Lionel Johnson the "Green Dragon" on Fleet Street. During his lifetime were published his "The Art of Thomas Hardy" (1894), "Poems" (1895), and "Ireland and Other Poems" (1897). He was one of the Rhymers' Club, and cousin to Olivia Shakespear (who dedicated her novel "The False Laurel" to him). In June 1891 Johnson introduced his cousin Lord Alfred Douglas to his friend Oscar Wilde. He later repudiated Wilde in "The Destroyer of a Soul" (1892), deeply regretting initiating what became the highly scandalous love affair between the two men. Over a century after its writing in 1893, Johnson's poem "Dark Angel" inspired
Lord Alfred Douglas In 1895, when during his trials Wilde was released on bail, Douglas's cousin Sholto Johnstone Douglas stood surety for £500 of the bail money. The prosecutor opted to retry the case. Wilde was convicted on 25 May 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard labour, first at Pentonville, then Wandsworth, then famously in Reading Gaol. Douglas was forced into exile in Europe. While in prison, Wilde wrote Douglas a long and critical letter titled "De Profundis", describing exactly what he felt about him, which Wilde was not permitted to send, but which may or may not have been sent to