are tiptoeing toward the window, the three sing a trio in which
there is such obvious use of a melodic phrase which belongs to Haydn
that every writer on "Il Barbiere" seems to have thought it his duty
to point out an instance of "plagiarism" on the part of Rossini. It
is a trifling matter. The trio begins thus:--

[Musical excerpt--"Ziti, ziti, piano, piano, non facciamo
confusionne"]

which is a slightly varied form of four measures from Simon's song
in the first part of "The Seasons":--

[Musical excerpt--"With eagerness the husbandman his tilling work
begins."]

With these four measures the likeness begins and ends. A venial
offence, if it be an offence at all. Composers were not held
to so strict and scrupulous an accountability touching melodic
meum and tuum a century ago as they are now; yet there was then
a thousand-fold more melodic inventiveness. Another case of
"conveyance" by Rossini has also been pointed out; the air of the
duenna in the third act beginning "Il vecchiotto cerca moglie" is
said to be that of a song which Rossini heard a Russian lady sing
in Rome. I have searched much in Russian song literature and failed
to find the alleged original. To finish the story: the notary
summoned by Bartolo arrives on the scene, but is persuaded by Figaro
to draw up an attestation of a marriage agreement between Count
Almaviva and Rosina, and Bartolo, finding at the last that all his
precautions have been in vain, comforted not a little by the gift of
his ward's dower, which the Count relinquishes, gives his blessing