were engaged to perform for him. He could not be thwarted from his
bent, nor cajoled into doing anything that he disliked, whilst his
stubborn pride prevented him from yielding to any, whether great or
small. When, in 1723, his opera 'Ottone' was about to be produced, he
had engaged as prima donna the great Continental singer, Francesca
Cuzzoni. The lady does not appear to have possessed the sweetest of
tempers, and she showed her independence by not putting in an
appearance in England until the rehearsals were far advanced. This
could not have been pleasing to the composer, but when on her
presenting herself at the theatre she flatly refused to sing the aria
'Falsa Immagine' in the way Handel had written it, he burst into a
rage, and seizing her in his arms, cried: 'Madam, you are a very
she-devil, but I vill have you know dat I am Beelzebub, de prince of
devils!' with which he made as if to throw her out of the window.
Cuzzoni was so frightened by his fury that she promised to do as she
was bid. Accordingly, she sang as he directed, and made one of her
greatest successes with the song. How much the public appreciated the
singing of this gifted artist we may guess when it is told that the
directors obtained as much as five guineas for each seat when she was
advertised to sing.

Although he would brook no contradiction on the part of those who were
engaged to execute his works, Handel spared no pains to help them over
a difficulty, or to show how his music should be expressed. At times,
however, his temper took the form of the most unsparing sarcasm. One
day a singer at rehearsal protested against the manner in which Handel
was accompanying him on the harpsichord, and in a fit of anger
exclaimed: 'If you continue to accompany me in that fashion I will
jump from the platform on to the harpsichord, and smash it!' 'Vat!'
cried Handel, looking up in surprise, 'do you say you vill jump? Den I
vill advertise it at once, for people vould come to see you jump dat
vill never come to hear you sing!'

We have not space to describe the whole of the works which Handel
wrote for the Royal Academy of Music. His industry was untiring, and
the fertility of his genius was such that within a period of eight
years from the beginning of the Society's work he had composed and
produced no fewer than fourteen operas. Amongst this number was the
opera called 'Scipione,' in which is to be found a 'Triumphal March in
D,' which the Grenadier Gu