[Letter from Jemima Yorke to Mary Gregory, 18^th December 1756]

As these are Unsettled & discontented Times, the Administration of Operas does not seem to give much Satisfaction no more than greater Affairs, nor does not set out in a very flourishing State. Myself & Co: having subscribed again for the same Box, I say nothing in Publick, but in Private I must own that I thought the Opera last Saturday (a very cold night indeed) extremely dull. It is I believe a Pasticcio & no very pretty Songs in it, whereas they should have begun with some striking airs that catch & please everybody, & give the Ton[sic] for its being called a very pretty Opera. (I think they have been injudicious in the Choice of their Drama, or perhaps have not known the Choice would be so: but Alessandro nell'India is remember'd here from the Days of Senesino to those of Monticelli, & 'tis always a Disadvantage to be able to compare Musick & Singers of different time together, which is much easier to do when the Drama & the Words are the same.) The quarrelling Duet is good. The Two principal Singers did very well, the rest are very bad. Passerini is second Woman, the same Tenor again & two poor Women in Men's Cloaths, one of whom is a Curiosity by Singing Irish Italian. She is said to come from Venice, but there never was a stronger Twang from Tipperary; & she diverted the House so well that her Song was Encored, to the infinite Satisfaction of the Self-contented Performer, & the infinite Distress of Mingotti, who stood between the Scenes & could have Brain'd her for singing it again. The Dancers too are (besides the Figurans) One Pair of Clumsy two-legged Creatures, who puff & blow two or three times in the Evening, but Dance very ill.