companied on the harpsichord by Handel, as
he considered no one else capable of doing it. The petition was
powerfully seconded by Kielmansegge, and acceded to by George I."

[Illustration: Handel and George I. From painting by E. J. C. Hamman.]

Handel was not only honoured by those who were kings by birth, but also
by the rulers in his own art. Beethoven always declared that Handel
was "the monarch of the musical kingdom;" Haydn said of him, "He is the
father of us all," and at another time, "There is not a note of him but
draws blood." Scarlatti followed Handel all over Italy, and in after
years, when speaking of the great master, would cross himself in token
of admiration; and Mozart said, "Handel knows better than any of us
what will produce a grand effect."

GLUCK.

Marie Antoinette, married at fourteen and Queen of France at eighteen,
found herself wearied and annoyed by the excessive etiquette of the
French court, so different from the comparatively simple life she had
led at Vienna. While dauphiness, she often expressed a wish for a
country-house of her own where she could find freedom at times from the
pomp and intrigues of the court, and very soon after his accession
Louis XVI. offered her Little Trianon, which she joyfully accepted.

Built by Louis XV. for Madame du Barry, this charming residence lay in
the midst of a park which was intended to serve both as a school of
gardening and as a botanical garden, and united the various kinds of
gardens then known,--French, Italian, and English. Marie Antoinette
sacrificed the botanical garden, for which she did not much care, in
order to improve and extend the English gardens, which she most
admired, and which were then becoming the fashion on the Continent.

The world was taxed to furnish specimens of trees and plants for her
garden. From North America alone came two hundred and thirty-nine
kinds of trees and shrubs. Besides these, there were everywhere and
always flowers; in the spring, lilacs, then syringas, snowballs,
tuberoses, irises, tulips, hyacinths, and so through the floral
calendar. In addition to these beauties, the park of Trianon was
enhanced by all that the art of the landscape gardener could devise.
Architecture added its gifts in the theatre, the Temple of Love, the
Belvedere, and the palace, where the art of Lagrenee, of Gouthiere,
Houdon, and Clodion found expression. And there still remained the
queen's favourite creation,