It agreed in nearly every
particular with what I had taken so much trouble to put together.
This suggests that the opening scene had never been written, as Mr.
Willard's version began where mine did. It was characteristic of
the author to finish what he never began.
When the Literary Theatre Society produced Salome in 1906 they asked
me for some other short drama by Wilde to present at the same time,
as Salome does not take very long to play. I offered them the
fragment of A Florentine Tragedy. By a fortunate coincidence the
poet and dramatist, Mr. Thomas Sturge Moore, happened to be on the
committee of this Society, and to him was entrusted the task of
writing an opening scene to make the play complete. {1} It is not
for me to criticise his work, but there is justification for saying
that Wilde himself would have envied, with an artist's envy, such
lines as -
We will sup with the moon,
Like Persian princes that in Babylon
Sup in the hanging gardens of the King.
In a stylistic sense Mr. Sturge Moore has accomplished a feat in
reconstruction, whatever opinions may be held of A Florentine
Tragedy by Wilde's admirers or detractors. The achievement is
particularly remarkable because Mr. Sturge Moore has nothing in
common with Wilde other than what is shared by all real poets and
dramatists: He is a landed proprietor on Parnassus, not a
trespasser.
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