Editing 3 Apr 1895 - The Echo (London) (section)

==<center>"IT IS A WORK OF ART"</center>==
At that time Mr. Wilde's play, <i>A Woman of No Importance</i>, was being prepared for the Haymarket Theatre. One day Mr. Beerbohm-Tree received a note requesting him to forward to Mr. Wilde what purported to be a copy of an incriminating letter written by Mr. Wilde. Mr. Tree sent it on. Shortly afterwards a man named Allen brought Mr. Wilde the original, and wanted to sell it; but Mr. Wilde replied, "It is a work of art. I shoul dhave desired to possess a copy. Now you have been good enough to send me a copy, I don't want the original." (Laughter) There was another letter written to Lord Alfred Douglas, and couched in poetical language, which could not, the learned counsel suggested, by properly appreciated by people accustomed only to commercial correspondence. (Laughter)  That letter was not capable of the base interpretation that had been placed upon it.