ALFRED,

Your intimacy with this man Wilde must either cease or I will disown you and stop all money supplies.  I am not going to try and analyse this intimacy, and I make no charge; but to my mind to pose as a thing is as bad as to be it. With my own eyes I saw you in the most loathsome and disgusting relationship, as expressed by your manner and expression.  Never in my experience have I seen such a sight as that in your horrible features.  No wonder people are talking as they are.  Also I now hear on good authority, but this may be false, that his wife is petitioning to divorce him for sodomy and other crimes.  Is this true, or do you not know of it?  If I thought the actual thing was true, and it became public property, I should be quite justified in shooting him on sight.

YOUR DISGUSTED, SO-CALLED FATHER,
Queensberry

[Douglas's reply to his father's letter came in a telegram: "What a funny little man you are."]

In my time I have helped to cut up and destroy sharks.  I had no sympathy for them, but I may have felt sorry and wished to put them out of their pain as soon as possible.  What I did say that as Mr. Wilde now seemed to be on his beam ends and utterly down I did feel sorry for his awful position, and that supposing he was convicted of those loathsome charges brought against him that were I the authority that had to mete out the punishment, I would treat him with all possible consideration as a sexual pervert of an utterly diseased mind, and not as a sane criminal.  If this is sympathy, Mr. Wilde has it from me to that extent.