THE ACADEMY
The Academy has survived Mr. Burne-Jones' desertion of his old
associates, as it would survive art itself. I for one should regret its
disappearance. It is a whetstone for wit, like everything established and
respectable. I am only sorry we have no Academy of Letters. It gives one
such a standing not to be a member--almost as good a standing as to be
one. If you are left out in the cold you loudly pity those asphyxiating
in the heat, and if you have a cozy chair by the fireside you fall asleep
and say nothing. This promotes happiness all round, and makes the
literary man contented with his lot. In England authors have no Academy,
and so have to fall back on the poor publishers: _Hinc illae lachrymae!_
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