Sincerity or honesty is a low and very rudimentary form of virtue that is
only to be found to any considerable extent among the protozoa. Compare,
for example, the integrity, sincerity and absolute refusal either to
deceive or be deceived that exists in the germ-cells of any individual,
with the instinctive aptitude for lying that is to be observed in the
full-grown man. The full-grown man is compacted of lies and shams which
are to him as the breath of his nostrils. Whereas the germ-cells will
not be humbugged; they will tell the truth as near as they can. They
know their ancestors meant well and will tend to become even more sincere
themselves.
Thus, if a painter has not tried hard to paint well and has tried hard to
hoodwink the public, his offspring is not likely to show hereditary
aptitude for painting, but is likely to have an improved power of
hoodwinking the public. So it is with music, literature, science or
anything else. The only thing the public can do against this is to try
hard to develop a hereditary power of not being hoodwinked. From the
small success it has met with hitherto we may think that the effort on
its part can have been neither severe nor long sustained. Indeed, all
ages seem to have held that “the pleasure is as great of being cheated as
to cheat.”