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TOC
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in some degree, accounts for music being
so much, and in so costly a manner, cul-
tivated by them ; the number too of
theatres, in all which the Gondoliers
have admission gratis, may account for
the superior manner in which they sing
compared with people of the same class
elsewhere. And in the private families,
into which the girls of the Conserva-
torios marry, it is natural to suppose
that good taste and a love for music are
introduced.
The library of St. Mark here, which
abounds with books in all other facul-
ties, afforded me but few materials on
the subject of music. However I gained
considerably by the conversation of Sig-
nor Zanetti, the first librarian, who was
very polite and communicative.
Printing has been carried on in Venice
with great spirit, ever since the year 1459,
when it was established there by Nicho-
las Jansen ; and there is perhaps no
city in Italy in which so many books
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