same and Lilies:"

"Very ready we are to say of a book, 'How good this
is--that's exactly what I think!' But the right feeling is,
'How strange that is! I never thought of that before, and
yet I see it is true; or if I do not now, I hope I shall,
some day.' But whether thus submissively or not, at least be
sure that you go at the author to get at his meaning, not to
find yours. Judge it afterward if you think yourself
qualified to do so, but ascertain it first."

[Sidenote: _The critic generally outspoken._]

As a rule, however, the critic is not guilty of the wrong of speaking
out the thought of others, but publishes what there is of his own
mind, and this I laud in him as a virtue, which is praiseworthy in the
degree that it springs from loftiness of aim, depth of knowledge, and
sincerity and unselfishness of purpose.

[Sidenote: _Musician and Public._]

[Sidenote: _The office of ignorance._]

[Sidenote: _Popularity of Wagner's music not a sign of intelligent
appreciation._]

Let us look a little into the views which our factors do and those
which they ought to entertain of each other. The utterances of
musicians have long ago made it plain that as between the critic and
the public the greater measure of their respect and deference is given
to the public. The critic is bound to recognize this as entirely
natural; his right of protest does not accrue until he can show that
the deference is ignoble and injurious to good art. It is to the
public that the musician appeals for the substantial signs of what is
called success. This appeal to the jury instead of the judge is as
characteristic of the conscientious composer who is sincerely
convinced that he was sent into the world to widen the boundaries of
art, as it is of the mere time-server who aims only at tickling the
popular ear. The reason is obvious to a little close thinking:
Ignorance is at once a safeguard against and a promoter of
conservatism. This sounds like a paradox, but the rapid growth of
Wagner's music in the admiration of the people of the United States
might correctly be cited as a proof that the statement is true. Music
like the concert fragments from Wagner's lyric dramas is accepted
with promptitude and delight, because its elements are those which
appeal most directly and forcibly to our sense-perception and those
primitive tastes which are the most readily gratified by strong
outlines and vivid color