It is often said that treatment is more important than subject, but no
treatment can make a repulsive subject not repulsive. It can make a
trivial, or even a stupid, subject interesting, but a really bad flaw in
a subject cannot be treated out. Happily the man who has sense enough to
treat a subject well will generally have sense enough to choose a good
one, so that the case of a really repulsive subject treated in a masterly
manner does not often arise. It is often said to have arisen, but in
nine cases out of ten the treatment will be found to have been
overpraised.