, and might go on for ever using his senses with impunity "to
cure his soul," defiling English society with the moral pestilence which
is incarnate in him, but for one thing. That is his sudden impulse not
merely to murder the painter--which might be artistically defended on
the plea that it is only a fresh development of his scheme for realizing
every phase of life-experience--but to rip up the canvas in a rage,
merely because, though he had permitted himself to do one good action,
it had not made his portrait less hideous. But all this is inconsistent
with Dorian Gray's cool, calculating, conscienceless character, evolved
logically enough by Mr Wilde's "New Hedonism."

Then Mr. Wilde finishes his story by saying that on hearing a heavy fall
Dorian Gray's servants rushed in, found the portrait on the wall as
youthful looking as ever, its senile ugliness being transferred to the
foul profligate himself, who is lying on the floor stabbed to the heart.
This is a sham moral, as indeed everything in the book is a sham, except
the one element in the book which will taint every young mind that comes
in contact with it. That element is shockingly real, and it is the
plausibly insinuated defence of the creed that appeals to the senses "to
cure the soul" whenever the spiritual nature of man suffers from too
much purity and self-denial.

The rest of this number of _Lippincott_ consists of articles of harmless
padding.

[11] June 30th, 1890.

* * * * *

_When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself._

* * * * *

OSCAR WILDE'S REPLY.

"DORIAN GRAY."

To the Editor of the _Daily Chronicle_.[12]

Sir,--Will you allow me to correct some errors into which your critic
has fallen in his review of my story, "The Picture of Dorian Gray,"
published in to-day's issue of your paper?

Your critic states, to begin with, that I make desperate attempts to
"vamp up" a moral in my story. Now I must candidly confess that I do not
know what "vamping" is. I see, from time to time, mysterious
advertisements in the newspapers about "How to Vamp," but what vamping
really means remains a mystery to me--a mystery that, like all other
mysteries, I hope some day to explore.

However, I do not propose to discuss the absurd terms used by modern
journalism. What I want to say is that, so far from wishing to emphasise
any moral in my story, the real trouble I exper