at once. At the performances of the oratorios Handel still played the organ concertos, which were an integral part of the entertainment, but of course from memory, and gradually the solo parts of the concertos assumed the character of an improvisation (Burney, Sketch, p. 29). The oratorios went on year after year, apparently with regular success ; on the revivals of 'Jephtha' and 'Semele,' additions were made to the score of each work. The only new composition, 'The Triumph of Time and Truth,' produced at Covent Garden, 11 March 1757, was of course a new version of one of his earliest works, with considerable additions and alterations. This has a special interest, since it shows how extremely slight was the difference between Handel's early and later styles. About the beginning of 1758 he felt that his health was rapidly declining (Hawkins), but he managed to fulfil all his engagements until within a few days of his death. The tenth night of his season of 1759 took place on 6 April at Covent Garden, when the 'Messiah' was given ; at the close of the performance Handel was taken ill with faintness, and about eight o'clock in the morning of Saturday, 14 April (Easter Eve), he died at his house, now 25 Brook Street (cf. detailed account of his death in a letter from one James Smyth, a perfumer, of New Bond Street, to Handel's friend, Bernard Granville, printed in The Autobiography and Correspondence of Mary Granville, afterwards Mary Delany, 1861-2). He was buried in Westminster Abbey on the even- ing of the 20th 'at about eight o'clock' (Universal Chronicle, 24 April 1759). The funeral, although nominally private, was attended by three thousand persons. Burney, relying on the statement of the doctor who attended Handel, that the date of death was 13 April, erroneously denied the accuracy of the inscription on the monument (erected in 1762), which correctly gives the date as the 14th (cf. Burney, Commemoration of Handel). Handel's will was proved 26 April 1759 ; it is printed entire, with the four codicils, in Clarke's 'Reminiscences of Handel,' in Rockstro's 'Life,' and elsewhere. The codicils show that between 1750 and 1756 he had saved about 2,500,'. His relations in Germany were not forgotten, but his most important bequest was that of his music books and harpsichord to John Christopher Smith, who, in gratitude for the continuation by George III of a pension granted to him by the Princess Dowager of Wales, one of his most steadfast patrons, presented to the king all Handel's manuscript scores, a bust by Roubillac, and possibly the harpsichord, though there is strong reason for believing the last to be now in the South Kensington Museum (see Rockstro, pp. 427-8). Large collections of Handel's works exist in Smith's writing ; one belongs to H. B. Lennard, Esq., of Hampstead, another to Dr. Chrysander, a third is in the possession of Bevil Granville, esq., of Wellesbourne Hall, Warwickshire. An important collection of sketches in Handel's autograph, besides other complete works in his own and Smith's writing, is in the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge ; the Earl of Aylesford has some autograph works, and the British Museum possesses the autographs of several of the concertos, the Dettingen anthem, one of the Chandos anthems, parts of 'Alcestis' and the water music, and an early Italian concerto.
In person Handel was somewhat unwieldy, his features were large, and his general expression (according to Burney) rather heavy and sour. This must have been caused by the prominent black eyebrows which are noticeable in his portraits. His smile, according to the same authority, was like 'the sun bursting out of a black cloud.' His contemporaries seem to have known little of his private life beyond the facts that he had an enormous appetite, and that when provoked 'he would break out into profane expressions.' The immense number of his compositions, combined with his work as a conductor and impresario, can have left him little time for other occupations, and there is no record that he had any tastes outside his art. Many anecdotes prove that the simple, straightforward nature of his sacred music was the direct reflection of a sincerely religous nature. When complimented by Lord Kinnoull upon the noble entertainment which he had lately given the town in the 'Messiah,' he said : 'My lord, I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wish to make them better (Beattie, Letters, ii. 77). He admitted, too, that during the composition of the 'Hallelujah' chorus, 'I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God Himself.' It is hard to reconcile with his upright and honest nature the charges of plagiarism brought against him upon grounds which cannot be contested. The most temperate and critical discussion of the question within a short compass will be found in an article (by the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour) in the 'Edinburgh Review' for January 1887.
Many different opinions have been entertained as to the ultimate position which Handel will occupy in the history of music. In England he is regarded with a veneration which acknowledges no faults. Abroad he has been condemned as old-fashioned and
