Handel’s harpsichord was bought by us of Mr. Hooper, a pianoforte tuner at Winchester, in 1852. He had obtained it from Dr. Chard, the Cathedral organist of that city, who had taken pains to prove it to be the same instrument which Handel had left by will to his friend and amanuensis, Christopher Smith. In Handel’s will, dated June, 1750, was the bequest:――‘I give and bequeath to Christopher Smith my large harpsichord, my little house-organ, my music books, and 500_l._ sterling;’ and in a codicil, dated 6th of August, 1756: ‘I give to Christopher Smith 1,500_l._ additional to the legacy already given to him in my will.’ Dr. Chard wrote to the Rev. George Coxe, of Twyford (Rector of St. Michael’s, Winchester), to obtain his testimony to the identity of this harpsichord with the ‘_Large Harpsichord_’ of the will. Mr. Coxe was nearly related to Smith, and had frequently heard him play upon it. On the 13th of May, 1842, and in the presence of witnesses, Mr. Coxe confirmed this. Dr. Chard states in the document signed by Mr. Coxe, that this harpsichord was left with a large collection of Handel’s MSS. by Christopher Smith to his step-daughter, the Dowager Lady Rivers, who parted with it to Mr. Wickham, a surgeon, who, in his turn, parted with it to the Rev. Mr. Hawtrey, Prebendary of Winchester, after whose death it came into the possession of Dr. Chard. This interesting relic of Handel is also worthy of notice from having been one of the best-constructed instruments of the celebrated harpsichord makers, the Ruckers family of Antwerp. It is not remarkable for any beauty of decoration beyond the conventional ornamentation of the period; but the structure shows great skill in the manufacture, and that the harpsichord had become nearly perfected in the middle of the seventeenth century.