15.—OUTSPOKEN ADMIRATION.
Here is a case of admiration of one artist for another that deserves mention. When the English musician, Rosengrave, was in Italy, at an evening company, a quiet and unassuming young man, who was present, was asked to play. "When he began," writes Rosengrave, "I thought ten hundred devils were at the instrument, for never had I heard such passages and effects before. So far did he surpass my own playing that had I but had a knife within my reach I would have cut off my fingers. So ashamed was I, that I declare I could not touch an instrument for a month afterward."
The quiet young Italian was Scarlatti, the celebrated Italian composer and performer.