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IMPOTENCE OF FREE CRITICISM
applaud what they like by the application
of those laws, some of which have roots
which run far down into our common psy-
chic protoplasm. The judicious remainder—
absolutely large in numbers, though
comparatively few — constitute the body
to which the critic appeals, through which,
by processes of slow filtration, he may
hope to make some indirect impression
for good upon the vast mass of humanity
that fills the theatres night after night,
week after week. If this statement seems
cynical, the reader is requested to consider
the situation in a kindred matter, and to
note that three quarters of the general
perusal of contemporary books is utterly
uninfluenced by any kind of literary criti-
cism. The huge public which revels in
the novels, for example, of " Albert Ross "
and Mrs. Mary J. Holmes knows no more
about book notices than it knows about
the Eddas. As far as that public is con-
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