Shaw's six-page essay, which gives its title to the volume assiduously collected and edited by Dan H. Laurence, begins to specify what true criticism is, and the list of requirements shows why the real thing is as rare as rubies. The critic must have a cultivated taste in the art he criticizes, he must know how to write, and he must know how to criticize—three distinct powers, not guaranteed by any law of genetics to occur in one individual... Shaw adds that this paragon should also have an independent income, the wages offered to even the leading critics will not attract an able man who knows he must subject himself and his talents to a punishing round of recitals, concerts, or other exhibitions...

Shaw's greatness as an intellect and a moral being is that he shines and indulges high spirits—the highest, perhaps, in all literature—without ever being heedless. In every critical piece, long or short, his control is absolute. He is gay, not irresponsible; he hits hard but is never cruel; his energy animates the scene and the reader, it does not destroy the occa-, sion or the performer. No one can rise from reading a page of his criticism without feeling elated at the existence of art itself, at the thought that in the muddle and misery of civilization such an activity as a concert can take place, and such thoughts and feelings be generated by it in an organized mind and body.