[35] Pp. 57-58.
[36] p. 63, 64.
[37] p. 79.
MR. ROBERT BUCHANAN ON PAGAN VICIOUSNESS.
Mr. Robert Buchanan, the well-known writer, in a letter dated April 23rd, 1895, expressed his own views on this subject in the columns of The Star. Referring to an anonymous correspondent in the same newspaper who had accused Mr. Wilde of "pagan viciousness"—this was more than a month before a verdict of "Guilty" had been returned against him—Mr. Buchanan asks, "Has even a writer like this no sense of humour? Does he seriously contend that the paradoxes and absurdities with which Mr. Wilde once amused us were meant as serious attacks on public morality? Two thirds of all Mr. Wilde has written is purely ironical, and it is only because they are now told that the writer is a wicked man that people begin to consider his writings wicked."
"I think," he adds, "I am as well acquainted as most people with Mr. Wilde's works, and I fearlessly assert that they are, for the most part, as innocent as a naked baby. As for the much misunderstood "Dorian Gray," it would be easy to show that it is a work of the highest morality, since its whole purpose is to point out the effect of selfish indulgence and sensuality in destroying the character of a beautiful human soul. But it is useless to discuss these questions with people who are colour-blind. I cordially echo the cry that, failing a little knowledge of literature, a little Christian charity is sorely wanted."
COMPARATIVE TABLE OF CHAPTERS IN THE FIRST TWO EDITIONS OF 'THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY'.
| 1890 | 1891 |
| I | I |
| II | II |
| III | |
| III | IV |
| V | |
| IV | VI |
| V | VII |
| VI | VIII |
| VII | IX |
| VIII | X |
| IX | XI |
| X | XII |
| XI | XIII |
| XII | XIV |
| XV | |
| XVI | |
| XVII | |
| XVIII | |
| XIII | XIX, XX |