and great." In these pleasing features there is a striking likeness between the character of Metastasio and that of our illustrious Scott: and Burney adds another point of resemblance; "Metastasio laughs at all poetic inspiration, and makes a poem as mechanically as another would make a watch, at what time he pleases, and without any other occasion than the want of it."

The whole circumstances of the life of this great poet indicate the purity of mind, piety, benevolence, and sweetness of disposition, which breathe throughout his writings.

the

Metastasio died on the 12th of April, 1782, at

age of eighty-four. Notwithstanding this advanced age, yet his faculties were so entire, his countenance was so florid, and figure so erect, his appearance so hale and active, and his constitutional cheerfulness so little impaired, that he seemed still to have many years of life before him. of life before him. On the 1st of April he was in his usual health and spirits, and spent the evening, as usual, in the society of a few friends. On returning home he complained of a slight indisposition, and, at his usual hour, went to bed, from whence he never rose. In the morning he was seized with fever, and remained in a state of almost constant lethargy till he expired. By his will he had prohibited all pomp and ostentation at his funeral; but his heir obeyed his own feelings of respect and gratitude in preference to

this injunction; and the poet was interred, with great magnificence, in the church of St. Michael. Metastasio's property, at his death, consisted of 130,000 florins, (above 12,000l. sterling,) with a well furnished house and a valuable library. He bequeathed it (having survived his own relatives) to M. Joseph Martinetz, and Mlle. Marianna Martinetz, the son and daughter of M. Nicolo Martinetz, a gentleman of Vienna, in whose house he had taken up his abode on his first arrival in Vienna, half a century before, and with whose family he continued, ever after, on a footing of the most intimate friendship. Mademoiselle Martinetz had been carefully educated under his own eye, and was a lady of extraordinary talents and accomplishments, especially in music. She was not only an exquisite singer and an excellent performer on the harpsichord, but, as a composer, was worthy to be compared to the first musicians of the age. Metastasio, in his letters, spoke of her genius with admiration, and communicated her compositions to his friends. He mentions, in particular, her music to a number of the psalms of the celebrated Saverio Mattei, in a letter, accompanying a copy of it, written to that poet himself. She received the distinguished honour of being chosen a member of the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna. She had received the instructions of Haydn, who, when a young man, resided for a considerable time

VOL. I.

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under her father's roof. Dr. Burney, who met her at Metastasio's house, describes her as a young lady of a very elegant appearance, and speaks in the highest terms of her manners and conversation, as well as her attainments as a composer and a performer.

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CHAPTER XIV.

Writings of Metastasio.

THE operas of Metastasio hold so high a place in the classical literature, not of Italy only, but of the modern world, that they have often been considered and judged of as tragedies; a test which cannot be properly applied to them. The French critics have drawn elaborate comparisons between the manner in which the same or similar subjects have been treated by Metastasio and by Corneille or Racine, forgetting their difference between an opera and a tragedy, in their objects, in the laws which must regulate their composition, and in the manner of their performance. Metastasio's operas are tragedies; but they are lyrical tragedies. Their object is, to rouse the feelings and sympathies of the audience; to touch the soul by "tender strokes of art;" to exalt the mind by noble sentiments and pictures of heroic virtue. But, while this is done, the ear must at the same time be gratified, and the taste delighted, by the sweetness of sounds and all the charms of music. A sim

plicity of structure, therefore, a brevity of language, and an absence of minute details, which would be bare and meagre in a drama merely spoken, are absolutely necessary to prevent confusion and tediousness in musical recitation and song. In Voltaire's tragedy of Merope, the heroine delivers a long and eloquent address to the tyrant Polifontes, adjuring him to restore her son. A mother introduced in similar circumstances by Metastasio, expresses the same feelings in these few words :

"Rendimi il figlio mio;

Ahi! mi si sprezza il cor:

Non son più madre, O Dio!
Non ho più figlio."

These short and simple exclamations are the cry of nature; but the greatest actress could not dwell upon them long enough to produce the requisite impression. The tragic poet must give her a great deal more to say to a similar purpose. But let them be reiterated in all the varieties of tone and expression with which the genius of a Jomelli is able to clothe them, and they move the feelings of the audience more strongly than all the elaborate eloquence of Voltaire.

The lyric poet, too, labours under this further restriction, that he must construct his piece not merely with a view to its dramatic, but its musical effect. His characters must be not only kings, princesses, lovers, and villains, but they must also