| [No. 29] | Tuesday, April 3, 1711 | Addison |
... Sermo linguâ concinnus utrâque
Suavior: ut Chio nota si commista Falerni est.
Hor.
There is nothing that
has
more startled our
English
Audience, than the
Italian Recitativo
at its first Entrance upon the Stage. People were wonderfully surprized to hear Generals singing the Word of Command, and Ladies delivering Messages in Musick. Our Country-men could not forbear laughing when they heard a Lover chanting out a Billet-doux, and even the Superscription of a Letter set to a Tune. The Famous Blunder in an old Play of
Enter a King and two Fidlers Solus