He may even have been a sin against Romanticism, this anti-Latin Siegfried: well, Wagner atoned amply for this sin in his old sad days, when--anticipating a taste which has meanwhile passed into politics--he began, with the religious vehemence peculiar to him, to preach, at least, THE WAY TO ROME, if not to walk therein .-- That these last words may not be misunderstood, I will call to my aid a few powerful rhymes, which will even betray to less delicate ears what I mean--what I mean COUNTER TO the "last Wagner" and his Parsifal music:-- -- Is this our mode ?--From German heart came this vexed ululating?
From German body, this self-lacerating?
Is ours this priestly hand-dilation, This incense-fuming exaltation?
Is ours this faltering, falling, shambling, This quite uncertain ding-dong-dangling?
This sly nun-ogling, Ave-hour-bell ringing, This wholly false enraptured heaven-o'erspringing ?--Is this our mode ?--Think well!--ye still wait for admission--For what ye hear is ROME--ROME'S FAITH BY INTUITION!.