To Christopher Smith (junior) he
left 500, besides his large harpsichord, his chamber organ, his portrait
by Denner, and his manuscripts. He had at one time thought of leaving the
manuscripts to the University of Oxford, and, having already promised them
to Smith, offered him a legacy of L3,000 if he would resign all claim to
them. Smith refused, and also refused an offer of L2,000 made for them,
after Handel's death, by Frederick the Great. He kept them until 1772, when
he presented them to George III in return for a pension of L200 a year. But
he did not hand over the whole of the manuscripts to the King, and a
large collection of rough sketches and fragments was acquired by Lord
Fitzwilliam, who bequeathed them to the University of Cambridge.
The foregoing pages will have shown how singularly few are the definite
facts about Handel's life which can be ascertained with any degree of
certainty. There are a number of portraits which give some idea of his
outward appearance, but most of them represent him as a man of middle age,
and the anecdotes of his life and habits recorded by various contemporaries
belong mostly to the same period. It is almost impossible to form any idea
of his private character and his inward personality.
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