And What We Gain 207 



I am not sure but that we enjoy the work of 

 some men all the better because we do not 

 know them personally. At a distance they are 

 heroes, more or less. I have heard some peo- 

 ple say that their enjoyment in the magic of 

 Richard Wagner's works would be unquestion- 

 ably deepened had they not had the misfortune 

 to meet the man himself a great genius who 

 was utterly indifferent to what people thought 

 of him, and utterly careless of the wounds he 

 inflicted. I esteem it rather a piece of good 

 fortune that I never saw the greatest musician 

 that the world has ever seen or probably will 

 see for generations to come. The personality 

 of the man was not a pleasant one, and I be- 

 lieve that I am justified in saying this, notwith- 

 standing some attempts to make out a different 

 case. A famous Leipsic lawyer, a Jew, has in 

 his study a marble bust of Wagner, with a 

 wreath of laurel on its brow and a rope around 

 its neck. "The one," he says to visitors, 

 "shows what I think of the composer, the 

 other what I think of the man." And the 

 Jews are not alone in their detestation of 

 the man, while confessing to an unlimited 



