middle of November 1777, when he was only two years and four months old, and for a confiderable time after he would play nothing else but thefe paffages.

A musical gentleman of Norwich informed Mr. Partridge, that, at this time, fuch was the rapid progress he had made in judging of the agreement of founds, that he played the Eafter-Hymn with fall harmony; and in the last two or three bars of Hallelujah, where the fame found is fuftained, he played chords with both hands, by which the parts were multiplied to fix, which he had great difficulty in reaching on account of the fhortnefs of his fingers. The fame gentleman obferved, that in making a bafe to tunes which he had recently caught by his ear, whenever the harmony difpleafed him, he would continue the treble note till he had formed a better accompaniment.

From this period his memory was very accurate in retaining any tune that pleased him and being prefent at a concert where a band of gentlemen-performers played the overture in Rodelinda, he was fo delighted with the minuet, that the next morning he hummed part of it in bed; and by noon, without any further affiftance, played the whole on the organ..

His chief delight at prefent is in playing voluntaries, which certainly would not be called mufic if performed by one of riper years, being deficient in harmony and measure; but they manifeft fuch a difcernment and felection of notes as is truly wonderful, and which, if fpontaneous, would forprize at any age. But though be executes fragments of comVOL. XXII.

mon tunes in very good time, yet no adherence to any particular measure is discoverable in his voluntaries; nor have I ever obferved in any of them that he tried to play in triple time. If he difcovers a partiality for any particular meafure, it is for dactyls of one long and two short notes, which conftitute that fpecies of common time in which many ftreet-tunes are compofed, particularly the first part of the Belleifle March, which, parhaps, may firft have fuggefted this ineafure to him, and impreffed it in his memory. And his ear, though exquifitely formed for difcriminating founds, is as yet only captivated by vulgar and common melody, and is fatisfied with very imperfect harmony. [ examined his countenance when he first heard the voice of Signor Pacchierotti, the principal finger of the Opera, but did not find that he feemed fenfible of the fuperior tafte and refinement of that exquifite performer; however, he called out very foon after the air was begun, "He is finging in "

And this is one of the aftonishing properties of his ear, that he can diftinguish at a great diftance from any inftrument, and out of fight of the keys, any note that is ftruck, whether A, B, C, &c. In this I have repeatedly tried him, and never found him miftaken even in the half notes; a circumflance the more extraordinary, as many practitioners and good performers are unable to diftinguifh by the ear at the Opera or elfewhere in what key any air or piece of mufic is executed.

But this child was able to find any note that was ftruck in his G hearing,

hearing, when out of fight of the keys, at two years and a half old, even before he knew the letters of the alphabet: a circumflance fo extraordinary, that I was very curious to know when, and in what manner, this faculty first discovered itfelf; and bis father fays, that in the middle of January 1778, while he was playing the organ, a particular note hung, or, to fpeak the language of organ builders, ciphered, by which the tone was continued without the preffure of the finger: and though neither himself nor his elder fon could find out what note it was, the child, who was then amufing himself with drawing on the floor, left that employment, and going to the organ, immediately laid his hand on the note that ciphered. Mr. Crotch thinking this the effect of chance, the next day purpofely caufed feveral notes to cipher, one after the other, all which he inftantly discovered and at laft he weakened the fprings of two keys at once, which, by preventing the valves of the wind-cheft from clofing, cccafioned a double cipher, both of which he directly found out. Any child, indeed, that is not an idiot, who knows black from white, long from short, and can pronounce the letters of the alphabet by which mufical notes are called, may be taught the names of the keys of the harpfi

chord in five minutes +; but, in general, five years would not be fufficient, at any age, to imprefs. the mind of a musical student with an infallible reminifcence of the tones produced by these keys, when not allowed to look at them.

Another wonderful part of his pre-maturity was the being able at two years and four months old to tranfpofe into the most extraneous and difficult keys whatever he played; and now, in his extemporaneous flights, he modu. lates into all keys with equal facility.

The laft qualification which I fhall point out as extraordinary in this infant musician, is the being able to play an extemporary base to eafy melodies when performed by another perfon upon the fame inftrument. But these bases muft not be imagined correct, according to the rules of counter-point, any more than his voluntaries. He generally gives, indeed, the key-note to paffages formed from its common chord and its inverfions, and is quick at difcovering when the fifth of the key will ferve as a bafe.

