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 a "roman à clef" based on the relationship of Wilde and Douglas, it would be one of the texts used against Wilde during his trials in 1895. Douglas has been described as spoiled, reckless, insolent and extravagant. He would spend money on men and gambling and expected Wilde to contribute to funding his tastes. They often argued and broke up, but would also always reconcile. Douglas had praised Wilde's play "Salome" in the Oxford magazine, "The Spirit Lamp", of which he was editor (and used as a covert means of gaining acceptance for homosexuality). Wilde had originally written "Salomé" in