Cuzzoni’s popularity with the public had so augmented her native conceit and insolence as to make a rival unbearable.  Though she was ugly and ill made, of a turbulent and obstinate temper, ungrateful and capricious, she deported herself as if she possessed all the graces of beauty, art, and genius, and regarded the allegiance of the public as her native right.  London had indeed given her some claim to this arrogance, as from the first it had treated her with brilliant distinction, so that fashionable ladies had adopted the style of her stage dresses, and duels were fought by the young “bucks” and “swells” of the time over the right to escort her to her carriage.  The bitterness with which Cuzzoni hated Faustina was aggravated by the fact that the latter, in addition to her great ability as a singer, was younger, far more beautiful, and of most fascinating and amiable manner.  Handel and the directors of the King’s theatre were in ecstasies that they had secured two such exquisite singers; but their joy was destined to receive a sudden check in the bitter squabbles which speedily arose.  Indeed, the two singers did not meet in battle for the first time, for seven years before they had been rival candidates for favor in Italy.  Faustina Bordoni possessed remarkable beauty of figure and face, an expression full of fire and intelligence, to which she united tact, amiability, and prudence.  As singers the rivals were nearly equal; for Faustina, while surpassing the Cuzzoni in power of execution, had not the command of expression which made the latter’s art so pathetic and touching.  Dr. Barney, the musical historian, and father of Madame d’Arblay, describes Cuzzoni in these words:  “A native warble enabled her to execute divisions with such facility as to conceal every appearance of difficulty; and so soft and touching was the natural tone of her voice, that she rendered pathetic whatever she sang, in which she had leisure to unfold its whole volume.  The art of conducting, sustaining, increasing, and diminishing her tones by minute degrees, acquired for her among professors the title of complete mistress of her art.  In a canta-bile air, though the notes she added were few, she never lost a favorable opportunity of enriching the cantilena with all the refinements and embellishments of the time.  Her shake was perfect; she had a creative fancy, and the power of occasionally accelerating and retarding the measure in the most artificial manner by what the Italians call tempo rubato.  Her high notes were unrivaled in clearness and sweetness, and her intonations were so just and fixed that it seemed as if it were not in her power to sing out of tune.”  The celebrated flute-player Quantz, instructor of Frederick II., also gave Dr. Burney the following account of Faustina’s artistic qualities:  “Faustina had a mezzo-soprano voice, that was less clear than penetrating.  Her compass now was only from B flat to G in alt; but after this time she extended its limits downward.