Charles Burney

The Present State of Music in France and Italy (2nd, corrected edition)

London: T. Becket and Co., 1773

Turin

conversation concerning electricity, Dr.
Franklin, Dr. Priestley, and others. He
was pleased to make me a present, find-
ing me an amateur, (which should be al-
ways translated a dabbler) of his last
book*, and the syllabus of the Memoire
he lately sent to our Royal Society.
He likewise wrote in my tablets a re-
commendatory note to Signora Laura
Bassi, the famous dottoressa, and profes-
sor of natural philosophy in the univer-
sity of Bologna; recommended to me
some books, and was so kind, and with
a manner so truly simple, that I shall for
ever remember this visit with pleasure.
Mr. Martin, the banker here, came after
me to Padre Beccaria's; and this great
mathematician is so little acquainted
with worldly concerns, especially money-
matters, that he was quite astonished and
pleased at the ingenuity and novelty of a