PREFACE

Summary

Of all the Arts, Music is that which brings the greatest consolation to the mind, when consolation is possible. The misfortunes of the times have compelled me to quit my native country for a season, and in my retirement in London I have found a great source of consolation in listening to the Oratorios of Handel, which I had already learnt to admire during three previous visits to England, and at home in the constant society of classical amateurs. Out of this grew a wish to possess all the works of that great man, to whom I felt so deeply indebted. In bringing these together, I found it necessary, to their proper arrangement, that I should make myself acquainted with the various authors who have made mention of Handel. These researches, commenced by me when alone and in the bitterness of exile, drew me on much further than I had anticipated, and produced results which seem to me capable of interesting both the connoisseurs of Handel and those who know nothing about him; for he was not only one of the first composers that the world ever saw, but he was also a man gifted with a great and noble character. It is in this belief that I offer to the reader this work, the fruit of three years spent in zealous and assiduous labour.