_The finest taste,
The deepest feeling,
The most delicate ear,_

and, in addition, the requisite knowledge, energy, and some practice.
_Voilà tout!_ I cannot devote myself to the treatment of the throat, for
which I have neither time not fitness; and my lady singers are so busy
with the formation of true tone, and in attention to the care and
preservation of their voices, that they only wish to open their mouths
for that object, and not for anatomical purposes. In piano-playing also,
I require no cutting of the interdigital fold, no mechanical
hand-support, no accelerator for the fingers or stretching machine; and
not even the "finger-rack" invented and used, without my knowledge, by a
famous pupil[A] of mine, for the proper raising of the third and fourth
fingers.

My dear young lady, if the Creator has made the throat badly for
singing, he alone is responsible. I cannot come to his assistance by
destroying the throat with lunar caustic, and then reconstructing it. If
the throat is really worn out, may it not perhaps be owing to the
teacher, and to his mistaken management?

Nature does many things well, and before the introduction of this modern
fashion of singing produced many beautiful voices: has she all at once
become incapable of doing any thing right?

We will, then, simply return to the _three trifles_ above-mentioned;
and in these we will live and work "with all our heart, with all our
soul, and with all our mind."