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: Dear Anthony Wynn, : I write as one of the joint literary executors of the Estate of Lord Alfred Douglas. : I thought you might like to know, if you did not already, that contrary to fashionable wisdom which accuses Lord Alfred Douglas of abandoning Oscar Wilde after their stay in Posilippo in 1897, Bosie remained in touch, and when he came into money, he arranged between February 1900 and Oscar's death in November 1900 to send Oscar (under the pseudonym Sebastian Melmoth) over £500, which was a very substantial sum at the time. Independent corroboration for these payments exist in a letter written from The National Provincial Bank in 1928 detailing from their records the monthly payments which Bosie made to Oscar. : It is understandable how devastated Bosie felt when the full text of De Profundis was made public in the celebrated libel action against Arthur Ransome. : The so called abandonment was a canard, put about by supporters of Oscar, to justify their insistence that Oscar would be starved of funds if he continued to see Lord Alfred; Bosie and Oscar were compelled to part in Naples because they ran out of funds. David Hare just about got that right in his play, The Judas Kiss. : The Literary Estate's website, currently under construction, is at www.lordalfreddouglas.com. : : sincerely : (c) John Rubinstein 2002

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