SIN 



allowed of difplaying it, than the moft difagreeable ; folo 

 fongs, anthems, and cantatas, being produftions of later 

 times. The penalty for the crime of playing a fola at the 

 concert of ancient mufic was live guineas ; but at this time, 

 if inftead of that fum being forfeited, five hundred had been 

 offered to the individual who could perform fuch a feat, 

 fewer candidates would have entered the liils than if the like 

 premium had been offered for flying from Salifbury tteeple 

 over Old Sarum, without a balloon. 



SiN'GiNG, Parochial. See Psalmody. See alfo Stern- 

 hold and Hopkins. 



Singing in Italy., during the 1 6th century. Zacconi, 

 one of the bt-ft Italian writers on mufic of that period, in 

 his " Prattica diMufica," publilhed 1596, chiefly dwells, in 

 the fird book, on the fuperiority of the finging and fingers 

 of his own time, over all that preceded them ; and has a 

 long chapter upon the manner of gracing and embellifliing 

 a melody, where he tells us, " Che iUle fi tenghi ncl far di 

 gorgia ; dell' ufo de i modcrni pqfagi, come (\ Jiorifchino ie 

 cantilcne ;" and fpeaks of acconcialure, as the modern Italians 

 do of riffioramenti, or graces. The divifions, however, into 

 which he breaks paflages, in order to embcltijii them, if 

 adopted by an opcra-fuiger of the prefent times, would be 

 like a modern fine lady appearing at court in the furbelows 

 and flounces of queen Elizabeth, or a fine gentleman in the 

 peruke of fir Cloudefley Shovel. 



SltiGliiG in Frame, during the 17th century. See Mer- 

 SENNUs, and St. Evremond. 



Singing in England, previous to the reign of queen Anne. 



Mufic at all times has been called in to the afliftance of 

 weak plays and unattraftive aftors in our national theatres ; 

 and incidental fongs, and finging between the afts, have been 

 found fo alluring, that when there was no plan formed for 

 exhibiting mufical dramas, fingers have been engaged at con- 

 fiderable falaries, exprefsly for that purpofe. 



Before the lad century, the art of finging, indeed, 

 feems to have been little cultivated among us, by either fex, 

 beyond what concerned time and tune. The honourable 

 Roger North, in his manufcript " Memoirs of Mufic," 

 fpeaks of the younger Banilteras an excellent finging-maller; 

 but the players, who fung Purcell's fongs on the ftage, feem 

 to have had nothing but voice and aftion to recommend 

 them : fuch as Boweii, Harris, Freeman, and Pate, among 

 the men ; and among the women, Mrs. Davies, Mifs Shore, 

 afterwards wife to Colley Cibber, Mrs. Crofs, Mifs Cham- 

 pion, and Mrs. Bracegirdle. It was, however, a powerful 

 recommendation to a fong, during the 17th century, to fay 

 that it had been performed at the playhoufe. How different 

 from modern times ! Church mufic, by the gay and fafti- 

 dious frequenters of the opera, before, as well as after it 

 had been heard, is pronounced to be old-faJlAoncd, and play- 

 houfe mufic vulgar. Till the reign of queen Anne, indeed, 

 the gentlemen of the chapel royal were occafionally allowed 

 to fing on the ftage ; but that princefs thinking the praftice 

 indecent, prohibited its continuance. There are few in- 

 Itanccs of vocal performers, cfpecially female, being brought 

 on our (lagc, but by accident. The fear of feduftion, pro- 

 fligacy, and the world's opinion, deters parents from edu- 

 cating their children with a view to a profeDion, which no- 

 thing but uncommon lucccfs and prudence can render ho- 

 nourable ill the eyes of the moft ferious part of the nation. 

 The generality of female fingers, therefore, having every 

 thing to learn after leifure for Ihidy is no longer in their 

 power, ufually remain ignorant of the principles of their art, 

 and fo totally dependent on a mafter, as to be obliged to 

 perpetuate that apprcnticediip, which ought to have been 

 ferved before they let up for themfelves. 

