Page:California Digital Library (IA recollectionsofe00abeliala).pdf/52

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
26
Recollections of
[Ch. III.

I think he had any ear for music; for neither on this occasion, nor in any of his subsequent attempts at singing, could I ever discover what tune it was he was executing. He was, nevertheless, a good judge of music, if any Englishwoman may say so, after his sweeping denunciation of our claims to that science, probably from having constantly listened to the best performers. He expressed a great dislike to French music, which, he said, was almost as bad as the English, and that the Italians were the only people who could produce an opera.

A lady, a friend of ours, who frequently visited us at the Briars, was extremely fond of Italian singing, which "she loved, indeed, not wisely, but too well," for her own attempts in the bravura style were the most absurd burlesque imaginable. Napoleon, however, constantly asked her to sing, and even listened with great politeness; but when she was gone, he often

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.