or the chair of the person playing, but stand easy and unembarrassed. Conquer any alarm which may seize you on going to sing, by recollecting the general good-will of society, and the kind reception which the public always bestows on merit; remembering also that every hearer is not a judge. Assume the cast of countenance adapted to the subject of the composition, or character in which you sing.

66 If you hold a book, do not let it be so near the face as to impede the sound. Do not show any motion of beating time, either with the head, fingers, or foot. You should delay till the symphony is over, to clear your throat from any little roughness or husk in the voice, which frequently the agitation attending performance will occasion, but prepare yourself during the symphony. If you miss any note or passage, commit any inaccuracy in time, &c. (and such accidents may happen to the best singer), do not be alarmed, and look about to discover who may observe it, which only serves to betray your error; recollect how few, among even a great number of persons, are connoisseurs.

"According to the size of the place, whether a small or a large room, or a theatre, proportion the degree of power you give your voice; and this circumstance should also regulate the degree of the expression of the countenance."-" I attribute," "I

says Dr. Kitchiner, "Mr. Garrick's superlative success to his proximity to his audience. I cannot imagine that there is any part which the English Roscius of that day played, but that several of our present excellent actors perform quite as well. The magic power, which some performers seem to possess, of making themselves heard distinctly all over the house without any apparent effort, depends infinitely more on the faculty they have of catching and caging the intense attention of the whole audience, than upon any extraordinary exertion of their voice. If our actors appear to fail in any part, it arises from no other cause than occasionally being obliged to overstrain their voice, which cannot be done without some distortion of the features.

MEDICAL MEANS OF IMPROVING THE

VOICE.

THE first and most powerful means of improving the voice, particularly in the pitch and the tones, in which it is most deficient, is constantly exercising it. We have seen the most wonderful effects produced by this means in adding to the compass, the sweetness, and case of the voice. With respect to ease and rapidity of transition, constant practice is indispensable, for the reeds of the voice are in this respect precisely like the fingers-rapidity and ease

can only result from long practice. Exercise and practice have also a powerful influence on the nerves and muscles-the two main instruments of the voice. A labouring man has the muscles and nerves of his arms greatly increased in size and power from continued exercise; and the same effect will be produced on the nerves and muscles of the voice by repeated practice. Without strength of the nerves and muscles, indeed, the voice must be weak, tremulous, squeaking, and without compass. The sky-lark, whose pipe is so powerful, is found to have these of extraordinary capacity. By very frequently practising the tones in which the voice is most deficient, the parts will, to a certainty, acquire strength.

To public speakers, we recommend not only frequent speaking aloud in private, at various pitches of the voice, but also frequent practice in singing in different keys, which requires more exertion and compass of voice, and will consequently more powerfully strengthen the muscles and nerves, by directing thither a greater supply of blood-the chief invigorating principle of the body.

Another very efficacious mode of strengthening the voice, is bathing and gargling the throat regularly morning and evening with cold water, which braces the parts, and invigorates the nerves. On this principle, all warm cravats, and other

clothing muffled up over the throat, will prove relaxing and injurious. If you are afraid of catching colds, defend well the parts below the ear and the angle of the jaw, and you may safely leave the fore part of the throat, where the organ of voice is, naked to the winter's blast, as is done by Lord Byron and other great men.

With respect to food and drink, all acids and astringents do injury to the voice, by hardening and crisping the more delicate fibres of the reeds. Why, then, do Mr. Mathews and others sometimes suck an orange during their performances ? It is very wrong. Oranges, apples, stone-fruit of every kind, nuts, raisins, port-wine, rough-flavoured tea, &c., are all highly injurious to the power and polish of the voice, and ought to be avoided or used sparingly. If the throat be apt to become harsh and dry, the best moistener is peppermint or nitre lozenges, or a small bit of purified nitre or of sal prunelle, allowed to dissolve slowly in the mouth.

When the voice is required to be forced for any great emergency, we know nothing superior to a raw egg beat up with a wine-glassful of good Madeira, or half the quantity of brandy or rum and a little water, to which you may add with great advantage two or three tea-spoonfuls of the compound tincture of cinnamon. This tincture is of itself an

excellent tonic for the voice. The egg prevents the spirit from acting all at once, and it likewise preserves the stomach from getting out of order, which would also hurt the voice. We may add, that whatever tends to injure digestion or impair the general health will also hurt the voice; such as irregular living, late hours, want of exercise, ignorant feasting, and all sensual indulgences.

PRACTICES OF THE ANCIENT ORATORS AND

RHETORICIANS.

The following is the curious account which Cresollius has left us of the arts of the Phonasci. Speaking of things injurious to the voice, he mentions figs, apples, pears, and nuts. Suetonius says of Nero, he was wont to abstain from such fruits and meats as are apt to injure the voice. Athenæus says, that Hegesianus retained a fine voice by abstaining from figs. Thrasybulus, when corrupted by a bribe, said he had got a hoarseness by eating wild pears, and did not speak in public. The Phonasci abstained from cold drinks. Indulgence in pleasure also, they held, weakens and depraves the voice, no less than it does the soul. So Aristotle, in his Book on the Soul, writes, that singers are used to abstain from indulgence in sensual pleasures, that they might be able for a longer time to preserve unimpaired the sweetness and