certificates, signed by persons of known probity, and among others by Mr. Boyle, and by the celebrated Drs. Wilkins, Whichcot, Cudworth, and Patrick, who attested the truth of some wonderful cures that he had wrought. Notwithstanding all this, his reputation did not last much longer than that of James Aymar*. It appeared at length that all these miraculous causes were only built on the credulity of the public. The noise which this man made gave rise to a novel (in French) by M. St. Evremond, entitled, "The Irish Prophet," in which he finely rallies the credulity of the people, and the spirit of superstition. He also shews that there is no kind of conjuration which is able to lay this kind of demon, which sometimes disturbs the peace of society.

He returned to Ireland in 1667, and though he lived there many years, he no longer kept up the reputation of performing those strange cures which have procured him a name even in our general histories. But in this, his case is very singular, that on the strictest inquiry no sort of blemish was ever thrown upon his character; nor did any of those curious and learned persons, who espoused his cause, draw any imputation upon themselves, though at the same time it must be allowed that there were several very eminent and knowing virtuosi, who could not be brought to have any great opinion of his performances, but were rather inclined to attribute all he did to the mere efficacy of friction. 1779, Jan.

LXII. Lord Mansfield's Opinion on Patents.

MR. URBAN,

THE following opinion of Lord Mansfield, relative to patents in general, and to Dr. James's in particular, seeming to me to deserve being more universally known than it is likely to be in the pamphlet which contains it, I have therefore sent it to be inserted in your Magazine. Through whose hands patents from the crown pass, or who are the managers and conductors of them, I am totally ignorant; but it were to be wished, that, for the future, attention

A peasant of Dauphiny, who made much noise in France, in 1692 and 3, by the marvellous effects of his divining rod.

VOL. III.

Ff

should be paid to the circumstances mentioned in the following extract.

BENEVOLUS.

"THE third point is whether the specification is such as instructs others to make it; for the condition of giving the encouragement is this:-That you must specify upon record your invention in such a way as shall teach an artist, when your term is out, to make it, and to make it as well as you, by your directions; for then, at the end of the term, the public have the benefit of it. The inventor has the benefit during the term, and the public have the benefit after. But if, as Dr. James did with his powders, the specification of the composition gives no proportion, there is an end of his patent, and, when he is dead, nobody is a bit the wiser. The materials were all old; antimony is old, and all the other ingredients. If no proportion is specified, you are not, I say, a bit the wiser: and therefore I have determined, in several cases here, the specification must state, where there is a composition, the proportions, so that any other artist may be able to make it, and it must be a lesson and direction to him by which to make it: if the invention be of another sort, to be done by mechanism, they must describe it in a way that an artist may be able to do it."

Reply to Observations on two Trials at Law, respecting Mess. Adams's new-invented Stucco.

1779, Oct.

LXIII. Rough Water calmed by Oil.

MR. URBAN,

DR. FRANKLIN (if I mistake not) lately plumed himself on the discovery of a method to still rough water by means of oil*. Though this phenomenon was noticed so long ago as the days of Pliny, yet I suspect that the Doctor first learned it from the Indians who live on the American lakes, as it is well known that the same expedient is practised by

* Dr. Franklin only confirms the report of Pliny and others who have mentioned this phenomenon. His only discovery is the effects of a single drop of oil on a large surface of water.

E.

them. In what light this discovery was considered during the dark times of monkery the following passage will clearly

evince:

"As St. Germanus [Bishop of Auxerre in the beginning of the 15th century] was sailing to Britain [to extirpate the heresy of Pelagianism, which had been planted in England by one Agricola, son of a Pelagian bishop, in the year 429,] a horrible tempest arose, raised by the devil, as it afterwards plainly appeared. The saint was fast asleep in the ship; but, being roused by the cries of the perishing crew, he rebuked the storm, and in the name of the Trinity sprinkled a few drops of holy oil upon the raging waves, and instantly there was a calm."- See the 2d of Dr. Jortin's Six Dissertations, p. 73. 1779, Nov.

X.

