577 



HAMPDEN, JOHN. 



HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK. 



278 



HAMPDEN, JOHN, the eldest son of William Hampden, of Hamp- 

 den, in Buckinghamshire, and his wife Elizabeth, second daughter of 

 Sir Henry Cromwell, of Hinchinbrooke, in Huntingdonshire, and aunt 

 of the Protector, waa born in London in 1594, and succeeded in his 

 infancy to the estates of his ancient and respectable family. He was 

 educated first at a grammar school at Thame, afterwards at Magdalen 

 College, Oxford, and in 1613 was admitted a student in the Inner 

 Temple, where he made considerable progress in the common law. In 

 1619 he married at Pyrton, in Oxfordshire, Elizabeth, only daughter 

 of Edmund Symeon, and for some years continued to lead a country life, 

 entering freely into field sports and other amusements of his ago. 

 His attention however was likewise directed to the political struggles 

 of the day ; so that when the king was by necessity compelled to 

 summon a parliament, Hampden became anxious for a seat in the 

 lower house. The borough of Grampound first returned him to 

 parliament ; the borough of \Vendover next elected him three succes- 

 sive times. He was then chosen by the county of Buckingham, and 

 being doubly returned to the Long Parliament by the constituencies 

 of Wendover and Buckinghamshire, he made his election for the 

 county. In 1634 his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, died, 

 leaving nine children three sons and six daughters : Elizabeth, the 

 eldest, married Richard Knightley, of Fawsley, in Northamptonshire ; 

 the second, Anne, became the wife of Sir Robert Pye, of Farringdon. 

 Mrs. Knightley, Hampden's favourite daughter, died during the first 

 year of the civil war. He married, for his second wife, Loetitia, 

 daughter of Mr. Vachell, of Coley, near Reading : by this lady, who 

 survived him, it does not appear that he had issue. 



In the first short parliament to which he was elected, Hampden 

 took no very forward part in the business of the house; bub his 

 opinions coincided with those of Pym, Selden, and others of the 

 popular party, who were determined to resist the unwarrantable 

 encroachments of the crown upon the privileges of the parliament 

 and the rights of the people. Gradually his influence increased both 

 in and out of parliament, and especially in his native county of Buck- 

 ingham. At length his reputation became general. At the close of 

 Charles I.'s second parliament, the king, in pursuance of his threat to 

 resort to new modes of raising supplies, required a general loan ; to 

 this loan Hampden resolutely refused to contribute, denying the king's 

 right to demand it In consequence of this refusal he was imprisoned 

 in the Gate-house, removed thence in custody to Hampshire, but was 

 afterwards, with seventy-six others, unconditionally liberated by an 

 order of council. He now became one of the most industrious mem- 

 bers in the house, both in its general business and the superintend- 

 ence and conduct of committees. His resistance to the arbitrary 

 imposition of ship-money (1636) induced many other residents in 

 Buckinghamshire to follow his example. Proceedings were instituted 

 gainst him on the part of the crown. The case was argued in the 

 Exchequer Chamber (1637) during twelve days before all the twelve 

 judges, who, two excepted, gave a decision in favour of the crown. 

 It is remarkable that there is no appearance of an assessment of 

 ship-money having been made upon the county of Buckingham after 

 Hampden's trial The judgment however which was then given 

 strengthened the claim which the king had made to the power of 

 taxing in any manner and to any extent, and the fear of oppression 

 began to operate aa an inducement to emigration. Many, especially 

 among the Puritans, had already left the kingdom, and more were 

 preparing to do so, when an order from the king, dated April 1638, 

 prohibited all ships from sailing with passengers unless with a special 

 licence. Eight ships were then lying in the Thames for the reception 

 of emigrants; in one of which had engaged their passage across the 

 Atlantic two no less considerable persons, it is said, than Oliver Crom- 

 well and his kinsman Hampden : to this ship a licence was refused. 

 (Lord Nugent's ' Memorials of Hampden,' vol. i. p. 254.) 



For an account of Hampden's conduct generally in the Long Parlia- 

 ment we must refer to Lord Nugent' s ' Memorials of Hampden,' to 

 Clarendon, Whitelock, and the general histories. His resistance to the 

 undue influence of the king so irritated Charles I., that the king 

 accused him, with three other members of the Commons and one 

 of the Lords, of having traitorously endeavoured to subvert the 

 fundamental laws and government of the kingdom, and even made 

 an attempt in person to seize them in the House. The House pro- 

 tected them from seizure, but violent debates and tumults arose, which 

 were shortly after followed by the civil war. Hampden now raised 

 nd commanded a troop, with which he joined the Parliamentary 

 rmy, acting chiefly in Berkshire and the counties of Oxford, North- 

 ampton, Warwick, Middlesex, and Buckingham. Being a member of 

 the Committee of Public Safety, as well as a military leader, he was 

 incessantly and variously occupied in all the affairs of the war. His 

 counsel was for vigorous and resolute measures ; he considered that 

 Essex, the parliamentary general, should have acted more on the 

 offensive. In an engagement with Prince Rupert upon Chalgrove 

 Field, June 18, 1643, Hampden placed himself at the head of the 

 attack, but in the first charge received his death-wound. Two cara- 

 bine balls struck him in the shoulder, and, breaking the bone, entered 

 his body : he left the field, and obtained surgical aid at Thame, but 

 the wound was incurable, and after six days' severe suffering he 

 expired. 



