haps it
was disobedience,--but what a fine thing happened when he reached the
duke's palace and played the organ. From that day every one knew that
his life would be devoted to music. Sometimes at home, sometimes in
foreign lands, he was always working, thinking, learning. He is said,
in his boyhood, to have copied large quantities of music, and to have
composed something every week. This copying made him better acquainted
with other music, and the early habit of composition made it easy for
him to write his thoughts in after years. Indeed, so skilled did he
become, that he wrote one opera--"Rinaldo"--in fourteen days, and the
"Messiah" was written in twenty-four days.[63]

Yet parts of his great works he wrote and rewrote until they were
exactly as they should be. _It will do_ is a thought that never comes
into the head of a great artist. How do you imagine such a man was to
his friends? We are told that, "he was in character at once great and
simple." And again it has been said that, "his smile was like heaven."

We have seen Handel as the great composer, but he was not so busy in
this that his thoughts were not also dwelling upon other things. If
ever you go to London, you should of a Sunday morning hear the service
at the Foundling Hospital. You will see there many hundreds of boys
and girls grouped about the organ. Their singing will seem beautiful
to you, from its sweetness and from the simple faith in which it is
done. After the service you may go to the many rooms of this home for
so many otherwise homeless ones.

There are for you to visit: the playroom, the schoolroom, the long
halls with the pretty white cots, and the pleasant dining-room. Here
it will please you to see the little ones march into dinner, with
their similar dresses, and all looking as happy as possible. But the
picture you will, no doubt, longest keep, is that of the children
about the organ.

They will tell you there that it was Handel who gave this organ to the
chapel, and who, for the benefit of the children who might come here,
gave concerts, playing and conducting, which were so successful that
they had to be repeated. A "fair copy" of the "Messiah" will be shown
you as one of the precious possessions.

It will very plainly be present in your mind how the little boy sat
alone playing day after day in the garret, wishing no better pastime
than to express the feelings of his heart in tones. Perhaps you will
think of his words: "Learn