His earnings, plus expected income from "The Duchess of Padua", allowed him to move to Paris between February and mid-May 1883. While there he met Robert Sherard, whom he entertained constantly. "We are dining on the Duchess tonight", Wilde would declare before taking him to an expensive restaurant. In August he briefly returned to New York for the production of "Vera", his first play, after it was turned down in London. He reportedly entertained the other passengers with "", about the rise and fall of empires. E. C. Stedman, in "Victorian Poets", describes this "lyric to England" as "manly verse – a poetic and eloquent invocation".