CRITICS CRITICISED

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1914, Page 15

CRITICS CRITICISED

BY THE AUTHOR OF " DODO."- v Mr. E. F. Benson, the author of) "Dodo," lectured at the Royal Inetitu»{ tion recently, his subject being "A Criti»l cism on Critics." The sprightlinesi with which he dealt with it is best con* veyed by a selection of epigrams, "aphoi't'j isms, and reflections culled by the Loil-'j don Chronicle from his discourse :-^ ; There is a. Rabbinical legend of highi antiquity that when Adam began lo ex- , erase the earliest of all known art*, ', that of apron-making, Eve stood by and ! watched iiim. She soon informed him • that he had not the slightest notion of how to sew, upon which Adam, with' excellent forbearance, merely replied, | "No, my dear, but I am learning, *' The charm of standing by and telling, people they do not know how lo do what* they are doing is of universal applicft«J tion. . It is" sufficient that somebody should ! faint at a football match for him to h* , instantly surrounded by n. ring of critics, one of whom holds his head «p, a second l Jays it down.- a third unbuttons his collar. a fourth removes his hat, while A ! fifth cover* his knees with a. coat. They,! are not, as you might superficially cup- j pose, trying to give him first aid ;_ they, , are critics showing him how to faint* I Onlookers proverbially see most of thoi game ; but it would appear from the ton« i they adopt that they alone eeo and utu| derstand any of it, while those who hap-, pen to bo engaged in it are completely, ' ignorant of the subject. The fact is that inasmuch a& ft man 1 docs practise «■ certain art he is for that' very reason incompetent to talce a sa.no > and critical attitude about either his' own .performance or that of fits eoV leagues in the same art. Who, , if ho, wanted a sound opinion on tho work of Miss Marie Corelli would go to Mr*, Hall Came for it? Even the driver of a. taxi»cab line to show his competence in steering through traffic; no Mich test is required of those who steer the public through the maze* of art. A noble curiosity, the passion to leavft some new thing, to find and to embrace the beauty that lurks there, to pursue it instinctively, like a well trained hound on a hot scont. and by tho music of hie baying to lead the hunt after him —there is the true function of the cvitio*