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TOC
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discover but two that were playing the
same piece: some of those who were
practising on the violin seemed to have a
great deal of hand. The violoncellos
practise in another room: and the flutes,
hautbois, and other wind instruments, in
a third, except the trumpets and horns,
which are obliged to fag, either on the stairs,
or on the top of the house.
There are in this college sixteen young
castrati, and these lye up stairs, by them-
selves, in warmer apartments than the
other boys, for fear of colds, which
might not only render their delicate voices
unfit for exercise at present, but hazard
the entire loss of them for ever.
The only vacation in these schools,
in the whole year, is in autumn, and
that for a few days only: during the
winter, the boys rise two hours before it
is light, from which time they continue
their exercise, an hour and a half at din-
ner excepted, till eight o'clock at night;
and this constant perseverance, for a num-
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