Oscar Wilde the novel to be technically mediocre, saying that the conceit of the plot had guaranteed its fame, but the device is never pushed to its full. The 1891 census records the Wildes' residence at 16 Tite Street, where he lived with his wife Constance and two sons. Wilde though, not content with being better known than ever in London, returned to Paris in October 1891, this time as a respected writer. He was received at the "salons littéraires", including the famous "mardis" of Stéphane Mallarmé, a renowned symbolist poet of the time. Wilde's two plays during the 1880s, "Vera; or,
Oscar Wilde it confirmed what he had said in his 1912 book on Wilde; that Douglas's rivalry for Wilde with Robbie Ross and his arguments with his father had resulted in Wilde's public disaster; as Wilde wrote in "De Profundis". Douglas lost his case. Shaw included an account of the argument between Harris, Douglas and Wilde in the preface to his play "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets". The libel trial became a "cause célèbre" as salacious details of Wilde's private life with Taylor and Douglas began to appear in the press. A team of private detectives had directed Queensberry's lawyers, led