It was the most cracked and venerable pipe that ever tickled the throat of old age, a mingling of wailing Falsettos and of hollow gasping growls, the whole very weak.
"The Frozen Pirate"
W. Clark Russell
Not that one that should undervalue the half-recitative of doubtful barytones, or the brilliant escapades of slightly unmanageable Falsettos, or the concentrated efforts of the proprietors of two or three effective notes, who may be observed lying in wait for them, and coming down on them with all their might, and the look on their countenances of "I too am a singer."
"The Complete PG Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr."
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)