done without Handel's consent. The next season saw the production of 'Susanna' on 10 Feb., and of 'Solomon' on 17 March 1749. The latter is one of the composer's best works, though of late years it seems to have sunk in public estimation. On 21 April Handel's 'Music for the Fireworks ' was rehearsed at Vauxhall, to an audience of twelve thousand persons ; the performance took place on the 27th in the Green Park, in celebration of the peace of Aix. The papers had announced as far back as the previous January (London Magazine, General Advertiser, 3 Jan.) that 'a band of a hundred musicians are to play before the fireworks begin, the musick for which is to be compos'd by Mr. Handel.' The work is perhaps chiefly remarkable as containing the only instance of the use of the serpent in a score of Handel's (Gent. Mag. &c.) A month afterwards the music was repeated, together with the Dettingen anthem, a selection from 'Solomon,' and a new anthem, 'Blessed are they that consider the poor,' for the benefit of the Foundling Hospital, in the chapel of that institution, before the Prince and Princess of Wales and 'a great number of persons of quality and distinction' (ib.) The composer had offered this performance to the committee of the hospital on 4 May, and was immediately enrolled as one of the governors in recognition of his generosity (Brownlow, Memoranda of the Foundling Hospital, 1847). Handel retained his interest in the charity throughout his life ; not content with presenting to the chapel a very fine organ, built by Parkes, he conducted a performance of the 'Messiah' there on 1 May 1750, and again on the 15th of the same month (General Advertiser, 24 April and 4 May). Between this time and the date of his death the composer directed nine more performances of the 'Messiah' for the benefit of the institution, an act of benevolence which is all the more creditable to him, seeing that the work was almost the only one of his oratorios which could be depended upon to attract a large audience. These eleven performances realised a sum of 6,935l. (Burney, Sketch, p. 28).
Handel's next oratorio, 'Theodora' (the libretto by Dr. Thomas Morell), produced 16 March 1750, was so unsuccessful that Handel 'was glad if any professor, who did not perform, would accept of tickets, or orders for admission. Two gentlemen of that description, now living, having applied to Handel after the disgrace of "Theodora" for an order to hear the "Messiah." he cried out, '"Oh, your sarvant, Mein herren! you are tamnaple tainty! you would not co to Teodora, der was room enough to tance dere. when dat was perform " ' (Burney, Sketch, p. 29, note). He seems to have ascribed the failure of "Theodora" to the fact that 'the Jews would not come to it, because it was a Christian story, and the ladies would not come to it, because it was a virtuous one' (Baker, Biographia Dramatica, ed. 1812, iii. 447). This was the last of his reverses. The oratorios were so well attended from this time forward that he was able to save money. The 'General Advertiser' of 21 Aug. 1750 (Schoelcher, p. 317) announced that 'Mr. Handel, who went to Germany to visit his friends some time since, and between the Hague and Haarlem had the misfortune to be overturned, by which he was terribly hurt, is now out of danger.' In the same year he wrote music for Smollett's 'Alcestis,' intended to be produced by Rich. The production never took place, and 'Alceste,' as the music was called, was incorporated in 'The Choice of Hercules,' a 'musical interlude,' performed four times during the next season, beginning on 1 March 1751. The composition of the last of his oratorios, 'Jephtha,' occupied him from January of this year until August ; the length of time is accounted for by the state of his health, which compelled him to go to Cheltenham for the waters. Handel was at the time threatened with blindness, and the effects of his malady are to be traced in the manuscript of the oratorio. 'Jephtha' was first given at Covent Garden on 26 Feb. 1752.
Before that date Handel had taken the advice of Samuel Sharp, of Guy's Hospital, and on 3 May he was couched for gutta serena by William Bramfield. It was hoped that the operation was completely successful, but on 27 Jan. 1753 it was announced in the 'London Evening Post' that 'Mr. Handel has at length, unhappily, quite lost his sight.' He did not, however, become absolutely blind. M. Schoelcher discovered in the score of 'Jephtha,' which was written by Smith, and is now at Hamburg, a note of music undoubtedly corrected in pencil in Handel's writing. The number in which this occurs was not added until 1758. The signatures to the three codicils to his will prove also that he could see a little by looking closely. As soon as it became evident that the most he had to hope for was 'a freedom from pain in the visual organs for the remainder of his days' (Hawkins), he sent for his pupil and protégé, John Christopher Smith, the son of his amanuensis Schmidt, to help him in conducting his oratorios, and to write from his dictation. Smith was then abroad as tutor to a young man of large fortune, but returned to England
