Note 53 — PURCELL. (continued 2)
Reading edition
"The English affect more the Italian than the French music, and their own compositions are between the gravity of the first and the levity of the other. They have had several great masters of their own. Henry Purcell's works in that kind are esteemed beyond Lully's everywhere, and they have now a good many very eminent masters; but the taste of the town being at this day all Italian, it is a great discouragement to them."—Mackay's Journey Through England, 1722-3.