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A note is made of the constituents of the Prince of Wales's
punch--"One bottle champagne, one bottle Burgundy, one bottle
rum, ten lemons, two oranges, pound and a half of sugar." A
process for preserving milk "for a long time" is also described.
We read that on the 5th of November (1791) "there was a fog so
thick that one might have spread it on bread. In order to write I
had to light a candle as early as eleven o'clock." Here is a
curious item--"In the month of June 1792 a chicken, 7s.; an
Indian [a kind of bittern found in North America] 9s.; a dozen
larks, 1 coron [? crown]. N.B.--If plucked, a duck, 5s."
Haydn liked a good story, and when he heard one made a note of it.
The diary contains two such stories. One is headed "Anectod," and
runs: "At a grand concert, as the director was about to begin the
first number, the kettledrummer called loudly to him, asking him to
wait a moment, because his two drums were not in tune. The leader
could not and would not wait any longer, and told the drummer to
transpose for the present." The second story is equally good. "An
Archbishop of London, having asked Parliament to silence a preacher
of the Moravian religion who preached in public, the Vice-President
answered that could easily be done: only make him a Bishop, and he
would keep silent all his life."
On the whole the note-book cannot be described as of strong
biographical interest, but a reading of its contents as
translated by Mr Krehbiel will certainly help towards an
appreciation of the personal character of the composer.
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