 Vol. XXXni. 



S I N 



In 1763, the pafticcio burletta of « Love in a Village," 

 and in 1765 "The Summer's Tale," and "The Maid of 

 the Mill," betrayed us into a talte for Italian melody, which 

 has been the model of moft of our vocal compofers in and 

 out of the theatre ever flnce. The " Duenna," another 

 favourite Englifh pafticcio, in 1775, helped us on, and Dr. 

 Arnold, Mr. Dibdin, and Mr. Shield, have very judicioufly 

 complied with the reigning tafte, and imitated or adopted 

 the opera ftyle in all its vicifTitudes. Linley of Bath, and 

 Jackfon of Exeter, in their elegies at leaft, have ftedfaftly 

 adhered to a ftyle of their own, whicli feems to have been 

 formed upon the melodies of our bett old Englifh mailers, 

 and thofe of the laft age, that were moft worthy of being 

 preferved. 



Till the Italian opera was eltablifhed in this country, little 

 was expefted of a finger befides voice and an ear. lndee<l, 

 long after that period, good tafte in finging was fo little dif- 

 fufed throughout the ifland, that the great and exquifite per- 

 formers who came hither from the continent feem to have made 

 but a fmall impreffion on their aftonifhcd hearers. Nicolini, 

 Senefino, Bernacchi, Fauftina, Cuzzoni, Farinelli, Caffarelli, 

 Careftini, Conti, Monticelli, Mingotti, Ehzi, Manzoli, 

 Guarducci, and Guadagni, had no effeft upon our national 

 tafte ; and though a few individuals among the people of 

 fafhion, by private inftruftions from, them, and by the beft 

 of all leflbns, hearing them frequently perform in public, 

 diminifhed the original fin of our native brogue and vulgar 

 expreffion ; yet as thefe pupils could be heard but by few, 

 their power was local, and no more likely to have any gene- 

 ral efFeft upon our national cantilena, than their learning 

 French and Italian upon our general language. It is not 

 difficult, however, to fix the era of a change in our vocal 

 mufic, which feems to have remained ftationary for near half 

 a century. It was begun by the compofitions and inftruc- 

 tions of Dr. Arne, who endeavoured to refine our melody 

 and finging, more from Italian than Englifh models ; and 

 was greatly accelerated by the pafticcio Englifh operas 

 above mentioned, as well as by the inftruftions of Tedef- 

 chini, Cocchi, Vento, and Giardini, who were employed 

 about this time to teach feveral of our playhoufe finger*. 

 Tenducci's performance in Artaxerxes had a rapid effeft 

 upon the public tafte, and Simulated to imitation all that 

 were pofteffed of good ears and flexible voices. In later 

 times, the fcholars of Sacchini, Piozzi, Parfons, and others, 

 with the pubhc concerts, where the beft compofitions and 

 moft exquifite performances of all kinds were conftantly 

 heard, completed the revolution ; and it may be with truth 

 and certainty affirmed, that our tafte and judgment in both, 

 even at the playhoufes, differ as much from thofe of twenty 

 or thirty years ago, aG the manners of a civilized people 

 from thofe of favages. 



Singing of Birdi. See Song of Birds. 



SINGINGING, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Eafl 

 Indian fea, near the E. coaft of the ifland of Naftau. S. 

 lat. 3'' 50'. E. long, loo'^ 2'. 



SINGITICUS Sinus, m Ancient Geography, a gulf of 

 Macedonia, in the .£gean fea. 



SINGIVENDA, in Geography, a town of Hindooflan, 

 ill the Carnatic ; 28 miles N.N.W. of Ongole. 



SINGLE, among Sportfmen, the tail of any of the deer 

 kind. 



Single Bond or Obligation, Jimplex obligatio, in Lav), is a 

 deed, by which the obligor obliges himfelf, his heirs, exe- 

 cutors, and admiiiiftrators, to pay a certain fum of money 

 to another at a day appointed. See Oblig,\tion. 



Single Cajl, in Hufhandry, a terra ufed by fanners for 

 G that 



