are least likely to suffer from that
great disturber, nervousness; and when they are somewhat tense, the
well-disciplined often recover rapidly, and frequently astonish their
friends by the success of their first appearance. We strongly
recommend all who can to take rest on the day preceding and following
a hard evening's work, and preferably, in summer, in the open air. A
quiet walk in a park, where one may think or observe or not, as he
feels inclined, is an excellent thing to do, either before or after a
strenuous artistic effort. If the battery is to be well charged, it
must not be discharged even partially before the right moment.
Amateurs and the inexperienced are particularly apt to neglect such
precaution for success, and to fritter away their energies by
attention to details, possibly trivial ones, up to the last moment.

Happy is he who, well prepared for his task, free from worries,
unmoved by envy, jealousy, or undue ambition, can step before the
public resolved to do his best for art, and who, having done it, can
rest in the satisfaction that he has contributed something to the
innocent and ennobling enjoyment of his fellows, and so has helped to
advance those of his own generation; caring little for either the
flatteries of admirers or a criticism that may be ignorant, unjust,
or malignant, but feeling that the best reward is the approval of his
own conscience, knowing that "Art is long, and life short."

CHAPTER XX.

REVIEW AND REVISION.

All the most important truths of any subject may be stated in a brief
space. The Author proposes to make this final chapter one of a
restatement of the essentials of the subject in the light of our
present-day knowledge, and with a distinct relation to practice.

The object of the speaker or singer is to produce certain sounds which
shall as easily as possible convey to the listener his own state of
mind. It follows that he must have a clear idea of these sounds, that
he must hear them mentally prior to their utterance; in other words,
the psychological must precede the physiological. Voice production for
the purpose of speaking and singing implies a cooeperation of the
psychic and the physiological, a co-ordination of processes that are
psychic, and physical, somatic or physiological.

It is well to regard the subject from as many points of view as
possible, and to consider the various ways in which the same truth may
be stated.

Stress must be laid on