t him take Notice, that the Artist sounds the Vowel _i_, or _e_,
with more Strength and less Fatigue than the Vowel _a_, on the high
Notes.

Sec. 22. The _Voce di Testa_ has a great Volubility, more of the high than
the lower Notes, and has a quick Shake, but subject to be lost for want
of Strength.

Sec. 23. Let the Scholar be obliged to pronounce the Vowels distinctly,
that they may be heard for such as they are. Some Singers think to
pronounce the first, and you hear the second; if the Fault is not the
Master's, it is of those Singers, who are scarce got out of their first
Lessons; they study to sing with Affectation, as if ashamed to open
their Mouths; others, on the contrary, stretching theirs too much,
confound these two Vowels with the fourth, making it impossible to
comprehend whether they have said _Balla_ or _Bella_, _Sesso_ or
_Sasso_, _Mare_ or _More_.

Sec. 24. He should always make the Scholar sing standing, that the Voice
may have all its Organization free.

Sec. 25. Let him take care, whilst he sings, that he get a graceful
Posture, and make an agreeable Appearance.

Sec. 26. Let him rigorously correct all Grimaces and Tricks of the Head, of
the Body, and particularly of the Mouth; which ought to be composed in
a Manner (if the Sense of the Words permit it) rather inclined to a
Smile, than too much Gravity.

Sec. 27. Let him always use the Scholar to the Pitch of _Lombardy_, and not
that of _Rome_;[13] not only to make him acquire and preserve the high
Notes, but also that he may not find it troublesome when he meets with
Instruments that are tun'd high; the Pain of reaching them not only
affecting the Hearer, but the Singer. Let the Master be mindful of this;
for as Age advances, so the Voice declines; and, in Progress of Time, he
will either sing a _Contr'Alto_, or pretending still, out of a foolish
Vanity, to the Name of a _Soprano_, he will be obliged to make
Application to every Composer, that the Notes may not exceed the fourth
Space (_viz._, _C_) nor the Voice hold out on them. If all those, who
teach the first Rudiments, knew how to make use of this Rule, and to
unite the feigned to the natural Voice, there would not be now so great
a scarcity of _Soprano's_.

Sec. 28. Let him learn to hold out the Notes without a Shrillness like a
Trumpet, or trembling; and if at the Beginning he made him hold out
every Note the length of two Bars, the Improvement would be the greater;
otherwise from th