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ficult to decide which of the two com- posers first-mentioned, has merited most from the public; Jomelli's works are full of great and noble ideas, treated with taste and learning; Galuppi's abound in fancy, fire, and feeling; Piccini has far surpass- ed all his cotemporaries [sic] in the comic stile; and Sacchini is the most promising composer in the serious.
The Honourable Mr. Hamilton, now Sir William Hamilton, Knight of the Bath, the British minister at this court, whose taste and zeal for the arts, and whose patronage of artists, are well known throughout Europe, being out of town when I came to Naples, did me the honour, as soon as he heard of my arrival, to invite me to his country- house, called Villa Angelica, at the foot of Mount Vesuvius; and this day, after visiting Signor Jomelli, I waited upon him for the first time, and was received by him and his lady, not only with po- liteness, but even kindness. I had the hap-
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