I suspect there are/were lingustic variations to
"iron" even back in the mid-18th century. As far as I
understand, the dropping of "r's" -- as is the case in
many contemporary British dialects (and in New England
and portions of the South and West inour country) was
a later 18th Century development, spreading South and
West in our country -- which is not to say it was not
happening in one or more dialects surrounding London
and competing for social dominance in Handel's time.
You might find one or several of the then "standard"
contemporary pronunciations in the Oxford English
Dictionary (OED) available in any university and I
suspect most college libraries. The OED gives
quotations for words in their historical contexts, not
only century by century, but also often decade by
decade within the centuries. A linguistics department
in a univerisity should also be able to help out.
Best,
Deb. Johnson
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