I have already mentioned that in going or returning to Italy this last time, Handel appears to have passed through Paris, and to have paid a contemptuous sort of attention to French music. It is then, if ever, that he should be accused of having stolen for our national anthem, an air left by Lulli--which _he_ did not, and which Lulli _could_ not have composed. The ridiculous story which would make our English patriotic hymn an adaptation from the French, is told for the first time I believe in the Duchess of Perth's letters. But instead of "_God save the Queen_" being translated from a canticle sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, the pretended canticle is a translation of "God save the Queen." Here is the French version-- "Grand Dieu, sauvez le Roi! Grand Dieu, vengez le Roi! Vive le Roi! Que toujours glorieux Louis victorieux Voie ses ennemis Toujours soumis. If it could be proved that this "canticle" was sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, England could no longer claim the authorship of "_God save the Queen_," as far, at least, as the words are concerned; and it is evident that the words, which are scarcely readable as poetry, though excellent for singing, were written either for or with the music. M. Castil Blaze, however (in _Molière Musicien_, Vol. I., page 501), points out that "_si l'on ignorait que la musique de cet air est, non pas de Handel, comme plusieurs l'ont assuré mais de Henri Carey la version Française prouverait du moins que cette melódie, scandée en sdruccioli ne peut appartenir au siècle de Louis XIV.; nos vers à glissades etaient parfaitement inconnus de Quinault et de Lulli, de Bernard et de Rameau_." [Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]