I should be sorry if I only entertained them, I wish to make them…

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us.

You have taken far too much trouble over your opera. Here in England that is mere waste of time. What the English like is something that they can beat time to, something that hits them straight on the drum of the ear.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of …

Whether I was in my body or out of my body I know not. God knows it!

I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself.

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is the righteous Saviour, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen