More than one middle-class paper, such as _To-Day_ in the hands of Mr.Jerome K.Jerome, condemned the book as "corrupt," and advised its suppression.

Freedom of speech in England is more feared than licence of action: a speck on the outside of the platter disgusts your puritan, and the inside is never peeped at, much less discussed.
Walter Pater praised "Dorian Gray" in the _Bookman_; but thereby only did himself damage without helping his friend.

Oscar meanwhile went about boldly, meeting criticism now with smiling contempt.
One incident from this time will show how unfairly he was being judged and how imprudent he was to front defamation with defiance.
One day I met a handsome youth in his company named John Gray, and I could not wonder that Oscar found him interesting, for Gray had not only great personal distinction, but charming manners and a marked poetic gift, a much greater gift than Oscar possessed.

He had besides an eager, curious mind, and of course found extraordinary stimulus in Oscar's talk.

It seemed to me that intellectual sympathy and the natural admiration which a younger man feels for a brilliant senior formed the obvious bond between them.