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Sir William's whole life fell apart after the trial. Lady Wilde stood by him, but he lost interest in his profession, "became dirtier, uglier, more abrupt" as time went on. He still saw occasional patients: once, unable to find an eye dropper when he was ready to put some lotion in a child's eye, he angrily grabbed a pen from his desk, flicked the lotion in, permanently scarring the eyeball. Dr. Wilson notes that his decline was probably hastened by physical causes as well as mental anguish. It was a steady decline; the end came in 1876.
"My mother," said Oscar Wilde later, "loved him very much, and [he] died with his heart full of gratitude and affection." Says Dr. Wilson: he had "only two faults—his bad temper and his mistresses."
* He was sentenced to two years' hard labor in Wandsworth and Reading Gaol for homosexuality.