To make me amends for this self-denial, I have been entertained with a vast deal of most excellent music, and such as inspired the most pleasing ideas. Go on and prosper in the science of the harpsichord. But pray tell me how is it possible for people to be passionately fond of music, and especially of oratorio music, and yet to be in their lives and manners unharmonious and disorderly? Does this softening power of music, and this attention to the noblest words and sentiments (to Milton’s Morning Hymn for instance which was one of the pieces I heard) does it do no good at all, or does it do some at least for the present hour, though not enough to resist strong inclinations, and the torrent of example? I wish you would write me a long dissertation on this subject, for I want much to know what to think about it. […] Alas! it is too true, that one of the most profligate poor wretches I know, and the most lost and insensible to all serious consideration, is the most constant frequenter of all oratorios. How can one account for this? For it is not fashion that leads him there, but inclination.