small minority of passionate
admirers whom I have called his fuglemen. These admirers formed the
constant factor in his progress from social height to height. For the
most part they were persons usually called "sexual inverts," who
looked to the brilliancy of his intellect to gild their esoteric
indulgence. This class in England is almost wholly recruited from the
aristocracy and the upper middle-class that apes the "smart set." It
is an inevitable product of the English boarding school and University
system; indeed one of the most characteristic products. I shall
probably bring upon myself a host of enemies by this assertion, but it
has been weighed and must stand. Fielding has already put the same
view on record: he says:

"A public school, Joseph, was the cause of all the
calamities which he afterwards suffered. Public schools are
the nurseries of all vice and immorality. All the wicked
fellows whom I remember at the University were bred at
them...."

If boarding-school life with its close intimacies between boys from
twelve to eighteen years of age were understood by English mothers, it
is safe to say that every boarding-house in every school would
disappear in a single night, and Eton, Harrow, Winchester and the rest
would be turned into day-schools.

Those who have learned bad habits at school or in the 'Varsity are
inclined to continue the practices in later life. Naturally enough
these men are usually distinguished by a certain artistic sympathy,
and often by most attractive, intellectual qualities. As a rule the
epicene have soft voices and ingratiating manners, and are bold enough
to make a direct appeal to the heart and emotions; they are
considered the very cream of London society.

These admirers and supporters praised and defended Oscar Wilde from
the beginning with the persistence and courage of men who if they
don't hang together are likely to hang separately. After his trial and
condemnation _The Daily Telegraph_ spoke with contempt of these
"decadents" and "aesthetes" who, it asserted, "could be numbered in
London society on the fingers of one hand"; but even _The Daily
Telegraph_ must have known that in the "smart set" alone there are
hundreds of these acolytes whose intellectual and artistic culture
gives them an importance out of all proportion to their number. It was
the passionate support of these men in the first place which made
Oscar Wilde notorious and successful