The very amusing endeavour by MR. Henry FRANCIS PARKS to establish the qualifications of a musical critic has received the ónly possible reply from a correspondent in today's issue. Min. Parks really bases his argument on that deplorable dictum of Disraeli "the critics are the men who have failed in literature and art," and yet it is plain that such figures as Aristotle, Dante, Dryden, Joshua Reynolds, Sainte-Beuve and Matthew Arnold are not thus lightly to be set aside by any such savage generalization. It is true that Ruskin was a capable artist with pencil and etching needle, but that would not qualify him to write on àrt in the way he did if Min. Panks's arguments or Disraeli's saying is to be accepted. And yet his writings on painting, attacked as they were at the time of publication by the critics and coolly received by the painters, are still accepted as authoritative as far as they go. The art of criticism does not consist of endeavours to discover what is blameworthy, though that meaning has been commonly àccepted by a humanity which quickly praise and resents blame. There is id very real function in criticism. If the spirit of "play-the-game-you-cad" to which—today's correspondent refers, really Controlled the functions of a critic, inestimable harm would be done the artistic world. TO make allowances simply because a composer or executant is doing his best—a fact which may be taken for granted it he is indeed worthy of his salt—and refrain from pointing out defects in his work, would be to refrain from a process tending greatly towards improvement. A painter can be too close to his canvas to perceive its faults, à writer or a composer too parentally inclined towards his brain child to realize its defects, ahd yet a than without creative ability may very well be so steeped in the knowledge of an art as to be an authority upon it, and pointing out a fault, indicate the way to amend it, Amateur Dramatic Club The Amateur Dramatic Club of Shanghai is to be congratulated on the success of its first club evening of the season which took place on Friday evening. The programme took the form of a musical show composed and presented by Mr. Alec Davies, ahd contained a number of tuneful melodies and interesting sketches, while the rapidity with which the programme was presented stiggésted that those engaged in the production must have put in an enormous amount of work for just one night's performance. The club evehing's started in a small way in the rehearsal róóm at the Lyceum Theatre, but it was soon found that the number of members who Wished to attend with their guests, the latter in those days being strictly limited, was so great that eventually the evenings had to be transferred to the theatre itself, since when they have always been largely attended.' The imber who saw the performance on Friday night Was probably the largest for some time past, and suggests that this form of entertainment has a very definite place in the affections of the members of the club and their friends.
Last winter, because of the hostilities, and the absence of much talent from Shanghai it was impossible to maintain the chih's normal activities and these evenings were dropped. They are now being revived, and it is hoped that one such gathering will take place every month. During the summer months important alterations have been made in the theatre, not the least of which has been the enlarging of the orchestra pit, by a very ingenious arrangement which does not decrease the number of seats available for a non-musical show, and only robs the seating accommodation of the first row of the orchestra stalls for a musical performance, affording rather more than double the space for the musicians than Was available under the old arrangement. Considerable redecoration has been done and the theatre now looks jüst as fresh as it did on the night of its first opening.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.