be more absurd? _Gentlemen Composers_, (I do not speak to the eminent,
but with all due Respect) Musick in my Time has chang'd its Stile three
times: The first which pleased on the Stage, and in the Chamber, was
that of _Pier. Simone_[69], and of _Stradella_[70]; the second is of
the best that now living[71]; and I leave others to judge whether they
are _Modern_. But of your Stile, which is not quite established yet in
_Italy_, and which has yet gained no Credit at all beyond the _Alps_,
those that come after us will soon give their Opinion; for _Modes_ last
not long. But if the Profession is to continue, and end with the World,
either you yourselves will see your Mistake, or your Successors will
reform it. Wou'd you know how? By banishing the Abuses, and recalling
the first, second, and third _Mood_[72], to relieve the fifth, sixth,
and eighth, which are quite jaded. They will revive the fourth and
seventh now dead to you, and buried in Churches, for the final Closes.
To oblige the Taste of the Singers and the Hearers, the _Allegro_ will
now and then be mixed with the _Pathetick_. The _Airs_ will not always
be drowned with the Indiscretion of the Instruments, that hide the
artful Delicacy of the _Piano_, and the soft Voices, nay, even all
Voices which will not bawl: They will no longer bear being teased with
_Unisons_[73], the Invention of Ignorance, to hide from the Vulgar the
Insufficiency and Inability of many Men and Women Singers: They will
recover the instrumental Harmony now lost: They will compose more for
the Voice than the Instruments: The part for the Voice will no more have
the Mortification to resign its Place to the Violins: The _Soprano's_
and _Contr'Alto's_ will no more sing the _Airs_ in the Manner of the
Bass, in Spight of a thousand _Octaves_: And, finally, their _Airs_ will
be more affecting, and less alike; more studied, and less painful to the
Singer; and so much the more grand, as they are remote from the Vulgar.
But, methinks, I hear it said, that the theatrical Licence is great,
and that the _Mode_ pleases, and that I grow too bold. And may I not
reply, that the Abuse is greater, that the Invention is pernicious, and
that my Opinion is not singular. Am I the only Professor who knows that
the best Compositions are the Cause of singing well, and the worst very
prejudicial? Have we not more than once heard that the Quality of the
Compositions has been capable, with a few Songs, of establishing the
R