Neither am I very well reconcil’d to their Plays, of which indeed here are none all the Year, except during the Carnival; but then we had two Opera-Theatres, and four or five for Comedy. Of all these Theatres there’s but one that’s good for any thing, and that’s the Ladies Theatre, commonly call’d the Theatre of _Aliberti_ because ’twas built by Order of one Count _Aliberti_. The Room is excessively large, so that the Voices are lost in it; it has seven Rows of Boxes, so low and little, that it makes the Room look like a Henroost; the Pit will hold 900 Persons with Ease: The Stage is spacious, very high, and fitely decorated; but they don’t shift the Scenes with that Dexterity as they do at our Play-houses, yet, when the whole is put together, the Place is not to be despised: The Habits of the three principal Actors are magnificent, but those of the rest are horrible. Their Voices are good, and so are their Instruments for the most part; but their Dancers are too bad to behold, and you can’t imagine any thing more hideous: The Women are in the Disguise of Men, out of a ridiculous Scruple, if I may venture to call it so, which they have here, that Women should not be seen at the Theatres. This is the Reason, that the Operas of ROME are vastly inferior to the other Operas of _Italy_. There is not perhaps a more ridiculous Sight, than to see these Creatures, who are but half Men, play the Parts of Women; yet, tho’ they have neither Air nor Gracefulness, they are applauded here as much as the best Actresses are elsewhere. Tho’ I am passionately fond of the _Italian_ Music, yet I own to you, that I am disgusted with their Operas, when I see those Eunuchs play the Part of a _Roland_, a _Hercules_, or some such Hero; and I have not Patience to see no more than half a dozen Actors, no Machines, and no Dances, except in the Interludes. In my Opinion, such an Opera rather deserves the Name of a Concert; good Voices here are very scarce, and there are actually but five or six Men, and three Women, that have the Reputation of singing well. The Case is the very same with the Composers; they have just lost one of the ablest Men of that Class; _viz. Leonard Vinci_, who, they say, was poison’d at _Naples_; but there are still remaining M. _Hass_, commonly call’d the _Saxon_, and _Signior Purpora_, of whom the former is a _German_, who married the famous _Signiora Faustina_.