In my preface to _Evolution Old and New_ I imply a certain dissatisfaction with _Theodora_ and _Susanna_, and imply also that Handel himself was so far dissatisfied that in his next work, _Jephtha_ (which I see I inadvertently called his last), he returned to his earlier manner. It is true that these works are not in Handel’s usual manner; they are more difficult and more in the style of Bach. I am glad that Handel gave us these two examples of a slightly (for it is not much) varied manner and I am interested to observe that he did not adhere to that manner in _Jephtha_, but I should be sorry to convey an impression that I think _Theodora_ and _Susanna_ are in any way unworthy of Handel. I prefer both to _Judas Maccabæus_ which, in spite of the many fine things it contains, I like perhaps the least of all his oratorios. I have played _Theodora_ and _Susanna_ all through, and most parts (except the recitatives) many times over, Jones and I have gone through them again and again; I have heard _Susanna_ performed once, and _Theodora_ twice, and I find no single piece in either work which I do not admire, while many are as good as anything which it is in my power to conceive. I like the chorus “He saw the lovely youth” the least of anything in _Theodora_ so far as I remember at this moment, but knowing it to have been a favourite with Handel himself I am sure that I must have missed understanding it. How comes it, I wonder, that the chorale-like air “Blessing, Honour, Adoration” is omitted in Novello’s edition? It is given in Clarke’s edition and is very beautiful. Jones says of “With darkness deep”, that in the accompaniment to this air the monotony of dazed grief is just varied now and again with a little writhing passage. Whether Handel meant this or no, the interpretation put upon the passage fits the feeling of the air. John Sebastian Bach It is imputed to him for righteousness that he goes over the heads of the general public and appeals mainly to musicians. But the greatest men do not go over the heads of the masses, they take them rather by the hand. The true musician would not snub so much as a musical critic. His instinct is towards the man in the street rather than the Academy. Perhaps I say this as being myself a man in the street musically. I do not know, but I know that Bach does not appeal to me and that I do appeal from Bach to the man in the street and not to the Academy, because I believe the first of these to be the sounder.