supreme artists one might be
excused for thinking, indeed, that they were more interested in the
_role_ of merchant than in the other _role_; and yet their work in no
wise suffered. In the distribution of energy between the two _roles_
common sense is naturally needed. But the artist who has enough common
sense--or, otherwise expressed, enough sense of reality--not to disdain
the _role_ of merchant will probably have enough not to exaggerate it.
He may be reassured on one point--namely, that success in the _role_ of
merchant will never impair any self-satisfaction he may feel in the
_role_ of artist. The late discovery of a large public in America
delighted Meredith and had a tonic effect on his whole system. It is
often hinted, even if it is not often said, that great popularity ought
to disturb the conscience of the artist. I do not believe it. If the
conscience of the artist is not disturbed during the actual work itself,
no subsequent phenomenon will or should disturb it. Once the artist is
convinced of his artistic honesty, no public can be too large for his
peace of mind. On the other hand, failure in the _role_ of merchant will
emphatically impair his self-satisfaction in the _role_ of artist and
his courage in the further pursuance of that _role_.

But many artists have admittedly no aptitude for merchantry. Not only is
their sense of the bindingness of a bargain imperfect, but they are apt
in business to behave in a puerile manner, to close an arrangement out
of mere impatience, to be grossly undiplomatic, to be victimised by
their vanity, to believe what they ought not to believe, to discredit
what is patently true, to worry over negligible trifles, and generally
to make a clumsy mess of their affairs. An artist may say: "I cannot
work unless I have a free mind, and I cannot have a free mind if I am to
be bothered all the time by details of business."

Apart from the fact that no artist who pretends also to be a man can in
this world hope for a free mind, and that if he seeks it by neglecting
his debtors he will be deprived of it by his creditors--apart from that,
the artist's demand for a free mind is reasonable. Moreover, it is
always a distressing sight to see a man trying to do what nature has not
fitted him to do, and so doing it ill. Such artists, however--and they
form possibly the majority--can always employ an expert to do their
business for them, to cope on their behalf with the necessary middleman.