LXIV. Some account of a Musical Prodigy.

HAVING about the year 1777 received a letter from Norwich, with an account of the extraordinary powers of a child of two years old in playing upon the organ, we deferred publishing the particulars till the fact should be better authenticated. We have now the pleasure of entertaining our readers with a narrative of what Dr. Burney calls an uncommon exertion of the human faculties, at a more early period of life than they usually develope. It is abridged from a paper written by Dr. Burney, addressed to Dr. Hunter, in the first part of the Philosophical Transactions for the present year, and is as follows:

WILLIAM CROTCH was born at Norwich, July 5, 1775. His father, by trade a carpenter, having a passion for music, of which however he had no knowledge, undertook to build an organ, on which, as soon as it would speak, he learned to play two or three common tunes, such as God save great George our King; Let Ambition fire thy Mind; and The Easter Hymn; with which, and such chords as were pleasing to his ear, he used to try the perfection of his instrument.

About Christmas 1776, his child William, then only a year and a half old, was observed to pay an uncommon attention to music, by leaving his food and listening when the organ was playing; and about Midsummer 1777, he would

even touch the key-note of his particular favourite tunes, in order to persuade his father to play them. Soon after this, as he was unable to name these tunes, he would play the two or three first notes of them, when he thought the key-note did not sufficiently explain that which he wished to have played.

But, according to his mother, it seems to have been in consequence of his having heard the superior performance of Mrs. Lulman, a musical lady, who came to try his father's organ, that he first attempted to play a tune himself: for, the same evening, after her departure, the child cried, and was so peevish that his mother was wholly unable to appease him. At length, passing through the dining-room, he screamed and struggled violently to go to the organ, in which when he was indulged, he eagerly beat down the keys with his little fists.

The next day, however, being left in the dining-room with his brother, a youth of about fourteen, he would not let him rest till he blew the bellows of the organ; and while he sat on his brother's knee, he beat down the keys, at first promiscuously, but presently, with one hand, he · played enough of God save great George our King to awaken the curiosity of his father, who, being in a garret, which was his work-shop, hastened down stairs to inform himself who was playing this tune on the organ. When he found it was the child he could hardly believe what he heard and saw. At this time he was exactly two years and three weeks old.

It is easy to account for God save great George our King being the first tune he attempted to play, as it was not only that which his father often performed, but had been most frequently administered to him as a narcotic by his mother. It had likewise been more magnificently played than he was accustomed to hear, by Mrs. Lulman, the afternoon before he became a practical musician himself; and, previous to this event, he used to tease his father to play this tune on his organ, and was very clamorous when he did nor carry his point.

His performance was first remarked in the absence of the mother, who no sooner came home than the father, with a look which at once implied joy, wonder, and mystery, desired her to go up stairs with him, as he had something curious to shew her. She obeyed, wondering what she was to see; but was as much surprised as the father, on hearing the child play the first part of God save great George our King; and more so the next day, when he had made himself

master of the treble of the second part. The third day he attempted the base, which he performed nearly correct, except the note immediately before the close, which, being an octave below the preceding sound, was out of the reach of his little hand.

In the beginning of November, 1777, he played both the treble and base of Let Ambition fire thy Mind.

Upon the parents relating this extraordinary circumstance to some of their neighbours, they laughed at it; and, regarding it as the effect of partial fondness for their child, advised them by no means to mention it, as such a marvellous account would only expose them to ridicule. However, a few days after, Mr. Crotch being ill, and unable to go out to work, Mr. Paul, a tradesman by whom he was employed, passing accidentally by, and hearing the organ, fancied that Crotch, instead of being ill, had been idle, and had stayed at home in order to divert himself on his favourite instrument: fully prepossessed with this idea, he entered the house, and, suddenly opening the dining-room door, saw the child playing on the organ while his brother was blowing the bellows. Mr. Paul thought the performance so extraordinary, that he immediately brought two or three of the neighbours to hear it, who propagating the report, a crowd of near a hundred people came the next day to hear the young performer, and, on the following days, a still greater number; till at length, the child's parents were forced to limit his exhibition to certain days and hours, in order to lessen his fatigue, and exempt themselves from the inconvenience of constant attendance.

[This account agrees in most particulars with the letter we received from Norwich.]

The first voluntary the child ever heard with attention* was performed at his father's house by Mr. Mully, a musicmaster; and as soon as he was gone, the child seeming to play on the organ in a wild and different manner from what his mother was accustomed to hear, she asked him, what he was doing? and he replied, "I am playing the gentleman's fine thing." But she was unable to judge of the resemblance: however, when Mr. Mully returned a few days after, and was asked, whether the child had remembered any of the passages in his voluntary, he answered in the

.

*When his father carried him to the cathedral, he used to cry the moment he heard the loud organ, which Dr. Burney supposes was too powerful for the delicacy of his nerves.