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Almeria, which was repeated for thirty successive nights; and nearly equal applause attended the representation of two others— Florinda and Nerone, which he produced within the term of another year. This success procured him the advantages of an intimacy with many influential admirers of his art, and amongst other compliments, the Grand Duke of Tuscany offered to take him through Italy free of all expense, and secure of every convenience. This was an enjoyment which he had long determined to avail himself of, but not in a dependant state: he therefore declined the liberal proposal, and after remaining at Hamburg for five years, found he had saved a purse of ducats, which justified him in undertaking the journey on his own account.

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Florence was the first city of note at which he made any stay: there he was honoured with free access to the palace of the Grand Duke, who prevailed upon him to compose his first Italian opera Rodrigo,' for which he received a present of one hundred. sequins, and a service of plate. Proceeding to Venice he brought forward a second Italian opera, Agrippina,' which was performed with considerable applause for seven-and-twenty nights. From Naples, which he visited next, he repaired to Rome, and was nobly entertained and highly flattered by the most influential cardinals. While thus caressed he had the honour of playing: passage which the dexterous Corelli found difficult to execute, and divided the palm with Scarlatti, who was then esteemed the best pianist in Italy. But notwithstanding all this superiority, and the reputation which accrued to him from some hundreds of very happy pieces which he composed, the man seems not to have been well liked; for his patrons, as well as his equals, complained of the petulance of his temper, and the gross pride of his character.

After spending six years in Italy, he returned to Germany, and was offered a pension of 1500 crowns, and the place of Chapel Master, by the Elector, soon after George the I. of England, to fix his residence at Hanover. This liberal offer he accepted upon the condition of receiving a year's leave of absence to fulfil an engagement with the Elector Palatine at Dusseldorf, and avail himself of a pressing invitation sent to him by the Duke of Manchester and several English nobles. Accordingly, after having been handsomely dismissed from the palatinate, and paying a visit to his aged mother and old master at Halle, he arrived in

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London during the year 1710, was presented at Court, and distinguished by the most flattering attentions. With the arrival of Handel may be fixed the legitimate performance of Italian operas in this country. His own Rinaldo' led the example of reformation, and was much esteemed. He became director of the old house in the Haymarket, received a pension of 2007. a year from the Queen, and found himself so well treated in every respect, that he broke his promise to the Elector of Hanover, and continued profitably employed in London. The most popular of his productions about this period were the grand Te Deum,' and Jubilate,' in celebration, of the peace of Utrecht.

The death of Queen Anne and succession of George the I. seemed at first to augur ill for the continuance of this prosperity. Conscious of the violation of a positive engagement, he could not presume to appear at Court, and dreaded both disgrace and resentment. From this dilemma, however, he was soon rescued by the good offices of a former friend, the Baron Kilmansegge, who accompanied the new monarch to England. Receiving notice of a royal excursion on the river, he prepared some music, and superintended the performance of it at the landing of the party for refreshment. The King, taken by surprise and pleased with the composition, asked who it was to whom he was indebted for the entertainment: and upon being told to Handel, good-naturedly called him from concealment, and not only forgave him, but doubled his pension on the spot, and nominated him music-master to the royal family.

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From the year 1715 to 1718, Handel resided with the Earl of Burlington, and spent the two next years under the Duke of Chandos, who entertained him as chapel-master to the splendid choir he established at Canons, his country seat. It was for the service of the magnificent chapel there, that he produced those anthems and organ fugues, which alone would have sufficed to immortalize his name. From these avocations he was called away in 1720 to become Director of the Royal Academy of Music, which was instituted upon the model of the similar establishment in Paris, for the purpose of securing the nobility a more effective representation of Italian operas, and supported by a munificent subscription to the amount of 50,000. But notwithstanding the great patronage thus concentrated for the success of the measure, some weighty opposition was offered to it in consequence of the

influence possessed by Bunoncini and Attilio, who superintended the affairs of the old house. To accommodate these differences, and settle the question of superior talent, it was proposed that Handel and Bunoncini should set an opera together, each taking an act in his turn. 'Muzio Scævola' was the produce of this competitory trial; and the palm being awarded to Handel, he went to Dresden to engage a fresh body of singers, and opened the academy with great applause. In this station he continued eminently happy during a term cf nine years, and perhaps at no other period was music so nobly cultivated in England.

The jealousy of actors, composers, and even authors, is so proverbial, that it cannot, perhaps, be thought at all strange, that, in 1729, Handel and his dramatic corps fell into a state of tumult, which ultimately disgusted the public, and ruined a most expensive establishment. The actors complained of the violence to which the temper of the composer subjected them, and the composer retorted that the caprice and arrogance of the actors was unbearable. Stenesino, the principal male singer, was the first to begin the quarrel, and Carestini, Cuzzoni, and others, ere long made it a general broil. Once exasperated, Handel refused to compose for those who had offended him, and no entreaties could induce him to swerve from his declaration. By continuing inflexible, he forfeited the patronage of the nobility, who set up another house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was put under the management of Porpora, and made effectively popular by the voice and talents of Farinelli.

Undaunted by this opposition, Handel made some bold efforts to entertain the public. Entering into a partnership with Heidegger, he went to Italy, brought over several new singers, and commenced the usual season with a very good company. But though he struggled hard, he struggled vainly. Heidegger left him after a three years' contest; he continued the battle alone for another twelvemonth, and was then forced to exchange establishments with his rivals. No better fortune resulting from this removal, he shut up his doors, and entered into a partnership with Rich, in Covent Garden, where his Ariadne' was first played in 1733. Still his cause advanced not: by degrees, he was obliged to part with all the money he had saved to pay his debts; and his passion, under the joint pressure of disappoint

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ment and distress, became ungovernable. A stroke of the palsy deprived him of the use of his right hand, and he spoke and acted with such extravagant violence, that by many he was reputed insane. A temporary absence from England, however, calmed his temper, while the baths of Aix la Chapelle restored his injured -health. Upon his return to London, in 1736, he set Dryden's 'Ode on Alexander's Feast' to music for Covent Garden, where it was so well received that overtures of accommodation were made to him from the Opera House, and he was engaged to supply, for the following season, two pieces, Faramondo' and Alessandro Severo,' which were rewarded with a present of 10007. So rapidly did the hostile feelings from which he had suffered now subside, that he realised 15007. by a benefit at the Haymarket in 1758. At this conjuncture, could he only have submitted to write for Farinelli, and consent to a becoming association with the other composers, who had the chief management of the opera, he might have restored his fortune and reputation with ease and rapidity. But dogged obstinacy was his severest enemy: he would yield nothing, and therefore received no favour.

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After bringing out some more Italian operas at Covent Garden, which fell very short of adequate success, he began the composition of those oratorios which constitute the great basis of his fame; and yet at the beginning they were far from returning satisfactory profits or praise. Nevertheless, he continued to produce them Lent after Lent, until the year 1741, when, disgusted at the cool reception of the Messiah,' which has ever since been esteemed the finest of the series, he went over to Dublin. In that capital no professional jealousies or fashionable prejudices clouded the sunshine of his talents, or marred the splendour of his entertainments, and the Messiah' was enthusiastically admired. These expressions of public favour induced the most beneficial consequences; for, upon his return to London, after a profitable absence of nine months, crowded audiences came to hear and applaud the composition. Sampson' was next put into rehearsal; and the reputation of the oratorios increased with every returning season. Among the circumstances which operated to quell the voice of this popular hostility, it is not improbable,

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that the tribute which Pope paid to his talents in the Dunciad availed much.

Such was the just estimate in which Handel's great powers were held, when, in 1751, a gutta serena wholly deprived him of sight, a misfortune which had also befallen his mother some time before her death. Although unflattered by any promises of relief, he insisted that several operations should be made, which were as fruitless as painful. But this calamity, which, if not the severest, is perhaps the most pitiable of all that may be inflicted on human nature, had but little effect upon his spirits. He continued to perform in public with his accustomed precision and constancy, and even composed several new pieces, though he engaged an assistant for the general business of the orchestre. We

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are told, however, that the performance of his own melancholy air, Total Eclipse,' from the oratorio of Sampson, ever after used to agitate him strongly. Early in 1758, his health began to decay rapidly; his appetite, which had always been keen, then failed him; he abandoned all hopes of living, and reprobated the confidence of his physicians with peculiar warmth. On the 6th of April, 1759, he took his place as usual in the orchestre, but expired, after a few days' illness, on the 14th of the same month. The solemnity of his funeral, for which he provided in his will, was honourably performed. The bulk of his fortune, amounting to 20,0001., as he was never married, he bequeathed to a niece; but gave the copy-right of his works to Mr. Smith, the professor, who had latterly assisted him in the direction of the oratorio performances, which, it is universally known, have been repeated without intermission down to the present time. But a more honourable tribute of national respect for his name was given in 1785, when a musical commemoration, consisting of pieces chosen exclusively from his works, was held in Westminster Abbey. Five hundred instruments gave due effect to the selections; their late Majesties and family, attended by the principal nobility and gentry of the three kingdoms, added splendour to the scene, and the performances were justly pronounced the grandest ever exhibited to this country.

Handel in person was large and ungainly; in manners rough; coarse in his general tastes; and gross in his appetite, which he always indulged to excess. He has been reproached with pe

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