'Early Maple,' rather." Even his impertinences made echoes.

At a great reception, a friend asked him in passing, how the hostess, Lady S----, could be recognised.

Lady S---- being short and stout, Oscar replied, smiling: "Go through this room, my dear fellow, and the next and so on till you come to someone looking like a public monument, say the effigy of Britannia or Victoria--that's Lady S----." Though he used to pretend that all this self-advertisement was premeditated and planned, I could hardly believe him.

He was eager to write about himself because of his exaggerated vanity and reflection afterwards found grounds to justify his inclination.

But whatever the motive may have been the effect was palpable: his name was continually in men's mouths, and his fame grew by repetition.