an Infant Mufician . 187 
refpond with or furpafs their models : and as melody 
con {ills in the happy arrangement of iingle founds, and 
harmony in the artificial combination and fimultaneous 
ufe of them, an untaught mufician becomes the inventor 
of both ; and thofe who are at all acquainted with the in- 
fancy of fuch melody and harmony as conftitute modern 
mufic, can alone form an idea of the rude ftate of both 
when an individual difcovers them by the flow procefs 
of experiment. 
Every art when fir ft difcovered feems to referable a 
rough and fhapelefs mafs of marble juft hewn out of a 
quarry, which requires the united and fucceffive endea- 
vours of many -labourers to form and polifh. The Zeal- 
and activity of a Angle workman can do but little towards 
its completion ; and in mufic the.undiredted efforts of an 
infant muft be ftill more circumfcribed : .for, without the 
aid of reafon and perfeverance he can only -depend on 
memory and a premature delicacy and acutenefs of ear 
for his guides ; and in thefe particulars the child of whom 
I am going to fpeak is truly wonderful. 
william crotch was bora at Norwich July 5, 1775. 
His father, by trade a carpenter, having a paffion for 
mufic, of which however he had no knowledge, un- 
dertook to build an organ, on which, as foon as it would 
fpeak, he learned to play two or three common tunes, 
Bb 4 fiich 
