Musically and dramatically Gounod is more of a spiritualist than materialist, more poet than painter, more elegiac and vigorous than deeply pathetic; this is perhaps the reason that some have pronounced him lacking in dramatic sense. In this they are mistaken, for it is not dramatic sense, that is to say, impassioned perception, which sometimes fails Gounod; it is, properly speaking, temperament. But after all is said, the author of “Faust,” of “Mireille” and of “Roméo” remains a true poet, an inspired creator, an artist of the first rank, and if not one of those who illumine the world with a dazzling light, at least one of those who charm it, who touch it, who make it listen and make it think, His part is a sufficiently beautiful one, with which he may well be satisfied. [Illustration: Arthur Pougin] [Illustration: [Composer]] PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.—Since the foregoing was written, the death of Charles Gounod has been announced. On October 16, 1893, he was stricken with apoplexy, and lingered until the 18th. He died at St. Cloud, and was buried in the family vault at Auteuil. ----- Footnote 1: Compare Ferdinand Praeger’s “Wagner as I knew Him,” Chaps. XIV. and XV., with “1849: A Vindication,” by W. Ashton Ellis. See also letter of Aug. 9, 1849, to Theodore Uhlig. [Letters to Uhlig, Fischer, and Heine, London, H. Grevel & Co.] Footnote 2: “Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt,” Vol. I., p. 77. H. Grevel & Co., London. Footnote 3: “You are a truly wonderful man, and your Nibelungen poem is surely the most incredible thing which you have ever done.”—_Letter of Liszt, Feb. 20, 1853._ Footnote 4: See Praeger’s “Wagner as I knew Him,” Chaps. XVIII. and XIX., for full account of this visit. Footnote 5: “Richard Wagner; his Life and Works,” by Adolphe Jullien. Boston, J. B. Millet Co. Footnote 6: “Production of ‘Tannhäuser’ in Paris,” Wagner, translated by E. L. Burlingame, in “Art Life and Theories of Wagner.” Henry Holt & Co. Footnote 7: “Wagner,” by Edward Dannreuther, in Grove’s Dictionary of Music. Also “The ‘Parsifal’ of Richard Wagner,” by Maurice Kufferath. Footnote 8: “Studies in Modern Music,” by W. A. Hadow. Macmillan & Co. Footnote 9: “Studies in the Wagnerian Drama,” by H. E. Krehbiel. Harper & Bros. Footnote 10: “History of Music,” Emil Naumann, Vol. I., p. 524. Cassell & Co. Footnote 11: “The Music of the Future,” E. L. Burlingame’s translation. Footnote 12: Condensation, by F. Hueffer, of a passage from “A Communication to my Friends.” Footnote 13: “Art and Revolution,” W. Ashton Ellis’s translation. Footnote 14: The writer of this article does not wish to be understood as agreeing with Wagner in all the utterances quoted; the selections have been made with the design of throwing light upon the workings of Wagner’s mind in the formulation of his theories. Footnote 15: “Studies in the Wagnerian Drama.” Footnote 16: