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The fantastic character of these instruments fascinated him, and

he felt a curious delight in the thought that art, like Nature,

has her monsters, things of bestial shape and with hideous

voices. Yet, after some time, he wearied of them, and would sit

in his box at the opera, either alone or with Lord Henry,

listening in rapt pleasure to "Tannhauser" and seeing in the

prelude to that great work of art a presentation of the tragedy

of his own soul.