." The ladies
and gentlemen of the troupe usually assemble at supper, and it is then
that the tenor again bestows his _galanteries_ on the prima donna, and
says many more really complimentary things than are to be found set down
in his professional role.

In concluding this sketch of the tenor, the writer would, with all due
submission to the opinion of the public, venture to discover his
sentiments upon a question which often agitates society; viz., whether
the tenor is always sick when he announces himself to be seriously
indisposed. The writer hopes he will not render himself liable to the
charge of duplicity or an attempt at evasion, when he declares it to be
his impression, that on the occasion of such announcements, the tenor is
_sometimes_ seriously indisposed but not _always_. The tenor, as we have
before observed, is but a man, and must needs be subject to diseases
like other men; but when we consider the delicacy of his conformation,
we must multiply the chances of his liability to indisposition. His
organization is such, that the most trifling irregularity in his general
health operates immediately upon the voice. Now, for the tenor, in the
slightest degree out of tone, to appear before a merciless audience,
consisting of blase opera goers, tyrannical critics, hired depreciators,
and unrelenting musical amateurs, would indicate the most utter folly
and imbecility. The tenor is well aware that a reputation for singing
divinely a few nights in the year, is more lucrative than a reputation
for ability to sing tolerably well, taking an average of all the nights
in that space of time. It is consequently more advantageous for him to
sing occasionally, when he feels his voice to be in full force and
vigour, and his spirits in a sufficiently animated condition to warrant
his appearing with every certainty of success. When, therefore, he does
not favour the public with the melody of his notes, it is, generally
speaking because, without really suffering from a serious attack of
disease, he considers that his appearance would insure a future
diminution in the offers of the _impresario_. Hence the _affiches_
usually proclaim nothing but truth itself, when they declare that the
tenor is _seriously indisposed_; but then we must be careful to
interpret the word indisposition by that one of its significations which
is equivalent to _disinclination_.

That some compulsory measures might be taken to make these gentlemen
"who