[ 58 ]• 
the difficulty of playing thus from a mufical fcore, I 
will endeavour to explain it by the moft ftmilar 
comparifon I can think of. 
I muft at the fame time admit that the illuf- 
tration will fail in one particular, as the voice in 
reading cannot comprehend more than what is 
contained in a fmgle line. I muft fuppofe, however, 
that the reader’s eye, by habit and quicknefs, may 
take in other lines, though the voice cannot articulate 
them, as the muftcian accompanies the words of an 
air by his harpfichord. 
Let it be imagined, therefore, that a child of eight 
years old was directed to read five lines * at once, 
in four -f* of which the letters of the alphabet were 
to have different powers. 
For example, in the firft line A, to have its com- 
mon powers. 
In the fecond that of B. 
In the third of C. 
In the fourth of D. 
Let it be conceived alfo, that the lines fo compofed 
of characters, with different powers, are not ranged 
* By this I mean. 
The two parts for the violins. 
The upper part for the voice. 
The words fet to mulic. 
And laftly, tne'bafe. 
f By this I mean, 
The violin parts in ^he common treble cleff. 
The upper part for the voice in the contralto cleff as before- 
mentioned. 
The words in common chara&ers. 
And the bafe in its common cleff. 
fo 
