trio of arts. Are you now going to combine them, as you did the
first, and raise a third family in which a place may be found for such
things as processions?"

"That," he replied, "may hardly be, for there is no couple of them that
has not a parent in common. But there is no reason why any two or more
of the six arts should not appear simultaneously, assisting one another
to express an idea. Thus an illustrated book is not drama--it is
literature assisted by painting. And so a symphony illustrating a poem
is not song--it is music assisted by literature, or vice versa, and is
sometimes called Programme Music. When we look at dissolving views
accompanied by a piano, we are not contemplating a dance--we are looking
at painting illustrated by music; and, if there is some one to explain
the views in words, literature is also present. When you come to think
of it, it is rare to find music and painting either alone or together
without literature. Except in the case of fugues or sonatas and
symphonies, which are headed 'Op. ---' so-and-so, or 'No. ---' whatever
it may be, music usually has a title. And except in the case of such
things as decorative arabesques and sometimes landscapes, painting
usually has a title. The opportunity of supplying a title is peculiarly
tempting to literature who produces so many of her effects by putting the
right word in the right place."

I said that this was all very interesting, but what had become of the
procession? He replied that he was giving me, as I had requested, a
preliminary exposition of his scheme.

"Comic opera," he continued, "is drama interrupted by song and dance.
Grand opera is the simultaneous presentation of most, perhaps all, of the
six arts. There is no reason in nature against any conceivable
combination; it is for the creative artist to direct and for the
performing artists to execute the combination so that it shall please and
convince the public. And now, _revenons a nos processions_, where can we
find a place for them?"

"Surely," said I, "some such combination will include them--unless they
have nothing to do with art."

"I have thought that perhaps they have nothing to do with art, for art
should not be tainted with utility; but religious pictures are tainted
with utility just as much. Besides, I do not like to confess myself
beaten."

It was plain the procession was not going to be allowed to escape. I
considered for a moment and said--

"I su