Too Young 
James Davidson
- Bosie: A Biography of Lord Alfred Douglas by Douglas Murray
What is interesting about Bosie is that he was such a thoroughly bad character. It only adds to the fascination that this bundle of malice, treachery, deceit, hypocrisy and vanity was wrapped up in such attractive features. Wilde compared him to a pet lion-cub wreaking havoc on reaching actual size, but he was less impressive and more sinister than that, a King Charles spaniel of vicious temperament, a cute Walt Disney rattlesnake, or a beautiful child vampire. He was hardly an angel in the 1890s, but he truly blossomed after Oscar’s death, when he converted to heterosexuality and the Catholic Church. Wilde called him a ‘monster’ and ‘evil’, and he seems to have devoted the long remainder of his life to proving Wilde wise as well as witty.
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James Davidson’s books include Courtesans and Fishcakes, One Mykonos and The Greeks and Greek Love, which was published last year. He is a reader in ancient history at the University of Warwick.
Other articles by this contributor:
Versailles with Panthers · James Davidson pays tribute to the Persians
Zeus Be Nice Now · Ancient Cults
At the British Museum · James Davidson visits Persia’s ‘Forgotten Empire’
Himbo · Apollonios Rhodios
Clinging to the Sides of a Black, Precipitous Hole · James Davidson writes about The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens by Danielle Allen
Plato Made It Up · Atlantis at Last!
Mr and Mr and Mrs and Mrs · Why would a guy want to marry a guy?
I told you so! · oracles
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