1792
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[satire against Pitt’s effort to allocate more money for the King] [ODE II.] […] “Your Oratorios, that expences [sic] bred, “And DUKE of CUMBERLAND*, so dear, are dead, “That gave (’tis said) your Majesty much pain— “The Nation kindly paid your Doctors’ bills, “I mean the WILLISES, for toil and pills, “That brought you to your Wisdom, Sire, again— “Then how can Majesty be poor? “Your coffers must be running o’er. [7] “Cabbage and carrot without end, “The Windsor Gard’ners daily send; “Proud that their vegetables load the board “Of Britain’s High and Mighty LORD! […][1] |
[Chapter XV.]
[…] for La Luc, its owner, was one of those rare characters to whom misfortune seldom looks in vain, and whose native goodness, confirmed by principle, is uniform and unassuming in its acts. The following little picture of his domestic life, his family and his manners, will more fully illustrate his character. It was drawn from the life, and its exactness will, it is hoped, compensate for its length. [53]
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THE FAMILY OF LA LUC. ——— “But half mankind, like Handel’s fool, destroy, “Through rage and ignorance, the strain of joy; “Irregularly wild their passions roll “Through Nature’s finest instrument, the soul: “While men of sense, with Handel’s happier skill, “Correct the taste and harmonize the will; “Teach their affections, like his notes, to flow, “Nor rais’d too high, nor ever sunk too low; “’Till ev’ry virtue, measur’d and refin’d, “As fits the concert of the master mind, “Melts in its kindred sounds, and pours along “Th’ according music of the moral song.” CAWTHORNE. […][2] |
[“BERNARD GATES, ESQ.”]
In 1731, he cheerfully contributed to the rising fame of Handel, while most other of our Masters invidiously endeavoured to depreciate his merits, or vainly attempted to become his rivals. That immortal composer having set the Oratorio of Esther for the Duke of Chandos, it was this year represented in action by the children of his Majesty’s Chapel, at their Master’s house in James-street, Westminster; and afterwards repeated by the same performers, in a Subscription Concert, at the Crown and Anchor. (Vide Burney’s History of Music, Vol. IV, p. 360.)
[“DR. THOMAS AUGUSTINE ARNE”]
From 1742 to 1744 Mr. Arne and his lady took a trip to Ireland; during which time also Handel happened to be there. [... 44 ...] In the Oratorio style, Dr. Arne (who had taken his Degree at Oxford in 1759) composed the Death of Abel, Judith, and Beauty and Virtue. In his sacred Chorusses, though Dr. Burney says they “were much inferior to those of Handel,” yet to those only can their inferiority be admitted; since they possess a spirit and fire, which if Handel had not preceded and monopolized all the praise in that species of composition, would doubtless have delighted and astonished every hearer. His Oratorio airs Dr. Burney himself confesses to be often “admirable.”[3]
4837 Handell’s Instruct. for Hautboy, 9d—Songs by Handel, &c. 1s[4]
* By the death of the Duke, a large annual income reverted to His Majesty.
[1] Peter Pindar [=John Wolcot], More Money! Or, Odes of Instruction to Mr. Pitt: With a Variety of other Choice Matters (London: J. Evans, 1792), 6–7.
[2] Ann [Ward] Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest: Interspersed with Some Pieces of Poetry, 3 vols, 2nd edition (London: T. Hookman and J. Carpenter, 1792), 3:52–53.
[3] An Interesting Collection of Modern Lives... (London: G. Riebau, 1792), 41, 43–44.
[4] J[ames]. Lackington, Second Volume of Lackington’s Catalogue for 1792 ([London: ?, 1792]), 133.