impartiality of English judges, and throw an unpleasant light on English juries and the English public—all of which is not only unpopular but will convince the unthinking that you are a presumptuous, or at least an outlandish, person with too good a conceit of himself and altogether too free a tongue.
I should be more than human or less if these arguments did not give me pause. I would do nothing willingly to alienate the few who are still friendly to me. But the motives driving me are too strong for such personal considerations. I might say with the Latin:
Non me tua fervida terrent, Dicta, ferox: Di me terrent, et Jupiter hostis.