Page:Romain Rolland Handel.djvu/69

Rh it. A renewal of Puritanical opposition which attacked the English stage contributed to the discouragement and abdication of the national artists. The last master of the great epoch, John Blow, an estimable artist, famous in his time, whose personality is a little grey and faded, was not wanting in distinction or in expressive feeling—but he had then withdrawn himself into his religious thoughts.

In the absence of English composers, the Italians took possession of the field. An old musician of the Chapel Royal, Thomas Clayton, brought from Italy some opera libretti, scores, and singers. He took an old libretto from Boulogne, caused it to be translated into English by a Frenchman, and clumsily adapted it to music of little worth; and, such as it was, he proudly called it "The first musical drama which has been entirely composed