ate of eleven francs the opera. While in
London, the identical copies purchasable abroad by those not in the
trade for about 8s. 6d. of our money, are sold at two guineas each. The
profits of "the trade" on musical instruments, are also enormous. On the
pianofortes of most of the London makers, a profit of _at least_ thirty
or thirty-five per cent is realized by the retailer; and on a grand
piano, for which the customer pays 130 guineas, "the trade" pockets on
the very lowest calculation upwards of L40.

English performers next claim our notice and attention. In this new
field of observation we find little to commend; defective training is
the great cause of our inferiority in the practical performance of
music, in all its branches. This is especially manifest in the
home-taught singers of the English school. The voice is never perfectly
formed nor developed, and brought out in the correct and scientific
manner possessed by the accomplished artists of other countries. Some of
the most popular of our singers sing with the mouth nearly closed, with
others the voice is forced and strained, proceeding not from the chest,
but from the throat, the muscles of which are necessarily contracted in
the effort. We have, no doubt, many difficulties to overcome in the
structure of our language, in which the accent is thrown on the
consonants rather than on the vowels. Unlike the Italian, which is
thrown out, _ore rotundo_, directly from the chest, the English language
is spoken from the throat, and, in general, also with the mouth nearly
closed. The Italian singer finds no difficulty in bringing out his
voice; but the Englishman has first to conquer the habit of his life,
and to overcome the obstacles his native tongue opposes to his
acquirement of this new but necessary, mode of using the voice. The
difficulty, of laying this only foundation of real sterling excellence
in the vocal art, is very great, and much care and study is
indispensable. Those who have occasion to use the voice loudly in the
open air, insensibly acquire the power of thus eliciting the voice. The
chest tones in which many of the "Cries of London" are often heard in
the streets of the metropolis, are a familiar example of nature's
teaching; another instance of which may probably still be found among
the "_bargees_," of Cambridge, whose voices, in our younger days, we
well remember to have often heard and admired, as they guided or urged
forward their sluggish hor