10 Account of an Infant Mufician. This account agrees in moft particulars with a letter I received from Norwich, and of which the following is an extract. "There is now in this city a mufical prodigy, which engages the conversation, and excites the wonder of every body. A boy, fon to a carpenter, of only two years and three quarters old, from hearing his father play on an organ which he is making, has difcovered fuch mufical powers as are scarcely credible. He plays a variety of tunes, and has from memory repeated fragments of feveral voluntaries which he heard Mr Garland, the organift, play at the cathedral. He has likewife accompanied a perfon who played upon the flute, not only with a treble, but has formed a base of his own, which to common hearers feems harmonious. If any perfon plays falfe, it throws him into a paffon directly; and though his little fingers can only reach a fixth, he often attempts to play chords. He does not feem a remarkably clever child in any other refpect; but his whole foul is abforbed in mufic. Numbers croud daily to hear him, and the mufical people are all amazement *." The child being but two years and eight months old when this letter was written, his performance must have appeared confiderably more wonderful than at prefent: for as he feems to have received scarce any instructions, and to have purfued no regular courfe of ftudy or practice fince that time, it can hardly be imagined that he is much improved. However, experience must have informed him what feries or combination of founds was moft offenfive to his ear; but fuch is his impetuofity, that he never dwells long on any note or chord and indeed his performance muft originally have been as much under the guidance of the eye as the ear; for when his hand unfortunately falls upon wrong notes, the ear cannot judge till it is too late to c.ect the mistake. However, habit, His father, who has lately been in London, and with whom I have converfed fince this account was drawn up, all the particuJars of which he has confirmed, told me, that when he first carried the child to the cathedral, he used to cry the inftant he heard the loud organ, which, being fo much more powerful than that to which he had been accustomed at home, he was fome time before be could bear without difcovering pain, occafioned, perhaps, by the extreme delicacy of his ear, and the irritability of his nerves. Vol. 42. and perhaps the delicacy and acuteness The firft voluntary he heard with at- Such was the rapid progrefs this child had made at this time, in judging of the agreement of founds, that he played the Eafter hymn with full harmony; and in the laft 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. In making a base 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 pleafed 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 difcernment and felection of notes as is and measure; but they manifeft fuch a truly wonderful, and which, if fponta-` neous, would furprise at any age. But though he executes fragments of common tunes in very good time, yet no adherence to any particular measure is dif coverable coverable 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 mea. fure, it is for dactyls of one long and two fhort notes, which conftitute that fpecies of common time in which many treettunes are compofed; particularly the first part of the Belleifle March, which, perhaps, may first have fuggefted this meafure 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. I 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 F." One of the astonishing properties of his ear, is, that he can distinguish 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 circumstance the more extraordinary, as many practitioners and good performers are unable to diftinguish by the ear at the opera, or elsewhere, in what key any air or piece of music is executed. But this child was able to find any note that was ftruck in his hearing, when out of fight of the keys, at two years and a half old, even before he knew the let ters of the alphabet: A circumstance fo extraordinary, that I was very curious to know, when and in what manner this faculty firft difcovered itfelf; and his father fays, that in the middle of January 1778, while he was playing the organ, a particular note hung, or, to speak 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 draw. ing 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 purposely caufed feveral notes to cipher, one after the other; all which he inftantly difcovered; and at laft he weakened the fprings of two keys at once, which, by preventing the valves of the wind-cheft from cloling, occafioned 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 fhort, and can pronounce the letters of the alphabet by which mufical notes are called, may be taught the names of the keys of the harpfichord in five minutes; but, in general, five years would not be fufficient, at any age, to imprefs the mind of a musical stu dent with an infallible reminifcence of the tones produced by these keys, when not allowed to look at them. Another wonderful part of his prematurity, was the being able, at two years and four months old, to tranfpofe into the moft extraneous and difficult keys whatever be played; and now, in his extemporaneous flights, he modulates 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 instrument. He generally gives 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 serve as a base. 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, will ferve his purpose in furnishing an agreeable accompaniment. At prefent, all his own melodies are imitations of common and eaty paffages, and he feems infenfible to others. Example is the only method by which such an infant can be taught; and if he were to hear only good melody and hars mony, he would doubtlefs try to produce fomething fimilar: but at prefent he plays nothing correctly, and his voluntaries are little lefs wild than the native* notes of a lark or a blackbird. Nor does he, as yet, feem a fubject for inftruction; for till his reafon is fufficienty matu ed to comprehend and retain the precepts of a mafter, trammels of rule would but difguit, and, if forced upon him, deftroy the miraculous parts of his felf-taught performance. B 2 12 Obfervations on Electricity. languid, and our fenfibility lefs acute It is likewife well known, that there Curious obfervations on ELECTRICITY; the nerves. About seven or eight years ago, a lamanner, but I was not able to learn all dy in Switzerland was affected in this the particulars of her cafe; however several Swifs gentlemen have confirmed to me the truth of the ftory. She was uncommonly fufceptible of every change of weather, and had her electrical feelings ftrongeft in a clear day, or during the paffage of thunder-clouds, when the air is known to be replete with that fluid. Her difeafe, like all others which the doctors can make nothing of, was decided to be a nervous one; for the real fignification of these words I take to be only, that the physician does not understand what it is. Two gentlemen of Geneva had a fhort experience of the fame fort of complaint, though still in a much fuperior degree.Profeffor Sauffure and young Mr Jalabert, when travelling over one of the high Alps, were caught amongst thunderclouds; and, to their utmost aftonishment, found their bodies fo full of elec. trical fire, that fpontaneous flashes darted from their fingers with a crackling noise, and the fame kind of fenfation as when strongly electrified by art. - This was communicated by Mr Jalabert to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, ! think, in the year 1763; and you will find it recorded in their Memoirs. It feems pretty evident, I think, that thefe feelings were owing to the bodies being poffeffed of too great a share of electric fire. This is a very uncommon cafe; but I do not think it at all impro bable, that many of our invalids, parti cularly the hypochondriac people, and thofe we call Malades Imaginaires, owe their disagreeable feelings to the oppofite caufe, or the bodies being poffeffled of too fmall a quantity of this fire; for we find that a diminution of it in the air feldom fails to increase these feelings, and vice verfa. Perhaps it might be of fervice to these people to wear fome electric fubftance next their skin, to defend the nerves and fibres from the damp or non-electric air. I would propofe a waistcoat of the fineft flannel; which fhould be kept perfectly clean and dry; for the effluvia of the body, in cafe of any violent perfpiration, will foon deftroy its electric quality. This fhould be immediately covered by another, of the fame fize, of filk; but with. out being fewed together. The animal heat, and the friction that exercife muft occafion betwixt these two substances, produce a powerful electricity; and would form a kind of electric atmosphere around the body, that might poffibly be one of the best prefervatives against the effect of damps. As for our Swifs lady, I have little doubt that her complaints were owing in great part, perhaps entirely, to her drefs; and that a very small alteration, almoft in any part of it, would have effectually cured her. A lady who has her head furrounded with a wire cap, and her hair ftuck full of metal pins, and who at the fame time ftands upon dry filk, is to all intents and purpofes an electrical conductor infolated, and prepared for collect ing the fire from the atmosphere: and it is not at all furprising, that during thun. der-ftorms, or when the air is extremely replete with electrical matter, fhe fhould emit fparks, and exhibit other appearances of electricity. — I imagine a very trifling change of drefs, which from the conftant verfatility of their modes may fome day take place, would render this lady's difcafe altogether epidemical among the fex.-Only let the foles of their fhoes be made of an electric fubftance, and let the wires of their caps and pins of their hair be fomewhat lengthened, and pointed outwards; and I think there is little doubt that they will often find themselves in an electrified ftate.-But, indeed, if they only wear filk or even worsted stockings, it may fometimes prove fufficient; for I have often infolated electrometers as per fectly by placing them on a piece of dry filk or flannel, as on glass. How little do our ladies imagine, when they furround their heads with wire, the moft powerful of all conductors, and at the fame time wear stockings, fhoes, and gowns of filk, one of the most powerful repellents, that they prepare their bodies in the fame manner, and according to the fame principles, as electricians prepare their conductors for attracting the fire of lightning. If they cannot be brought to relinquish their wire-caps and their pins, might they not fall upon fome fuch prefervative as thofe which of late years have been applied to objects of much lefs consequence? Suppofe that every lady fhould provide herself with a small chain or wire, to be hooked on at pleasure during thunderftorms. This should pass from her cap over the thickest part of her hair, which will prevent the fire from being communicated to her head; and so down to the ground. It is plain that this will act in the fame manner as the conductors on the tops of fteeples, which, from the metal spires that are commonly placed there, analogous to the pins and wires, were fo liable to accidents. You may laugh at all this; but I affure you I never was more ferious in my life. A very amiable lady of my acquaintance, Mrs Douglas of Kelfo, had almost loft her life by one of thofe caps mounted on wire. She was standing at an open window during a thunder-ftorm: the lightning was attracted by the wire, and the cap was burnt to afhes; happily her hair was in its natural state, without powder, pomatum, or pins, and prevented the fire from being conducted to her head; for as fhe felt no kind of fhock, it is probable that it went off from the wires of the cap to the wall, close to which the then ftood. If it had found any conductor to carry it to her head or body, in all probability the muft have been killed. A good strong head of hair, if it is kept perfectly clean and dry, is probably one of the best prefervatives against the fire of lightning. But fo foon as it is ftuffed full of powder and pomatum, and bound together with pins, its repellent force is loft, and it becomes a conductor *. But I beg pardon - The views of Oppofition delineated. 14 for these furmifes: I throw them in your way only for you to improve upon at your leifure; for we have it ever in our power to be making experiments in electricity. And although this fluid is the moft fubtile and active of any that we know, we can command it on all occafions; and I am now fo accustomed to its operations, that I feldom comb my hair, or pull off a stocking, without obferving them under fome form or other. How furprifing is it, then, that mankind fhould have lived and breathed in it for fo many thousand years, without almost ever fuppofing that it existed! [By the Dean of Gloucefter.] Vol. 42. ny have been feduced to aid in destroy- I fhall not infift on their having incited The herald of faction will confider all These are the hackneyed arts of fac- The Irith, contrary to the wishes and prophecies of thefe Patriots of ill omen, accepted the terms with joy; yet whoever reads the papers under the influence of Oppofition, or attends to the harangues of the party, will find, that no art is left untried to prevent the reftoration of harmony, to excite fufpicions, and urge the people of Ireland to new demands.-Curfe on that ambition which can induce men, for the fake of fupplant kindle the flames of civil war, and set eing their rivals in power and ftation, to very man's hands againit his neighbour, Atruction! at a time when diffenfion must be de |