198 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



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 prob- 

 ably will see for generations to come. The 

 personality of the man was not a pleasant one, 

 and I believe that I am justified in saying this, 

 notwithstanding 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 visit- 

 ors, " 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 admiration for 

 the musician. His pamphlets againsts the Jew 

 in music, his caricatures of the French in de- 

 feat, were only a small part of the offensive, 

 wounding things that Wagner allowed himself 

 to utter. The anecdotes of the man's arro- 

 gance are many. I know of one young Amer- 

 ican who would enjoy Wagner's music more 

 had he never attempted to interview the com- 

 poser of " Tristan." This particular enthusiast 

 had been sent by one of our newspapers to 

 Bayreuth for the express purpose of telling 



