"A Belgian is _eo ipso_ debarred from reaching the height of violin-playing; just as a Chinaman, with his over-specialised mind, can never well play the orchestral piano. A Belgian heart is moving in a colourless and slouching _andante_; the violin moves in a profoundly agitated _adagio_ or _allegro_. The violin is the instrument of luckless nations, such as were formerly the Italians, the Poles, and the Hungarians who gave us Paganini, Wienavski and Joachim. The Belgians have nearly always enjoyed the _embonpoint_ of fat prosperity. '_Leur jeu bedonne_,' as Mrs Blazing would say. "The Belgian played your _Chaconne_ in D minor, O Bach." At these words of Alcibiades all the thinkers and poets present rose from their seats and bowed to John Sebastian, who stood near Strabo and Aristotle, being exceedingly fond of geographical lore. Even the gods applauded and Polyhymnia allowed him to kiss her hands. "You remember, O John Sebastian, when I met you near Lützen at one of your solitary walks and you spoke to me of your _Chaconne_. I listened with rapt attention and told you that your composition, which you then played to me on a violin which the old inn-keeper lent you and which had just arrived from Steiner in Tyrol, rendered as perfectly as possible the sentiments I had felt when for the first time in my life I went to the Oracle at Dodona, where the winds rush through the high oak-trees with a fierce power such as can be heard in no other spot in Europe. I re-imagined my awe-struck meditations in the holy grove; I heard the stormy music of Zeus' winds in Zeus' trees; I again felt all through me the soul-moving chorus of the priests which ends in a jubilating mood, and finally I left with deep regret at having to re-enter my life of stress after having spent a day in sacred and mystic seclusion. "When the Belgian artist played it, I listened in vain for Dodona. What I heard was the rustling of silken tones through the wood of the chairs and tables at the Carlton. Where was the Oracle? Where the chorus of the priests? Where their jubilation? The only thing that I found were my regrets. But the public was charmed. It is imperative to admire the _Chaconne_, chiefly because it is played Violin _solo_. Mrs Blazing explained the matter to me with her wonted rapidity of mind: 'Why wonder at our admiration of the _Chaconne_? Do we not say: "_Chacun à son goût_?"'