was the delight of the public with the freshness and beauty of Piccini's
music, that even those who came to condemn remained to applaud. The
reputation of the composer went on increasing until he became the
foremost name of musical Italy, for his fertility of production was
remarkable; and he gave the theatres a brilliant succession of comic and
serious works. In 1758 he produced at Rome his "Alessandro nell' Indie,"
whose success surpassed all that had preceded it, and two years later
a still finer masterpiece, "La Buona Figluola," written to a text
furnished by the poet Goldoni, and founded on the story of Richardson's
"Pamela." This opera was produced at every playhouse on the Italian
peninsula in the course of a few years. A pleasant _mot_ by the Duke of
Brunswick is worth preserving in this connection. Piccini had married a
beautiful singer named Vicenza Sibilla, and his home was very happy. One
day the German prince visited Piccini, and found him rocking the cradle
of his youngest child, while the eldest was tugging at the paternal
coat-tails. The mother, being _en déshabille_, ran away at the sight
of a stranger. The duke excused himself for his want of ceremony, and
added, "I am delighted to see so great a man living in such simplicity,
and that the author of 'La Bonne Fille' is such a good father."
Piccini's placid and pleasant life was destined, however, to pass into
stormy waters.

His sway over the stage and the popular preference continued until
1773, when a clique of envious rivals at Rome brought about his first
disaster. The composer was greatly disheartened, and took to his bed,
for he was ill alike in mind and body. The turning-point in his career
had come, and he was to enter into an arena which taxed his powers in a
contest such as he had not yet dreamed of. His operas having been
heard and admired in France, their great reputation inspired the
royal favorite, Mme. du Barry, with the hope of finding a successful