I know so much already of the candour of your Mind, & the soundness of your judgement, that I will venture to give you my profession de Foi, relative to the merits of your Countrymen. I have ever regarded them as profound, not only in Music, but in other arts & sciences; & so great is their industry, that they seem more frequently to go to the bottom of the things abt wch they enquire, than any other people of Europe... As to music I should not hesitate to give it as my opinion, that they are the first people in Europe at present both for the Composition & performance of Instrumental Music. There are several of your Countrymen, but not mentioned in your Essay, or letter, whose musical productions & performances have given me great delight. Such as Abel, Schobert, Echard, Eichner, Fischer, Wagenseil, Schwindl, Hayden, &c. Abel has been many years in England, has composed excellent symphonies & Quartets for Violins, &c, with two Books of very pleasing sonatas for the Harpsichord, accompanied by a violin and violincello. & he is, moreover, the most perfect player of the Viol de gamba I have ever heard. Indeed his taste is the most exquisite & refined, & his judgement & learning the most perfect that I have ever met united in one performer; & I can conceive no one able to surpass him on any Instrument, except his fellow student, Mr C. P. E. Bach, who stands so high in my opinion, that I should not scruple to pronounce him the greatest writer for the Harpsichord now alive, or that has ever existed as far as I am able to judge, by a comparison of his works with those of others, & by my own Feelings when I hear them performed. I am very happy in finding that my opinions of almost all the Composers you have named, with whose works I am acquainted, are so like yours, that if you had not seen many of them in my Book before I had the honour of your Letter, it might seem to me an affected complaisance towards your decisions: but you will perceive from my writing that we think alike of Jomelli, Galuppi, Piccini, Sacchini, L'Atilla, &c. << less