At other times he makes the third of the key ferve as an accompaniment to melodies formed from the harmony of the chord to the key-note; and if fimple paffages are played flow, in a regular progreffion afcending or defcending, he foon finds out that thirds or tenths, below the treble,

I made more experiments of this kind, but to relate them would render my account too technical to all but compofers, or fuch as have long ftudied harmony.

When he declares himfelf tired of playing on an inftrument, and his musical faculties feem wholly biunted, he can be provoked to attention, even though engaged in any new amufement, by a wrong note being ftruck in the melody of any well-known tune; and if he ftands by the inftrument when fuch a note is defignedly ftruck, he will inftantly put down the right, in whatever key the air is playing.

At prefent, all his own melodies are imitations of common and eafy paffages, and he feems infenfible to others; however, the only method by which fuch an infant can as yet be taught any thing better feems by example. If he were to hear only good melody and harmony, he would doubtlefs try to produce fomething Gimilar; but,

at prefent, he plays nothing cofrectly, and his voluntaries are little lefs will than the native notes of a lark cr a black-bird. Nor does he, as yet, ferm a fubject for inftruction: for till his reafon is fufficiently matured to comprehend and retain the precepts of a mafter, and fomething like a wifh for information appears, by a ready and willing obedience to his injunctions, the trammels of rule would but difguft, and, if forced upon him, defroy the miraculous parts of his felf-taught performance.

Mr. Baillet published in the last century a book, Sur les Enfans celebres par leurs etudes; and yet, notwithstanding the title of his work, he fpeaks not of infants but adolefcents, for the youngest wonder he celebrates in literature is at least feven years old; an age at which feveral ftudents in mufic under my own eye have been able to perform difficult compofitions on the harpsichord, with great neatnefs and precifion. However, G 2

this

this has never been accomplished without inftructions and laborious practice, not always voluntary. Mufical prodigies of this kind are not infrequent: there have been feveral in my own memory on the harpuchord. About thirty years ago I heard Pilfchau, a German boy of nine or ten years old, then in London, perform with great accuracy many of the most difficult compofitions that have ever been written for keyed inftruments, particularly fome leffons and double fugues by Sebaftian Bach, the father of the prefent eminent profeffors of that name, which, at that time, there were very few mafters in Europe able to execute, as they contained difficulties of a particular kind; fuch as rapid divifions for each hand in a feries of thirds, and in fixths, afcending and defcending, befides thofe of full harmony and contrivance in nearly as many parts as fingers, fuch as abound in the leffons and organ fugues of Handel. Mifs Frederica, now Mrs. Wynne, a little after this time, was remarkable for executing, at fix years old, a great number of leffons by Scarlatti, Paradies, and others, with the utmost precifion.

But the two fons of the Reverend Mr Westley feem to have difcovered, during early infancy, very uncommon faculties for the practice of mufic. Charles, the - eldeft, at two years and three quarters old, furprized his father by playing a tune on the harpfichord readily, and in just time: foon after he played feveral, what

ever his mother fung, or whatever he heard in the fireet.

Samvel, the youngest, though he was three years old before he aimed at a tune, yet by constantly hearing his brother practise, and being accustomed to good mufc and masterly execution, before he was fix years old arrived at fuch knowledge in music, that his extemporary performance on keyed intruments, like Mozart's, was fo masterly in point of invention, modulation, and accuracy of execution, as to furpass, in many particulars, the attainments of most profeffors at any period of their lives.

Indeed Mozart, when little more than four years old, is faid to have been "not only capable of exe

cuting leffons on his favourite inftrument, the harpfichord, but "to have compofed some in an

eafy style and taste, which were "much approved" and Samuel Westley before he could write was a compofer, and menTally fet the airs of feveral Oratorios, which he retained in memory till he was eight years old, and then wrote them down.

Here the difference of education appears little Crotch, left to nature, has not only been without inftructions but good models of imitation; while Mozart and Samuel Wettley, on the contrary, may be faid to have been nurfed in good mufic: for as the latter had his brother's excellent per'formance to ftimulate attention, and feed his car with harmony; the Germah infant, living in the

houfe