ng for it, in all time to come, the distinguished
place which it is entitled to occupy in the history of this great man.
Perhaps we should rather say, he has done justice to England, by
clearing it of the imputation of having 'coldly received' a musical
production to which immortal fame has since been decreed. While the
musical world will thank our author for several new facts particularly
interesting to them, the main attraction for general readers will
probably be found in the glimpses which this volume affords of a _beau
monde_ which has passed away.

In 1720, a royal academy for the promotion of Italian operas was
founded in London by some of the nobility and gentry under royal
auspices. Handel, Bononcini, and Areosti, were engaged as a
triumvirate of composers; and to Handel was committed the charge of
engaging the singers. But the rivalry between him and Bononcini rose
to strife; the aristocratic patrons took nearly equal sides; and a
furious controversy on their respective merits was carried on for
years. Hence the epigram of Dean Swift--

Some say that Signor Bononcini,
Compared to Handel, is a ninny;
Others aver that to him Handel
Is scarcely fit to hold the candle.
Strange that such difference should be
'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee!

When the withdrawal of both his rivals left Handel in sole possession
of the field, he quarrelled with some of his principal performers, and
thereupon ensued new scenes of discord. Ladies of the highest rank
entered with enthusiasm into the strife; and while some flourished
their fans aloft on the side of Faustina, whom Handel had introduced
in order to supersede Cuzzoni, another party, headed by the Countess
of Pembroke, espoused the cause of the depressed songstress, and made
her take an oath on the Holy Gospels, that she would never submit to
accept a lower salary than her rival. The humorous poets of the day
took up the theme, Pope introduced it into his _Dunciad_, and
Arbuthnot published two witty brochures, entitled _Harmony in an
Uproar_, and _The Devil to Pay at St James's_. The result of these and
other contests, in which Handel gradually lost ground, was the
establishment of a rival Opera at Lincoln's Inn Fields. It was
patronised by the Prince of Wales and most of the nobles; and not even
the presence of the king and queen, who continued the steady friends
of Handel, could attract for him an audience at the Haymarket. It
became quite fa