Note 22 — CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EDINBURGH REVIEW (continued 9)

Evelyn, who visited Naples about this time, observes that ‘the country people are so jovial and so addicted to music, that the very husbandmen almost universally play on the guitar, singing and accompanying songs in praise of their sweethearts, and will commonly go to the field with their fiddle. They are merry, witty, and genial, all of which I attribute to their ayre.’—Memoirs, vol. I.