| [No. 18] | Wednesday, March 21, 1711 | Addison |
Equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas
Omnis ad incertos oculos et gaudia vana.
Hor.
is my Design in this Paper to deliver down to Posterity a faithful Account of the Italian Opera, and of the gradual Progress which it has made upon the English Stage: For there is no Question but our great Grand-children will be very curious to know the Reason why their Fore-fathers used to sit together like an Audience of Foreigners in their own Country, and to hear whole Plays acted before them in a Tongue which they did not understand.
Arsinoe
was the first Opera that gave us a Taste of Italian Musick.
great Success this Opera met with, produced some Attempts of forming Pieces upon Italian Plans,
which