ng that we are not tyrannized over in our
noblest aims? How few men care more for themselves than for
their stomachs? Now I have made my choice, and am spared the
trouble of choosing; so I feel free in my innermost soul, and
can despise what torments me from without; no one can withdraw
himself from the evil influences of the civilized barbarism of
our time, but all can so manage that they do not rule over our
better self."

We may as well note one point at once. When Thoreau, Carlyle and
Brahms went into their respective wildernesses, they maintained
themselves, as they thought merely proper. In this respect Wagner's
views did not coincide with theirs. He exclaims scornfully, "How few
men care more for themselves than for their stomachs!" What he meant
was that he should care for himself while his friends cared for his
stomach. As he cared a very great deal for his stomach, his demands
upon his friends were exorbitant and continuous. True, he offered the
fruits of his brain to the world at large, but all save the faithful
liked not the security. The creator of _Lohengrin_ and _Tannhaeuser_
was quite justified in believing that he _ought_ to be supported, and
it may be that the respect we pay to the artists who starve it out is
only a complacent way of saying how pleased we are that no one asks us
to put our hands in our pockets. Nevertheless--!

We must remember, however, that he had no money and no prospects, and
carried the burden of gigantic unfinished, un-begun projects; his
worldly situation was even more desperate than it had been in 1839.
The voyage from Pillau was a voyage into the unknown, undertaken in
the hope of securing something tangible--a performance of _Rienzi_ and
fame and money; the voyage on which he had set out was into an even
stranger unknown, a voyage into the world of ideas, without any
prospects whatever in the worldly sense. He was groping his way
confusedly towards something greater than he had hitherto
accomplished; but he knew neither what subject to select nor how to
treat it. Nature had laid this burden upon him: he took it up only
because he must; and, luckily for us, the giver of the burden had
granted him the arrogance, the courage, the imperviousness to the
estimation in which he might be held by others--if the reader likes it
better, the sheer cheek--to find the means of living while he carried
the burden to the appointed place and so achieved his end.