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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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