"This is indeed Fair Trade," remarked Mr Wilde lightly, and immediately improvised a testimonial advertisement (in verse) in praise of Miss ----'s patent dress-improver. At a dinner given by "JEMMY" CROWDER (as we familiarly call him), the Apologist of Art had discarded his military garb for the ordinary dress of an ENGLISH GENTLEMAN in which his now world-famed knee-breeches form a conspicuous item, suggesting indeed the Admiral's uniform in Mr D'OYLEY CARTE'S "Pinafore" combination. "I think," said the Poet, in a pause between courses, "one cannot dine too well"--placing everyone at his ease by his admirable tact in partaking of the thirty-six items of the _menu_. The skit continues wittily enough, but it is not necessary to quote more of it. The paragraphs sufficiently explain the attitude of Mr Punch, which was the general attitude at the time. It was hammered in persistently. "Oscar Interviewed" appeared under the date of January 1882, and again, in the following extracts the reader will recognise the same note. "DETERMINED to anticipate the rabble of penny-a-liners ready to pounce upon any distinguished foreigner who approaches our shores, and eager to assist a sensitive Poet in avoiding the impertinent curiosity and ill-bred insolence of the Professional Reporter, I took the fastest pilot-boat on the station, and boarded the splendid Cunard steamer, the _Boshnia_, in the shucking of a peanut." HIS ÆSTHETIC APPEARANCE He stood, with his large hand passed through his long hair, against a high chimney-piece--which had been painted pea-green, with panels of peacock-blue pottery let in at uneven intervals--one elbow on the high ledge, the other hand on his hip. He was dressed in a long, snuff-coloured, single-breasted coat, which reached to his heels, and was relieved with a sealskin collar and cuffs rather the worse for wear. Frayed linen, and an orange silk handkerchief, gave a note to the generally artistic colouring of the _ensemble_, while one small daisy drooped despondently in his buttonhole.... We may state that the chimney-piece, as well as the sealskin collar, is the property of OSCAR, and will appear in his Lectures "on the Growth of Artistic Taste in England." HE SPEAKS FOR HIMSELF "Yes; I should have been astonished had I not been interviewed! Indeed, I have not been well on board this Cunard _Argosy_. I have wrestled with the glaukous-haired Poseidon, and feared his ravishment. Quite: I have been too ill, too utterly ill. Exactly--seasick in fact, if I must descend to so trivial an expression. I fear the clean beauty of my strong limbs is somewhat waned. I am scarcely myself--my nerves are thrilling like throbbing violins--in exquisite pulsation.