At first they suffered from cold, but this soon turned to excessive heat, and Wolfgang, who had always longed to look brown, saw his wish in a fair way to be accomplished. They had good recommendations to the court from Vienna. Queen Caroline, whom Wolfgang had lately seen in Vienna, received them graciously, accosting them whenever they met; but Wolfgang was not summoned to play at court. The King, although not unmusical, cared for nothing that required any cultivation; "what he is," writes L. Mozart, "can be better told than written." The all-powerful minister Tanucci, placed his major-domo at their service, to show them all that was worth seeing. Other nobles followed this example; and every evening a magnificent equipage was placed at their service, in which they joined the brilliant _passeggio_ of the nobility on the Strada Nuova or on the quay, clad in elegant summer costumes. L. Mozart had ordered for himself a coat of maroon-coloured watered silk with sky blue velvet facings, and Wolfgang rejoiced in an apple-green coat with rose-coloured facings and silver {NAPLES, 1770--LADY HAMILTON.} (123) buttons. Among Wolfgang's patrons was the old Princess Belmonte, the friend of Metastasio, and interesting to musicians as having been roused from deep melancholy by the singing of the tenor Raff. The rendezvous of artists and scholars was the house of the British ambassador, Sir Wm. Hamilton, whose acquaintance the Mozarts had made in London. He himself was a violin-player, and pupil of Giardini; and his charming first wife was not only a cultivated judge of music, but was considered the best pianoforte-player in Naples; her "brilliant shakes and turns" were not less admired than the touching expression of her playing, which was in accord with her gentle nature.[40] It was not without triumph that L. Mozart narrated her having trembled at playing before Wolfgang. They found other old friends in the Swiss Tschudi, from Salzburg, and in a Dutchman named Doncker, who had been kind to them in Amsterdam; every one pressed forward to offer hospitality and assistance. Under these favourable circumstances, a public concert was given on May 28, with the most brilliant success; a success the more welcome, as they were not likely to find their tour a profitable one for some time to come. L. Mozart was delighted with the situation, fertility, animation, and curiosity of Naples; but he was shocked by the wretchedness of the population, and above all by the superstition which prevailed not only among the lazaroni, but also in the higher ranks of society. He witnessed an example of it when Wolfgang played at the Conservatorio della Pietà; the skill with which he used his left hand suggested to the audience that there was magic in a ring he wore; when he drew it off and played without it the wonder and applause were redoubled.