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38 January 1882 from my manager’s office, who met me at Philadelphia with instructions to proceed direct to Washington, and not stop at Baltimore, as I had hoped to do. Since my arrival in America I have received in each city that courtesy for which your country is famous, and I would not wish it to be thought that I could willingly be capable of any such unpardonable rudeness as your papers would seem seriously to charge me with. I remain, sir, your obedient servant, Oscar Wilde. 10. “An Interview with the Poet,” Albany Argus, 28 January 1882, 8 An Argus reporter met Mr. Wilde after the lecture and found him to be a bright and sprightly young man, showing no signs of the languid demeanor so noticeable upon the stage. He was seated at a desk writing autographs for a number of young ladies. “I hope,” said he, “that I am obliging beautiful young ladies, for I make it a point to grant my autographs to no others.” In answer to an inquiry as to how he liked America, the poet said, “I really have seen almost nothing of your country. As I came up from New York this afternoon, I caught occasional glimpses of the river and I was charmed with its beauties. The blue hills in the distance, the forest still green in place, and the strange, regular outlines of the Palisades formed a most pleasing picture. I am always delighted to study human nature, and I felt much richer by my contact with so many new phases of character. I think that the theories I have propounded in my lecture will be adopted to some extent in America, for your countrymen are not opposed to revolutionary ideas, and I believe truth will force its way to conviction.” Mr. Wilde complained that he could obtain no cigarettes to suit him in this country. “I smoke only Turkish tobacco, and that you do not have here. I have used up all I brought with me and am now quite lost for a further supply.”1 1. In chapter 6 of The Picture of Dorian Gray (New York: Penguin Classics, 1985), Lord Henry Wotton proclaims that “[a] cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more could one want?” (90). i-xii_1-196_Wild.indd 38 8/4/09 9:11:36 AM ...

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