I love scandals about other people, but scandals about myself don’t interest me. They have not got the charm of novelty.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 12. A totally unconcerned Dorian flippantly responds to Basil Hallward, when he tells him that the most dreadful things are being said against Dorian in London. This passage from the novel was read out by Sir Edward Carson during cross-examination at the libel case taken by Wilde against the Martquess of Queensberry in 1895. Wilde lost the case. Though the novel doesn’t state the nature of the "scandals" involving Dorian, it is strongly hinted that he was involved in sexual encounters with other men – a crime in England at that time.