De Profundis (letter) De Profundis (letter) De Profundis (Latin: "from the depths") is a letter written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to "Bosie" (Lord Alfred Douglas). In its first half Wilde recounts their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle which eventually led to Wilde's conviction and imprisonment for gross indecency. He indicts both Lord Alfred's vanity and his own weakness in acceding to those wishes. In the second half, Wilde charts his spiritual development in prison and identification with Jesus Christ, whom he characterises as a romantic, individualist artist. The letter began "Dear Bosie" and ended "Your Affectionate Friend". Wilde
Lord Alfred Douglas Ross. During the trial he described Wilde as "the greatest force for evil that has appeared in Europe during the last three hundred and fifty years".Douglas added that he intensely regretted having met Wilde, and having helped him with the translation of "Salome", which he described as "a most pernicious and abominable piece of work". In 1920 Douglas founded a right-wing, Catholic, and "deeply anti-Jewish" weekly magazine called "Plain English", on which he collaborated with Harold Sherwood Spencer, and to begin with Thomas William Hodgson Crosland. It regarded itself as the successor to "The Academy", to which Douglas had been