citatives and choruses, accompanied by instruments, besides a
vocal anthem in eight parts, which was not performed. In 1769 he published
_An Essay towards a History of Comets_.

Amidst his various professional avocations, Burney never lost sight of his
favorite object--his _History of Music_--and therefore resolved to travel
abroad for the purpose of collecting materials that could not be found in
Great Britain. Accordingly, he left London in June 1770, furnished with
numerous letters of introduction, and proceeded to Paris, and thence to
Geneva, Turin, Milan, Padua, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples.
The results of his observations he published in _The Present State of Music
in France and Italy_ (1771). Dr Johnson [v.04 p.0854] thought so well of
this work that, alluding to his own _Journey to the Western Islands of
Scotland_, he said, "I had that clever dog Burney's Musical Tour in my
eye." In July 1772 Burney again visited the continent, to collect further
materials, and, after his return to London, published his tour under the
title of _The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and United
Provinces_ (1773). In 1773 he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society. In
1776 appeared the first volume (in 4to) of his long-projected _History of
Music_. In 1782 Burney published his second volume; and in 1789 the third
and fourth. Though severely criticized by Forkel in Germany and by the
Spanish ex-Jesuit, Requeno, who, in his Italian work _Saggi sul
Ristabilimento dell' Arte Armonica de' Greci e Romani Cantori_ (Parma,
1798), attacks Burney's account of the ancient Greek music, and calls him
_lo scompigliato Burney_, the _History of Music_ was generally recognized
as possessing great merit. The least satisfactory volume is the fourth, the
treatment of Handel and Bach being quite inadequate. Burney's first tour
was translated into German by Ebeling, and printed at Hamburg in 1772; and
his second tour, translated into German by Bode, was published at Hamburg
in 1773. A Dutch translation of his second tour, with notes by J.W. Lustig,
organist at Groningen, was published there in 1786. The Dissertation on the
Music of the Ancients, in the first volume of Burney's _History_, was
translated into German by J.J. Eschenburg, and printed at Leipzig, 1781.
Burney derived much aid from the first two volumes of Padre Martini's very
learned _Storia della Musica_ (Bologna, 1757-1770). One cannot but admire
his perseverin