he right and left; a barber's pole or two
overhang the footway; and huxters' shops are frequent, with their
wonted array of articles more useful than ornamental. One would never
guess, looking at this old street, that it was once the festive resort
of the wealthy and refined. It needs an effort of imagination to
conceive of it as having witnessed the gay throng of fashion and
aristocracy; the vice-regal _cortege_; ladies, in hoops and feathers;
and "white-gloved beaux," in bag, and sword, and chapeau; with scores
of liveried footmen and pages; and the press of coaches, and chariots,
and sedan-chairs. Yet such was the scene often presented here in the
eighteenth century.' For see, in an oblique angle of the street, and
somewhat retired from the other houses, is a mean, neglected old
building, with a wooden porch, still known by name as the Fishamble
Street Theatre. This is the remaining part of what was originally 'the
great music-hall,' built by a charitable musical society, 'finished in
the most elegant manner, under the direction of Captain Castell,' and
opened to the public on the 2d October 1741. It was within these walls
that the notes of the _Messiah_ first sounded in the ears of an
enraptured audience, and here that its author entered on a new career
of fame.

To prepare for the reception of this, his master-work, Handel first
gave a series of musical entertainments, consisting of some of his
earlier oratorios, and other kindred compositions. They commanded a
most distinguished auditory, including the Lord-Lieutenant and his
family, and were crowned with success in a pecuniary point of view,
answering, and indeed exceeding, the composer's highest expectations.
In a letter written at this time to Mr C. Jennens, who had selected
the words of the _Messiah_, and composed those of a cantata which had
been much admired, he describes, in glowing colours, his happy
position, and informs him that he had set the _Messiah_ to music
before he left England--thus inferentially affording additional
evidence that it had not been performed there. Moreover, the
advertisements call it Handel's _new_ oratorio, and boast that it was
composed expressly for the charitable purpose to which the proceeds of
its first performance were consecrated. This is confirmed by reference
to the minutes of one at least of these institutions, in which it
appears that Handel was in correspondence with them before he had
completed his composition.

T