Excerpt: ...the idoliz'd Mode! Are there in these Times any, who are moved with Tenderness, or Sorrow?--No, (say all the Auditors) no; for, the continual singing of the Moderns in the Allegro Stile, though when in Perfection That deserves Admiration, yet touches very slightly one that hath a delicate Ear. The Taste of the Ancients was a Mixture of the Lively and the Cantabile the Variety of which could not fail giving Delight; but the Moderns are so pre-possessed with Taste in Mode, that, rather than comply with the former, they are contented to lose the greatest Part of its Beauty. The Study of the Pathetick was the Darling of the former; and Application to the most difficult Divisions is the only Drift of the latter. Those perform'd with more Judgment; and These execute with greater Boldness. But since I have presum'd to compare the most celebrated Singers in both Stiles, pardon me if I conclude with saying, 110 that the Moderns are arrived at the highest Degree of Perfection in singing to the Ear; and that the Ancients are inimitable in singing to the Heart. § 23. However, it ought not to be denied, but that the best Singers of these times have in some Particulars refined the preceding Taste, with some Productions worthy to be imitated; and as an evident Mark of Esteem, we must publicly own, that if they were but a little more Friends to the Pathetick and the Expressive, and a little less to the Divisions, they might boast of having brought the Art to the highest Degree of Perfection. § 24. It may also possibly be, that the extravagant Ideas in the present Compositions, have deprived the abovementioned Singers of the Opportunity of shewing their Ability in the Cantabile; in as much as the Airs at present in vogue go Whip and Spur with such violent Motions, as take away their Breath, far from giving 111 them an Opportunity of shewing the Exquisiteness of their Taste. But, good God! since there are so many modern Composers, among whom...