opera which was to become I puritani, noting: "I am about to lose my mind over the plot of the opera for Paris, as it has been impossible to find a suitable subject for my purpose and adaptable to the company". In the same letter he continues by stating that he was working towards finding a subject with the Italian émigré, Count Pepoli, who came from a prominent Bologna family and who had been active in opposition to Austrian rule of Italy, until forced into exile in France and England. Although Pepoli had yet to write for the opera house, he made acquaintance with Bellini at one of the salons both attended. The process of writing the libretto and working with the composer was a struggle (notes Weinstock), added to by a period of illness which Bellini reports, although—on 11 April—he is able to report in a letter to Ferlito that he was well and that "I have chosen the story for my Paris opera; it is of the times of Cromvello [Cromwell], after he had King Charles I of England beheaded." In his letter, he continues by providing a synopsis, indicating that his favourite singers—Giulia Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and Lablache—would be available for the principal roles, and that he would begin to write the music by 15 April if he has received the verses. He also referred to the offer from Naples for April 1836 and noting his financial demands with the questions as to how this might be received. The chosen source was a play performed in Paris only six months before, Têtes Rondes et Cavalieres (Roundheads and Cavaliers), written by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which some sources state was based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality, while others state that there is no connection. The composer had prepared the way for his librettist by providing him with a scenario of thirty-nine scenes (thus compressing the original drama into manageable proportions), reducing the number of characters from nine to seven and at the same time, giving them names of a more Italianate, singable quality. Continuing to work on the yet-unnamed I Puritani, Bellini moved to Puteaux—"a half an hour by road" from central Paris, as the guest of an English friend, Samuel Levys, "where I hope to complete my opera more carefully". At some in the late Spring (specific date unknown) Bellini wrote to Pepoli to