But these possible dangers can hardly be said to counteract the benefits which are conferred by the regularly paid subsidy: the money paid assures a large portion of the working expenses, and the management of the Opera House knows that the doors will not have to be closed for lack of the sinews of war, but that all the year round performances may be given, if not daily, at least at very frequent intervals. Such vexed questions as control of the repertoire and of the choice of singers, of course, may and do occur; but so far as the man in the street is concerned, there is always the opportunity presented of hearing opera, of hearing it well done, and of extending his knowledge and critical power, to say nothing of the addition to the artistic pleasures of his life. [Sidenote: =English Opera=] In England we have no State aid, with the result that we are not in a position to be able to hear opera all the year round. During the three months of the “Grand” season the prices are high and the hours somewhat prohibitive. The desirability of some Governmental subsidy has been warmly advocated by Sir Charles Stanford and others, and were such an amount as that granted by the French for their Opera House given to Covent Garden, there is little doubt that we should be able to hear Grand Opera whenever we liked to go, at moderate prices. This undoubtedly would be a great advantage to the general musician, and to some members of the public, but it has yet to be shown that there is a public willing to gather in sufficient numbers to fill a large house for the greater number of the nights of the year: it would be quite possible to have the money and the house opened, and yet no audience sufficient to justify a performance. It seems a little doubtful whether, at present, the English lay mind is quite ready for the scheme: indeed it is to be feared that an appreciation of opera is not sufficiently wide-spread through the rank and file of the English people to justify any such scheme for the time being. Free tickets to students, and the like, in return for a grant, might do something towards filling the house, but unless the general public would evince sufficient interest in the scheme to come nightly in large numbers, the purpose in view would be defeated. We do not appear to have the natural inborn love of opera so common amongst continental peoples, and until our national education is more advanced it is not very likely that a State grant would be of ultimate practical value. [Sidenote: =Opera Companies=]