The Texture of the Past

Abstract

During the trial of Oscar Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895, a debate arose over the interpretation of a literary text. Counsel for the prosecution quoted some lines from a poem by Lord Alfred Douglas calle? ‘Two Loves’?:

‘Sweet youth, Tell me why, sad and sighing, dost thou rove These pleasant realms? I pray thee tell me sooth, What is thy name?’ He sai?, ‘My name is Lov?,’ Then straight the first did turn himself to me, And crie?, ‘He lieth, for his name is Shame. But I am Love, and I was wont to be Alone in this fair garden, till he came Unasked by night; I am true Love, I fill The hearts of boy and girl with mutual flame?’ Then sighing said the othe?, ‘Have thy will, I am the Love that dare not speak its name’?

Mik?: Ther?’s no word in the Irish language for what you were doing?

Wilso?: In Lapland they have no word for snow. Joe Orto?, The Ruffian on the Stai?, i? The Complete Play? (1976) p. 5?