Letter from Ernest Dowson, Arques-la-Bataille, France, to Conal O'Riordan, Bromley, England, 1897 June 16 : autograph manuscript signed

Thanking O'Riordan for the money he sent; complaining about a legal problem which is holding up his access to funds; describing his plans to rent "a small house somewhere near Rouen"; telling him that the "McDonnells of Fairy Hill, Limerick" have invited him to stay the summer [see MA 23931.10], but he fears the atmosphere there would not be conducive to work; saying "Oscar [Wilde] came over and lunched with me the other day & carried me back with him to Berneval," and observing that Wilde's "gorgeous spirits cheered me mightily"; expressing wonder and amusement at Wilde's "perversely extravagant" lifestyle, given his reduced circumstances; asking about O'Riordan's "doings" and telling him he "saw Rothenstein the other day," who told Dowson that "Teixeira was leaving Henry's"; hoping this news is not true; hoping O'Riordan will write; adding in a postscript that "Moore highly approves of my idea of taking a house over here," and assuming that O'Riordan has "doubtless, heard that Beardsley has become a papist & is living surrounded by images and crucifixes at St. Germain."