tongue. If you use the lips, then
use them rapidly." The boys practise an hour-and-a-half each day. Mr.
Young puts a high finish on all his work. Mozart's "Ave Verum" was
sung on the day of my visit with infinite refinement. At one point the
boys took a portamento--a grace which very few choirmasters would
attempt with boys.

[Illustration: A "BLACK BOY" AT LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

_Photographed by Mr. George Hadley, Lincoln._]

CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD.

The boys rehearse in a small but lofty room. There is a double row of
desks and seats down each side, facing each other. Dr. C. H. Lloyd sits
at a small pianoforte, placed across one end of the seats, thus
commanding all the boys with his eye. The "tuning-up" exercises lasted
ten minutes, and began with this exercise to "ah":--

[Illustration: KEY C. {|d1:t.l|s.f:m.r|d:r.m|f.s:l.t|d1:-|-:-||]

This exercise, begun in C, was carried up gradually to B[b] above. It
was sung first with a _dim._ going down, and a _cres._ going up, and
then the opposite. Then came an ascending, followed by a descending
scale, similarly varied in key and expression. The next exercise was--

[Illustration: KEY C. {|d.m:r.m |d.m:r.m |d.m:r.m |d:--||]

which was transposed gradually upwards, being sung to "ah." Next a
triplet exercise--

[Illustration: KEY F. d t_1 d r d r to d1 r1 d1 t d1 t]

At the higher part the second trebles sang a third below. Then followed
the chromatic scale, up and down. Dr. Lloyd is not troubled much with
flattening; when it occurs the men are more likely to cause it than the
boys. They habitually sing the Litany, which lasts fifteen minutes,
unaccompanied, and if they flatten at all, it is not more than a
semitone. There is an unaccompanied service once a week. I noticed that
breathing-places were marked in the anthems, and notes likely to give
trouble were marked with a circle. Dr. Lloyd was by no means tied to the
pianoforte during rehearsal, and frequently left his seat, and paced up
and down, beating time while the singing went on. Theoretical questions
on the pieces in hand were addressed to individual boys. These boys are
the sons of professional men, and come from all parts of the country.
There are now three undergraduates at Christ Church, who have been
choir-boys. In the choir, on the day of my visit, was a boy of
seventeen, who had sung for nine years; his voice had not yet begun to
go. The curious custom is observed here of dividing the Psalms (betwe