Carnot has recently ordered some Brahms irom a London music shop. He is only belated-returning a compliment, for Brahms, dear old spade-bearded, sockless, cigar-smoking Brahms, was very fond of carols.
Once when a critic complained that his D. minor piano concerto reminded him of nothing so much as a d pipe being rolled along a sewer, Bral rote him a postcard saying: "God rest you, merry gentleman, let nothing on dismay!"
And as a postscript he added: "Why don't you go back to your plumbing?"
"I prefer to try to plumb the depths of your music, dear Master," replied the critic. After the two were close friends and made a pact reling to which Brahms never read the tic's notices, and the critic never listened to Brahms' music. It wasn't quite a fair arrangement because the critic was deaf, anyway. But why worry, as Mr. Chamberlain said to the Cabinet.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.