The bias of personal friendship precludes me from praising or defending "Salomé," even if it were necessary to do so. Nothing I might say would add to the reputation of its detractors. Its sources are obvious; particularly Flaubert and Maeterlinck, in whose peculiar and original style it is an essay. A critic, for whom I have a greater regard than many of his contemporaries, says that "Salomé" is only a catalogue; but a catalogue can be intensely dramatic, as we know when the performance takes place at Christie's; few plays are more exciting than an auction in King Street when the stars are fighting _for_ Sisera. It has been remarked that Wilde confuses Herod the Great (_Mat._ xi. 1), Herod Antipas (_Mat._ xiv. 3), and Herod Agrippa (Acts xiii), but the confusion is intentional, as in mediæval mystery plays Herod is taken for a type, not an historical character, and the criticism is about as valuable as that of people who laboriously point out the anachronisms in Beardsley's designs. With reference to the charge of plagiarism brought against "Salomé" and its author, I venture to mention a personal recollection. Wilde complained to me one day that someone in a well-known novel had stolen an idea of his. I pleaded in defence of the culprit that Wilde himself was a fearless literary thief. "My dear fellow," he said, with his usual drawling emphasis, "when I see a monstrous tulip with four wonderful petals in someone else's garden, I am impelled to grow a monstrous tulip with five wonderful petals, but that is no reason why someone should grow a tulip with only three petals." THAT WAS OSCAR WILDE. ROBERT ROSS. [1] A more recent performance of "Salomé" (1906), by the Literary Theatre Club, has again produced an ebullition of rancour and deliberate misrepresentation on the part of the dramatic critics, the majority of whom are anxious to parade their ignorance of the continental stage. The production was remarkable on account of the beautiful dresses and mounting, for which Mr. Charles Ricketts was responsible, and the marvellous impersonation of Herod by Mr. Robert Farquharson. Wilde used to say that "Salomé" was a mirror in which everyone could see himself. The artist, art; the dull, dulness; the vulgar, vulgarity. [Illustration] LIST OF THE PICTURES BY AUBREY BEARDSLEY. 1. THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. 2. TITLE PAGE. 3. COVER DESIGN. 4. LIST OF THE PICTURES. 5. THE PEACOCK SKIRT. 6. THE BLACK CAPE. 7. A PLATONIC LAMENT. 8. JOHN AND SALOMÉ. 9. ENTER HERODIAS. 10. THE EYES OF HEROD. 11. THE STOMACH DANCE. 12. THE TOILETTE OF SALOMÉ--I. 13. THE TOILETTE OF SALOMÉ--II. 14. THE DANCER'S REWARD. 15. THE CLIMAX. 16. CUL DE LAMPE. * * * * * Cast of the Performance of "Salomé," represented in England for the first time. NEW STAGE CLUB. "SALOMÉ," BY OSCAR WILDE. May 10th and 13th 1905.