Astonishing as it may appear, there are men who can deliver extemporaneously, not only excellent orations and discourses, but also beautiful poems, tragedies and comedies. Exhibitions of this kind have been so frequent, that no deception can possibly exist. You may even specify the measure in which you desire the poetical production, and the verses, as if inspired, will flow from the lips of the _improvvisatore_, with ease, elegance, and beauty. When I was in Paris, Sgricci extemporized several tragedies in Italian.[1] Eugene Pradel delivered a poem on Columbus, and proposed to extemporize tragedies and operas in French. Manuel could at any time speak appropriately and eloquently without preparation. The number of _improvvisatori_ is very great, and I might enumerate, if necessary, many of these distinguished men. Italy boasts of the names of several ladies who have acquired fame by their poetical extempore compositions, among whom I may mention the Bandettini, the Mazei and the Corilla. This fact being admitted, two questions arise--1st. Is it possible to acquire this wonderful talent? 2nd. What are the means to be employed in order to succeed in speaking extemporaneously? To the first question, I answer affirmatively.--The talent of speaking extempore is always an acquired one: all good _improvvisatori_ have followed a course of mental exercises. Illustrious men at first uttered a few words with stammering tongues, then spoke hesitatingly--and by proper combinations of their intellectual faculties, became the extraordinary _improvvisatori_, who excite wonder and admiration. Experience shows the truth of this assertion. The second question is, what are the means to be employed in order to succeed in speaking extempore? They are numerous, and they must be pursued with that enthusiasm and perseverance, without which, a man can never reach the temple of fame: for he who feels the noble ambition of distinguishing himself from the crowd which surrounds him--he who wishes to leave traces of his passage on earth, and to raise a monument which ages shall not destroy--must be moved by an energetic spirit, and have the moral courage to banish mental indolence from his bosom--to shake off that apathy so fatal to intellectual improvement, and to imbibe that love of immortality, which will carry him triumphantly through his career. He will bear in mind meanwhile, that "Aucun chemin de fleurs ne conduit à la gloire,"