So far as the course of future events can be foretold, it seems probable that a combination of the two methods, now seemingly opposed, will eventually be brought about. The scientific investigation of the voice has brought to light so much of valuable truth that it would be ridiculous to throw its results lightly aside. At the same time the success of the old method proves that it contained a satisfactory solution of all vocal problems. How the two methods will be fused into one it is not now possible to say. But the only marked tendency is in that direction. We are justified in the hope that its accomplishment will not be long postponed. D. C. T. CHAPTER IV THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SONG The origin of song--The practical value of primitive song--The cultural value of primitive song--Biography of primitive song--The lyric impulse--Folk-song and art-song--Characteristics of the art-song; style, the singer and the song. I ‘In this or that Sicilian hamlet,’ says the Countess Martinengo-Cæsaresco in her ‘Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs,’ ‘there is a man known by the name of “the Poet,” or perhaps “the Goldfinch.” He is completely illiterate and belongs to the poorest class; he is a blacksmith, a fisherman, or a tiller of the soil. If he has the gift of improvisation, his fellow-villagers have the satisfaction of hearing him applauded by the Great Public--the dwellers in all the surrounding hamlets assembled at the fair on St. John’s Eve. Or it may be he is of a meditative turn of mind, and makes his poetry leisurely as he lies full length under the lemon-trees taking his noontide rest. Should you pass by, it is unlikely he will give himself the trouble of lifting his eyes. He could not say the alphabet to save his life; but the beautiful earth and skies and sea which he has looked on every day since he was born have taught him some things not learnt in school. The little poem he has made in his head is indeed a humble sort of poetry, but it is not unworthy of the praise it gets from the neighbors who come dropping into his cottage door, uninvited, but sure of a friendly welcome next Sunday after mass, their errand being to find out if the rumor is true that “the Goldfinch” has invented a fresh _canzuna_? Such is the peasant poet of to-day; such he was five hundred or a thousand years ago.’