e entire expenses of their education
there. "The concerts serve more especially as aesthetic exercises for
the pupils, and as a means of according them teaching at small expense
to themselves." I owe this information and all that precedes it to the
kindness of M. J. de la Laurencie, the general secretary of the
_Schola_, whom I should like to thank.]

[Footnote 233: The _Schola_ has even performed, in an open-air theatre,
Ramcau's _La Guirlande_.]

[Footnote 234: One may add to this list the choral societies of Nantes
and Besancon, which are bodies of the same order as the _Chanteurs de
Saint-Gervais_. And we may also attribute to the influence of the
_Schola_ an independent society, the _Societe J.S. Bach_, started in
Paris by an old _Schola_ pupil, M. Gustave Bret, which, since 1905, has
devoted itself to the performance of the great works of Bach. It is not
one of the least merits of the _Schola_ that it has helped to form good
amateur choirs of the same type as the choral societies of Germany.]

And all this shows such a marvellous activity and gives evidence of such
whole-hearted enthusiasm that I cannot bring myself to join issue with
the critics who have lately attacked the _Schola_, though their attacks
have been in some degree merited. Pettiness is to be found even in great
artists, and imperfection in every human work; and defects reveal
themselves most clearly after a victory has been won. The _Schola_ has
not escaped the critical periods that accompany growth, through which
every work must pass if it is to triumph and endure. Without doubt, the
sudden illness and premature retirement of the founder of the work, M.
Charles Bordes, deprived the _Schola_ of one of its most active
forces--a force that was perhaps necessary for the school's successful
development. For this man had been the school's life and soul, and
retired, worn out by the heavy labours which he had borne alone during
ten years.[235]

[Footnote 235: M. Charles Bordes did not even then give up his labours
altogether. Though obliged to retire to the south of France for his
health's sake, he founded, in November, 1905, the _Schola_ of
Montpellier. This _Schola_ has given about fifteen concerts a year, and
has performed some of Bach's cantatas, scenes from Rameau's and Gluck's
operas, Franck's oratorios, and Monteverde's _Orfeo_. In 1906 M. Bordes
organised an open-air performance of Rameau's _Guirlande_. In January,
1908, he produced _Castor e