r of Handel,
undertook to bring them together again. Being informed that the king
intended to picnic on the Thames, he requested the composer to write
something for the occasion. Thereupon Handel wrote the twenty-five
little concerted pieces known under the title of "Water Music." They
were executed in a barge which followed the royal boat. The orchestra
consisted of four violins, one tenor, one violoncello, one double-bass,
two hautboys, two bassoons, two French horns, two flageolets, one flute,
and one trumpet. The king soon recognized the author of the music,
and his resentment against Handel began to soften. Shortly after this
Geminiani was requested to play some sonatas of his own composition in
the king's private cabinet; but, fearing that they would lose much
of their effect if they were accompanied in an inferior manner, he
expressed the desire that Handel should play the accompaniments. Baron
Kilmanseck carried the request to the king, and supported it strongly.
The result was that peace was made, and an extra pension of two hundred
pounds per annum settled upon Handel. Geminiani, after thirty-five
years spent in England, went to Paris for five years, where he was most
heartily welcomed by the musical world, but returned across the Channel
again to spend his latter years in Dublin. It was here that Matthew
Dubourg, whose book on "The Violin and Violinists" is a perfect
treasure-trove of anecdote, became his pupil.

Another remarkable violinist was an intimate friend of Geminiani, a
name distinguished alike in the annals of chess-playing and music, Andre
Danican Philidor. This musician was born near Paris in 1726, and was the
grandson of the hautboy-player to the court of Louis XIII. His father
and several of his relations were also eminent players in the royal
orchestras of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Young Philidor was received into
the Chapel Royal at Versailles in 1732, being then six years old, and
when eleven he composed a motette which extorted much admiration. In
the Chapel Royal there were about eighty musicians daily in attendance,
violins, hautboys, violas, double-basses, choristers, etc.; and,
cards not being allowed, they had a long table inlaid with a number of
chess-boards, with which they amused their leisure time. When fourteen
years old Philidor was the best chess-player in the band. Four years
later he played at Paris two games of chess at the same time, without
seeing the boards, and afterward ex