"He is the father of us all," he said on one occasion.

Scarlatti followed Handel in admiration all over Italy, and, when his name was mentioned, he crossed himself in token of veneration.

Mozart's recognition of the great composer was not less hearty.

"When he chooses," said he, "Handel strikes like the thunderbolt." Beethoven hailed him as "The monarch of the musical kingdom." When Beethoven was dying, one of his friends sent him a present of Handel's works, in forty volumes.

They were brought into his chamber, and, gazing on them with reanimated eye, he exclaimed, pointing at them with his finger, "There--there is the truth!" Haydn not only recognised the genius of the great men who had passed away, but of his young contemporaries, Mozart and Beethoven.