UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 315 



likely to lead to the cultivation of music, and we 

 might be tempted to consider him as a natural 

 genius; but it appears that his father played 

 on the harp, and on holidays used to accompany 

 his wife while she sang. Whenever this little 

 domestic concert took place, the child, with two 

 pieces of wood in his hands, to represent a violin 

 and a bow, pretended also to accompany his 

 mother's voice ; and to the very close of his life, 

 this great musician used to perform with delight 

 the airs which she had then sung. A cousin of 

 theirs, a schoolmaster, came to see them, and 

 being well pleased with the boy's talents, pro- 

 posed to educate him. His parents accepted 

 the offer ; and at school, having discovered a 

 tambourine, an instrument which has but two 

 tones, he succeeded in forming a kind of air, 

 which attracted the attention of all who came to 

 the school-house. He was then taught to sing 

 at the parish desk, and was soon noticed by 

 Reiiter, who tried him with a difficult shake, 

 and who was so delighted with the child's ex- 

 ecution, that he emptied a plate of cherries into 

 his pocket. He was eight when admitted to the 

 choir of St. Stephen, at Vienna, and from that 

 time practised above sixteen hours a day. " In 

 all this," says Mary, " we see the natural effect 

 of circumstances, and no mark of what is called 

 absolute genius." 



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