XV. It fares with music at this time, as it fares with surgery. In the same manner, that every blood letter of middling ability, takes upon him the name and occupation of a surgeon, every organist and violin player, of reasonable dexterity, sets himself up for a composer. This they can do, with little difficulty or labour, for they have only to get by heart, the general rules of consonance and dissonance; and then, from the numberless manuscripts, or printed violin sonatas with which the world abounds, take the first light air which occurs, or seems pleasing to them, and apply the tone of that air to the words; and as the voice proceeds, they, by those general rules, go on covering it with a dry accompanyment, which contains neither imitation nor excellence; and between the pauses of the voice, they may introduce a burst of violins for ten or a dozen bars, more or less, provided that is the stile of the sonata from whence they made the theft. If they would content themselves with doing no more than this, we might be brought to endure their productions: but the worst of the evil is, that from an affectation of being thought superior to trivial composition, they introduce false concords, without preparing, or being able to resolve them, and by that means, make terrible blemishes, and commit faults, that are inexcusable; and because also, they see some illustrious composers, dispense with the common rules, and take liberties, such as writing two-fifths, or two octaves immediately following each other, which they do only for the sake of introducing a good passage, or to attain some excellence of harmony, and which, without taking such a liberty, they could not have effected: and although these never take such a latitude, but under particular circumstances, and subject to certain limitations; the others have the audacity to attempt it, out of time, and when it can answer no purpose whatever; by which means, they are thrown to the ground with such violence, that the stroke of their fall is shocking to the ear.