116 
and instruments, that they seem to be 
rather the effect of ispiration, than of 
knowledge in music. 
“ A6 his oratorios are all, or most of 
them, on scriptural stibjects, so the cho- 
fasses w) them are quite im the church 
style; and it may be said, without extra- 
eagance, that the soblinie strokes they 
abound with, look more lke the effect of 
flumination, than ef mere natural ge- 
nlus,” 
Out of a multitude of esarh ples which 
might be produced, I will only remind the 
reader-of the following, in the single ora- 
torio of the Messiah: 
*¢ For unto us a child is born, é&c. 
é¢ Lift up your heads 
** Hallelujah: For the Lord God, &c. 
“ After these vast efforts of genius, we 
find him rising still higher (if posstble) in 
the three concluding choruses (beginning 
with ‘** Worthy! is the Lamb tliat was 
slain,” &c.), each of which surpasses the 
preceding: till, in the winding up of 
the Amen, the ear is filled with such a 
glow of harmony, as leaves the mind 
wn a kind of heavenly extasy.” 
“ Ttis very remarkable, that many per- 
sons on whom the finest modulations 
would have little or no effect, have been 
greatly struck with Handel’s choruses. 
This 1s probabl y owing to that grandeur 
ef conception w hich predominates in 
them, and which, as coming purely from 
nature, 1s the more strongly and gene- 
rally felt.” 
Mr. Marshall observes, that Handel 
-was proud of his knowledge of the Bible, 
and jealous of any interference in the se- 
lection of the scriptural passages he has 
set for his sacred oratorios; not even a 
mitred head would he suffer to choose tor 
hin. The following anecdote {trom Simith’s 
Life of Handel), which is not generally 
known, will shew that his disposition was 
as inflexible in other respects as in the 
mentioned. 
Handel contracted few intimacies, and 
when his early friends died, he was not 
solicitous.of acquiring new ones. He was 
never married; bat his-celibacy must not 
be attributed to any deficiency of perso- 
nal attractions or (to the source which Sir 
John Hawkins unjustly supposes) the 
want of social affection: on the contrary, 
it was owing to the independency of his 
disposition, which feared degradation, and 
dreaded confinement. For when he was 
young, two of his scholars, ladies of con- 
“ 
* Life of Handel, 1760. 
Causes of owner Brothers 
[Sept. 1, 
siderable fortune, weré 80 much enamour= 
éd of bim, that each was désirous of a 
matrimonial alliance. The first issaid to 
have fallen a victim to her attachment. 
Handel would bave married her, but his 
pride was stung by the coarse declaration 
of her mother: “ thatshe would not con- 
sent to the marriage of her daughter to 4 
fiddler;” and, indig nant at the expression, 
he déclinéd all farther intercourse. After 
the death of the mother, the facher re- 
newed the aequuiitance, and informed 
him that all obstacles were removed; but 
he replied, that the time was now past: 
and the young lady fell into a decline, 
which terminated herexistence. ‘These- 
gond attachment wasa lady splendidly re- 
lated, whose hand he might have obtain- 
ed by renouncing his profession. 
condition he absolutely refused, and lau- 
dably declined the connection, which was 
to prove a restriction on the great 
faculties of his mind. 
Your’s, &c. 
Shrewsbury, Tuomas ToMuins, 
April 15, 1807. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
STR, 
rpue interesting observations inserted 
in the last number of your instruc- 
tive miscellany, respecting Pestalozzi’s ex- 
cellent method of education, warrant the 
hope, Sir, that yoa will not refuse ad- 
mitting a few remarks on a circumstance 
which must often have struck you, viz. 
that younger brothers generally surpass 
the elder ones in merital abilities. 
Were the lives of all whom their merits 
have rendered conspicuous among an- 
cient and modern nations, faithfully re- 
corded, with regard to the interesting 
particulars of education, the circum=- 
Stance, to which I wish to direct the at- 
tention of your numerous readers, would 
readily be acknowledged as a fact; but 
fainily minutie being ‘mostly overlooked 
in the history of men of genius, or, 
at least, seldom enquired into by the 
compiler of biographical repertories, the 
evidence which I adduce in favour of my 
hypothesis will appear inconsiderable. 
The nmmortal Bacon was a younger, 
Dyer and Akenside were se=" 
brother. 
cond sons. Fenton was the youngest of 
eleven children. The learned Buchanan 
was educated by a prudent mother in the 
inidst of four other sons and three daugh- 
ters. The poet Duncombe was the 
youngest son of Jolin Duncombe. 
Thomson’s father had nime ~ children. 
Goldsmith had a brother seven years: ol- 
der. 
That . 
