CHARA 
early applied himself to literature; 
d the study of Italian history and 
ntiquities. In 1696, he institut- 
fd at Venice the academy Degli 
‘nimosi, and was the editor of the 
siornale de’ Letterati d’Italia, of 
hich-he published thirty volumes 
tween the year 1710 and 17109. 
is first musicai drama, L’Inganni 
elici, was set by Carlo Fran. Po- 
arolo, and performed at Venice, 
695. And between that time and 
is quitting Vienna, where he was 
nvited by the emperor Charles VI. 
n 1718, he produced forty-six 
peras, and seventeen oratorios, 
sides eighteen dramas, which he 
rote jointly with Pariati. His 
ramatic works were collected and 
wblished at Venice, in 1744, in 
en volumes o¢tavo, by count 
Gozzi. And in 1752, his letters 
were printed in three volumes, by 
Forcellini, in which much sound 
learning and criticism are mani- 
fested on various subjects. But 
one of the most useful of his critical 
labours seems to have been, his 
commentary on the Bibl. deli’ Elo- 
quenza Italiana di Fontanini, which 
was published in 1753; witha pre- 
face by his friend Forcellini, chiefly 
diftated, however, by Zeno him. 
self, just before his death, 1750, 
in the 82d year of his age. 
After he was engaged as Impe- 
rial laureate, he set out from Ve- 
nice for Vienna, in July 1718; 
but having been overturned in a 
chaise, the fourth day of his jour. 
ney, he had the misfortune to 
break his leg, and was confined at 
an inn in the little town of Ponti- 
caba, near Trevisa, till September. 
He arrived at Vienna the 14th of 
that month, salvo, he says, if not 
sano ¢ guerito, after twelve days of 
excessive suffering on the road, 
eta 
_ 
CTERS. [347 
Most of the dramas; sacred and 
secular, which -he wrote for thé 
Imperial court, were set by Cal- 
dara, a grave composer and sound 
harmonist, to whose style Zeno 
seems never to have been partial. 
But this exceiicnt antiquary and 
critic seems never to have been 
satisfied with his own poetical 
abilities. So early as the year 
1722, in writing to his brother 
from Vienna, he says: ‘I find 
more and more every day, that L 
grow old, not only in body, but in 
mind: and that the. business of 
writing verses is no longer a 
fit employment for me.’’? And 
afterwards, modestly sensible of the 
sterility of his possessions in Par- 
nassus, which, though they furnish- 
ed useful productions, were not of 
a soil sufficiently rich to generate 
such gay, delicate, and beautiful 
flowers, as are requisite to embel- 
lish the lyric scene, he expressed a 
wish that he might be allowed a 
partner in his labours; and was so 
just and liberal as to ‘miehtion the 
young Metastasio as a poet worthy 
to be honoured with the notice of 
his Imperial patron. 
Account of the Peasantry of Nuraway, 
from Mary Wollstanecraft's letters, 
during a short residence in Sweden, 
Norway, and Denmark. 
THOUGH the king of Der 
mark be an absolute monarch, yct 
the Norwegians appear to enjoy ait 
the blessings of freedom. Norway 
may be termed a sister kingdom ; 
but the people haye no viceroy to 
lord it over them, and fatten his 
dependants with the: fruit of their 
labour. 
There are only two: counts in the 
whole country, who have, estates, 
and 
