Another practical point we mustn't have too many principal characters - it looks from yr Act II as if the 3 Hobs and the 3 mediums wd have to be principals & not merely superior chorus - this wd make 11 principals & presumably with the Empress in Act III = 12!
In our 1st Act the music is more or less incidental & we may have to strengthen the ensemble [in] places.
- on the other hand I feel that the actual end of Act III ought to be a sort of choral set song.
1. Sharp was writing the libretto for The Poisoned Kiss.
2. The ballad opera arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch, with libretto by John Gay written in 1728 but banned by the Lord Chamberlain and not performed until 1777. It was a sequel to The Beggars Opera.
3. i.e. Volte subito or P.T.O. However the page with the metre is missing.
Date from postmark(no longer present).