arned Judge at once said: "I shall have the Court cleared if
there is the slightest manifestation of feeling. There must be
complete silence preserved."

Mr. Justice Charles repressed the cheering in favour of Mr. Oscar
Wilde with great severity, though Mr. Justice Collins did not attempt
to restrain the cheering which filled his court and accompanied the
dispersing crowd into the street on the acquittal of Lord Queensberry.

In spite, however, of the unfair criticisms of the press; in spite of
the unfair conduct of the prosecution, and in spite of the manifest
prejudice and Philistine ignorance of the Judge, the jury disagreed.

Then followed the most dramatic incident of the whole trial. Once more
Sir Edward Clarke applied for bail on behalf of Oscar Wilde. "After
what has happened," he said, "I do not think the Crown will make any
objection to this application." The Crown left the matter to the
Judge, no doubt in all security; for the Judge immediately refused the
application. Sir Edward Clarke then went on to say that, in the case
of a re-trial, it ought not to take place immediately. He continued:

"The burden of those engaged in the case is very heavy, and I think it
only right that the Treasury should have an opportunity between this
and another session of considering the mode in which the case should
be presented, if indeed it is presented at all."

Mr. Gill immediately rose to the challenge.

"The case will certainly be tried again," he declared, "whether it is
to be tried again at once or in the next sessions will be a matter of
convenience. Probably the most desirable course will be for the case
to go to the next sessions. That is the usual course."

Mr. Justice Charles: "If that is the usual course, let it be so."

The next session of the Central Criminal Court opened on the 20th of
the same month.

Not three weeks' respite, still it might be enough: it was
inconceivable that a Judge in Chambers would refuse to accept bail:
fortunately the law allows him no option.

* * * * *

The application for bail was made in due course to a Judge in
Chambers, and in spite of the bad example of the magistrate, and of
Mr. Justice Charles, it was granted and Wilde was set free in his own
recognizance of L2,500 with two other sureties for L1,250 each. It
spoke volumes for the charm and fascination of the man that people
were found to undertake this onerous responsibility. Their nam