s! The
rudimentary instrumentation of the time made such speed possible, yet
who is there to-day who could write all those fugue choruses with such
speed? The fugue manner, which seems laborious to us, was current at
the time and they were practised in it. The library also contains works
of Handel's contemporaries, which are executed with the same mastery. We
cannot say whether they were written with the same rapidity as Handel's,
but it is easy to see that there was a general ability to do so, just as
now it is a matter of common attainment to produce complicated
orchestral effects, the possibility of which the old masters had no
conception. What made Handel superior to his rivals was the romantic and
picturesque side of his works; probably also, his prodigious and
unvarying fertility.

The last word has been said about Queen Victoria, yet the peculiar charm
which radiated from her personality cannot be too highly praised. She
seemed the personification of England. When she passed on, it seemed as
though a great void were left. All King Edward's splendid qualities were
necessary to take her place, combined with the effect of the world's
surprise at discovering a great king where they had expected to see
only a brilliant prince who had been a constant lover of pomp and
pleasure.

I was later admitted to Buckingham Palace to play with Josef Hollman,
the violinist, before Queen Alexandra. We both were eager for this
opportunity which we were told was impossible. The Queen was very busy,
and, in addition, she was in mourning for the successive deaths of her
father and mother, the King and Queen of Denmark. Suddenly, however, we
learned that she would receive us. She was pale and appeared to be
feeble, but she received us with the utmost cordiality. She spoke to me
about her mother, whom I had seen at Copenhagen with her sisters the
Empress Dowager of Russia, and the Princess of Hanover whom politics
deprived of a crown which was hers by right. I have a very pleasant
recollection of this visit. I do not know how it happened but I remained
speechless at this lead from the Queen. She brought the subject up a
second time and my timidity still prevented my responding. I ought to
have had many things to say to one so obviously eager to listen. This
Queen of Denmark, with her eighty years, was the most delightful old
lady imaginable. Erect, slight, alert of mind and unfaltering of speech,
she reminded me vividly of my maternal