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nificent stone stair-cases, and its form is nearly oval. There are in it five rows of boxes, twenty-nine in each, which would perhaps be more pleasing to the eye if they did not project one over the other. The pit contains one hundred and fifty seats, which turn up, and have padlocks fixed on them; the boxes have sliding shutters. Between the grand escaliers and the theatre is a room for play, called Camera di Ridotto.
In June this year there was a serious opera in it, during the fair of St. An- thony; at that time Padua is very gay, and full of company from Venice and the neighbouring cities. The composer was Signor Sacchini, a Neapolitan, who is Master to the Conservatorio of the Ospeda- letto at Venice. The first woman was Camilla Mattei, sister to Colomba Mattei, who was in England eight or nine years ago; and the two principal men were Signor Potenza, who was in England at the same time as Colomba Mattei, and a
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