Historian* of the most opposite parties unite in unanimous praise 



of this great man : all bear testimony to his affability in conversation ; 

 his temper, art, and eloquence in debate ; his penetration in counsel ; 

 his industry, vigilance, and enterprise in action, and his courage in 

 war. His last words were a touching and beautiful prayer for the 

 welfare of his country. 



HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK, who, from having passed nearly 

 the whole of his life in this country, and produced in it all his great 

 orks, the English feel some right to claim as their own, was born at 

 Halle, in Saxony, on the 24th of February 1684. He was the issue 

 of a second marriage, which his father, an eminent physician and 

 surgeon, contracted after he had reached his grand climacteric. This 

 sou of his rather advanced age he destined for the profession of the 

 civil law, but the child's passion for music, his sacrifice of play-hours, 

 often of his meals to its pursuit, and the determined manner in which 

 he evaded or resisted all attempts to divert him from a purpose 

 nature seems to have prompted, at length softened the obduracy of 

 his father, who, by the earnest advice of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, 

 placed him under Friedrich Zachau, organist of the cathedral of 

 Halle, an excellent musician. This professor soon made so willing a 

 pupil acquainted with the principles of the science and the laws of 

 harmony ; he then placed in his hands the best works of the greatest 

 composers, without directing his attention to any one in particular, 

 thus leaving him to form a style of his own out of an acquaintance 

 with numerous models of acknowledged superiority. So successful 

 was this plan of education, that the youthful student composed a set 

 of sonatas when only ten years of age, which was in the possession of 

 George III., and probably still forms a part of the Queen's library. 



Handel continued his attendance on the same master till he attained 

 his fourteenth year, when he was taken to Berlin, where tho Italian 

 opera was flourishing under the direction of Bononciui and Ariosti, 

 afterwards his rivals in London. He there attracted the notice of the 

 elector, who proposed to send him to Italy, which offer, for some 

 reason unknown, was declined by his father, who shortly after died ; 

 and from this period we lose all trace of the young Handel till the 

 year 1703, when he reached Hamburg, in which city he may be said 

 to have commenced his professional life. He there found Reinhard 

 Keiser in the office of director of the opera, a composer of the highest 

 celebrity, but whose expensive and somewhat dissipated habits led him 

 frequently to absent himself from his post, on which occasions Handel 

 was appointed to fill his situation, a preference so irritating to 

 Mattheson, an abla musician and a voluminous writer on the art, that 

 he violently assailed his favoured rival. A duel ensued, and nothing 

 but a score, buttoned under Handel's coat, on which his antagonist's 

 weapon broke, saved a life that soon proved of such inestimable value. 

 Shortly after this he was employed to set a drama entitled ' Almeria,' 

 the success of which was remarkable ; it ran thirty nights uninter- 

 ruptedly. Next year he produced 'Florinda,' and 'Nerone' in the 

 year following, both of which were as favourably received as his 

 former work. He now found himself possessed of the means of visiting 

 Italy, then the land of song. At Florence he was welcomed iu the 

 most flattering manner by the grand-duke, and there, in 1709, pro- 

 duced the opera of ' Rodrigo,' for which he was rewarded with a 

 hundred sequins (501.), and a service of plate. He then proceeded to 

 Venice, and brought out his ' Agrippina,' which was performed twenty- 

 seven nights successively. In this, we are told, horns and other wind 

 instruments were first used in Italy, aa accompaniments to the voice. 



Quitting Venice, where his music is said to have made an impression 

 on the famous beauty and singer, Signora Vittoria, a lady particularly 

 distinguished by the grand-duke, but which the young composer did 

 not reciprocate, Handel went to Rome, where he was hospitably enter- 

 tained by the Cardinal Ottoboni, who had in his service a band of ex- 

 cellent performers, under the direction of the famous Corelli [CoBELLi], 

 with whom, as well as with Domenico Scarlatti, the young Saxon 

 speedily formed an acquaintance. There he produced ' II Trionfo del 

 Tempo,' the text written for him by the Cardinal Pamphilii, and a 

 sacred opera, a kind of mystery, 'La Resurrezione." The former 

 altered and enlarged, with English words by Dr. Morell, he afterwards 

 brought out in London, ap an oratorio, under the name of 'The 

 Triumph of Time and Truth.' From Rome he advanced to Naples ; 

 but being anxious to return to Germany he declined many proffered 

 engagements, and in 1710 reached Hanover, finding there a generous 

 patron in the Elector, afterwards George I., who soon appointed him 

 his Maeitro di Capelta, with a salary of 1500 crowns, on condition 

 that he would, on the termination of his travels, return to perform 

 the duties of his office. 



In 1710 this great musician first arrived in London, and was soon 

 honoured by the notice of Queen Anne. Aaron Hill, then manager of 

 the opera, having formed a drama from Tasso's ' Gerusalemtne Liberata,' 

 which RoUi worked into an opera under the title of ' Rinaldo," Handel 

 set music to it, and it was produced in March 1711. Ho then returned 

 to Hanover; but the attractions of London brought him back the 

 following year to this metropolis, which thenceforward became his 

 home. At the peace of Utrecht he, by the queen's command, com- 

 posed a 'Te Deum' and 'Jubilate,' for the rejoicings on that event. 

 A pension of 2001. was the reward of this service. His promise to 

 return to Hanover was now either forgotten or its fulfilment delayed ; 

 and when in 1714 the unexpected demise of Queen Anne placed the 

 Elector of Hanover on the British throne, Handel, taken by surprise 



