PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1801, 28 March 1888, Page 3

PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN.

Christian Beineckar, b ra at Lub?ck io 1721, opokb diatiroly at th«j age of ten ocosths. and when a yoar old knew by : heart the leading events recorded In the I; Pentateuch. I-i hR s.;con i year he was f&miiiar with th< Old and New Tasiarnouls ; m hi 3 third year hn had a fair knowledge of g^osrapiiy arid > istory ; and m his fourth 3eir he waa an adept m religi' us »nd ecclesiastical knowledge The K'ng of Denmark wia'ning to see this infant prodigy, he wa3 taken to court and pronounce a living wonder. He fell ill anJ died before attaining his fifth ye;r. To quote an o!d provicb vory apropos m h'H u«e : •' The sword had vroru out the eheath." Charle3 Wedey, a nephew of the founder of the Methodiet sect, could play a tune upou the piano when two years old, and his brother Samuel composed an oratorio at the age of eight, to the surprise of the musicnl world. Bjth lived to attain great eminence at? composers of sacred music ; one was honored hy tho special notice of King George 111., and the other composed a grand mass for Pope Pins VI., for which hiß Holiness sent him a flattering autograph lottor, William Crotch, of Norwich, born 17?6, played " God save the King " on an organ at the age of three, to the great astonishment of all who heard him. His remark* able precocity as a child did not develop m his manhood, fur he never attuned, nigher rank than a Ohurch organist, wi'h the degree of Musical Doctor. Among the ancients numerous examples of javenile precocity ar9 recorded. Hermogenes, at the age of fifteen, taught rhetoric to Marcus Aurelius. Johannes Secnndua, at the age of fifteen, wrote elegant Greek and Latin veree. Pascal's genius developed itae'f at the age of ten. None of these lived beyond early manhood; and their precocity was as harmful aa it was phenomena 1 , Probably the most remarkable living example of javenile precocity m the 1 musical line is little Joßef Hofmann, but Vienna boisd of a wonderful vlolinst of seven and a half years named Kreialer.