ledge sufficient to perform
readily any of the most difficult Compositions; let him have, besides,
an excellent Voice, and know how to use it artfully; he will not, for
all that, deserve a Character of Distinction, if he is wanting in a
prompt Variation; a Difficulty which other Arts are not liable to.

Sec. 7. Finally, I say, that Poets[2], Painters, Sculptors, and even
Composers of Musick, before they expose their Works to the Publick, have
all the Time requisite to mend and polish them; but the Singer that
commits an Error has no Remedy; for the Fault is committed, and past
Correction.

Sec. 8. We may then guess at but cannot describe, how great the Application
must be of one who is obliged not to err, in unpremeditated Productions;
and to manage a Voice, always in Motion, conformable to the Rules of an
Art that is so difficult. I confess ingeniously, that every time I
reflect on the Insufficiency of many Masters, and the infinite Abuses
they introduce, which render the Application and Study of their Scholars
ineffectual, I cannot but wonder, that among so many Professors of the
first Rank, who have written so amply on Musick in almost all its
Branches, there has never been one, at least that I have heard of, who
has undertaken to explain in the Art of Singing, any thing more than the
first Elements, known to all, concealing the most necessary Rules for
Singing well. It is no Excuse to say, that the Composers intent on
Composition, the Performers on Instruments intent on their Performance,
should not meddle with what concerns the Singer; for I know some very
capable to undeceive those who may think so. The incomparable _Zarlino_,
in the third part of his Harmonick Institution, chap. 46, just began to
inveigh against those, who in his time sung with some Defects, but he
stopped; and I am apt to believe had he gone farther, his Documents,
though grown musty in two Centuries, might be of Service to the refined
Taste of this our present time. But a more just Reproof is due to the
Negligence of many celebrated Singers, who, having a superior Knowledge,
can the less justify their Silence, even under the Title of Modesty,
which ceases to be a Virtue, when it deprives the Publick of an
Advantage. Moved therefore, not by a vain Ambition, but by the Hopes of
being of Service to several Professors, I have determined, not without
Reluctance, to be the first to expose to the Eye of the World these my
few Observations; my only En