Of English Opera a far less satisfactory account can be given. Its traditions exist by no means in an unbroken line. Purcell wrote English operas, and was far in advance of all the composers of his time, except, no doubt, those of Italy, who, we must remember were his masters, though he did not slavishly copy them. Since then, we have had composers (for the stage, I mean) who have utterly failed; composers, like Dr. Arne, who have written Anglo-Italian operas; composers of "ballad operas," which are not operas at all; composers of imitation-operas of all kinds; and lastly, the composers of the present day, by whom the long wished-for English Opera will perhaps at last be established. In Germany, which, since the time of Handel and Hasse, has produced an abundance of great composers for the stage, the national opera until Gluck (including Gluck's earlier works), was imitated almost entirely from that of Italy; and the Italian method of singing being the true and only method has always prevailed. Throughout the eighteenth century, we find the great Italian singers travelling to all parts of Europe and carrying with them the operas of the best Italian masters. In each of the countries where the opera has been cultivated, it has had a different history, but from the beginning until the end of the eighteenth century, the Italian Opera flourished in Italy, and also in Germany and in England; whereas France persisted in rejecting the musical teaching of a foreign land until the utter insufficiency of her own operatic system became too evident to be any longer denied. She remained separated from the rest of Europe in a musical sense until the time of the Revolution, as she has since and from very different reasons been separated from it politically. [Sidenote: OPERA IN FRANCE.] Nevertheless, the history of the Opera in France is of great interest, like the history of every other art in that country which has engaged the attention of its ingenious amateurs and critics. Only, for a considerable period it must be treated apart. In the course of this narrative sketch, which does not claim to be a scientific history, I shall pursue, as far as possible, the chronological method; but it is one which the necessities of the subject will often cause me to depart from. CHAPTER II. INTRODUCTION OF THE OPERA INTO FRANCE AND ENGLAND. French Opera not founded by Lulli.--Lulli's elevation from the kitchen to the orchestra.--Lulli, M. de Pourceaugnac, and Louis XIV.--Buffoonery rewarded.--A disreputable tenor.--Virtuous precaution of a _prima donna_.--Orthography of a stage Queen.--A cure for love.--Mademoiselle de Maupin.--A composer of sacred music.--Food for cattle.--Cambert in England.--The first English Opera.--Music under Cromwell.--Music under Charles II.--Grabut and Dryden.--Purcell. [Sidenote: ORFEO AND DON GIOVANNI.]