on the most natural thing
in the world for an innocent man to do. At the time Oscar burnt the
letters he had no idea that he would ever be on trial. His letters had
been misunderstood and the worst of them was being used against him,
and when he got the others he naturally threw them into the fire. The
Judge held that it was madness, and built upon this inference a
pyramid of guilt. "Nothing said by Wood should be believed, as he
belongs to the vilest class of criminals; the strength of the
accusation depends solely upon the character of the original
introduction of Wood to Wilde as illustrated and fortified by the
story with regard to the letters and their burning."

A pyramid of guilt carefully balanced on its apex! If the foolish
Judge had only read his Shakespeare! What does Henry VI say:

Proceed no straiter 'gainst our uncle Gloucester
Than from true evidence of good esteem
He be approved in practice culpable.

There was no "true evidence of good esteem" against Wilde, but the
Judge turned a harmless action into a confession of guilt.

Then came an interruption which threw light on the English conception
of justice. The foreman of the jury wanted to know, in view of the
intimate relations between Lord Alfred Douglas and the defendant,
whether a warrant against Lord Alfred Douglas was ever issued.

Mr. Justice Wills: "I should say not; we have never heard of it."

Foreman: "Or ever contemplated?"

Mr. Justice Wills: "That I cannot say, nor can we discuss it. The
issue of such a warrant would not depend upon the testimony of the
parties, but whether there was evidence of such act. Letters pointing
to such relations would not be sufficient. Lord Alfred Douglas was not
called, and you can give what weight you like to that."

Foreman: "If we are to deduce any guilt from these letters, it would
apply equally to Lord Alfred Douglas."

Mr. Justice Wills concurred in that view, but after all he thought it
had nothing to do with the present trial, which was the guilt of the
accused.

The jury retired to consider their verdict at half past three. After
being absent two hours they returned to know whether there was any
evidence of Charles Parker having slept at St. James's Place.

His Lordship replied, "No."

The jury shortly afterwards returned again with the verdict of
"Guilty" on all the counts.

It may be worth while to note again that the Judge himself admitted
that the evidence on some of th