[?Poor old Oscar?: Edmund Yates [Edmund Hodgson Yates], Scottish journalist and author.] Autograph Letter Signed (?E Y.?) to his de facto editor at The World, with apparent reference to Oscar Wilde, and to Randolph Stewart (Earl of Galloway).

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. The recipient (?Broadley Pasha?) was a renowned autograph collector and shady social figure, as well as the de facto editor of Yates?s ?World?, until the Cleveland Street scandal drove him into exile in 1890. Broadley was a prominent figure in freemasonry, and the present item appears to link two individuals who were members of Oxford?s Apollo University Lodge: Oscar Wilde (whose proclivities Broadley shared) and Randolph Stewart (later Earl of Galloway). 1p, 16mo. On first leaf of bifolium, with second leaf tipped-in onto a page from one of Broadley?s albums. In good condition, lightly aged. In a difficult hand. The recipient is not named, but Broadley has written at the head of the mount: ?Edmund Yates to A. M. Broadley 1891.? (If Broadley?s dating is correct, the letter reveals that his connection with Yates continued after his exile.) And at the foot of the mount he glosses ?R. Stewart?: ?The present Earl of Galloway - an unsuccessful society journalist.? A tentative reading: ?All right. You can write about the [Lyon Chelsea?] book, a good [par?]. Better wait till next [?] I can see it in proof. Home on Tuesday next. I note what you say about poor old Oscar. R. Stewart is a duffer, he misleads us and then calls attention to our mistakes in the D. T.? Signed in bottom right-hand corner ?E Y. / Sep 10?.