[267] The facsimile of the autograph manuscript was published by Chrysander, for the second centenary of Handel in 1885. [268] Page 182 of MS. [269] To occupy himself he directed two performances of the _Messiah_ for the funds of the Foundling Hospital--on April 18 and May 16, "with an improvisation on the organ." He also tried the cure at Cheltenham. [270] Page 244 of MS. [271] He underwent an operation for cataract, the last time on November 3, 1752. A newspaper stated in January, 1753: "Handel has become completely blind." [272] Written in 1708 at Rome. [273] Handel had already regiven the Italian work with some rearrangements and editions in 1737. Thomas Morell adapted the poem to English, and extended the two acts into three. [274] This will was written since 1750. Handel added codicils to it in August, 1756, March and August, 1757, April, 1759. He nominated his niece, Johanna Friderica Floerchen, of Gotha, _née_ Michaelsen, his sole executor. He made several gifts to his friends--to Christopher Smith, to John Rich, to Jennens, to Newburgh Hamilton, to Thomas Morell, and others. He did not forget any of his numerous servants. He left a fortune of about twenty-five thousand pounds, which he had made entirely in his last ten years; he possessed also a fine collection of musical instruments and a picture gallery in which were two Rembrandts. [275] A monument, somewhat mediocre, was erected to him. It was the work of Roubiliac, who had already done the statue of Handel for the Vauxhall Gardens. [276] They were celebrated in reality a year too soon. Burney devoted a whole book to describing these festivals. [277] The number of performers never ceased to increase after the festivals of 1784, when there were 530 or 540, right up to the famous festivals in the Sydenham Crystal Palace, when the number reached 1035 in 1854, 2500 in 1857, and 4000 in 1859. Remember that during the lifetime of Handel the _Messiah_ was performed by thirty-three players and twenty-three singers. They manufactured for these gigantic performances some monster instruments; a double bassoon (already invented in 1727), a special contrabass, some bass trumpets, drums tuned an octave lower, etc [278] These arrangements, executed for the Baron van Swieten, are far from being irreproachable, and show that Mozart, despite the assertions of Rochlitz, had not a deep understanding of Handel's works. However, he wrote an "Overture in the style of Handel," and suddenly remembered him when he composed his _Requiem_. [279] The first was the Singakademie of Berlin, founded in 1790 by Fasch.