It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about nowadays saying things against one behind one's back that are absolutely and entirely true.
Source: Lord Henry, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 15 (1891). The words reappeared in A Woman of No Importance, act 1.
-- Oscar Wilde, (Oct 16 1856-1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist; He was noted for his flamboyant witty, sophisticated plays, e.g., The Importance of Being Ernest, 1895.