M E T 



lfU,*jr. 



l ttfu- 



ni< for 



Ulily of 

 UMhuasaa 



be jiut as rational to say, that there are no limits to non- 

 God alone is infinite : ami he has provided a 

 beatre for the display ,,f |,i, inf, mtl . pm.r and to 

 suppose any limits beyond which created substances 

 could not exist, would be to limit the power of God. 



ope that we speak with sufficient reverence, 



n we say, that the infinite mind can have no idea 



hme, which arises solely from the succession of 



ideas in our own minds. No such succession can 



take place in the divine mind. With God r a t\nmmul 



year* are at one day, am,t one dtty at a ll,<*uaa<t V rart. 



the same manner, .,ce ha* only a reference to our 



*^ pta00 *, : . " nd we ***" h conwating of definite 

 portion., added together without end. We can evi- 

 ntly dmdc it into parU: we can suppose any nib- 

 to be annihilated ; and yet we can form a dear 

 nception of the space which it mi-upied. and of the 

 aunenons which this gpace possesses. Bat nothing 

 which consists of definite |w u and proportions 

 Toperty ot the Divine nature, which i* without be- 

 ginning, without end, and without 

 nmnense, and omnipresent. 



The moral arguments for the nmottality of the soul 

 1 be found under the article Mora/ flUbM** 1 he 

 JMtaphysieal argument. tor the aoul . immortalitv are 

 Bomeaii. to satisfactory a. those which we 'have 

 adduced to prove the existence oi ,- 



ent metaphysicians generally admitted that the toul 

 J imnu>rta] : but they interred tin. from the doc- 

 the soar, pre-niatence, whirl, wa* almost 

 among them. They w. Ut if 

 th.1 ! the soul was created, they must in. 



105 



E T 



. ~* rgwe* for its inherent iimnisj. 

 r they held, that nothing w 

 2^yj^n to natural hsjMrtaJity. They suppo*. 



> hi* substance, and that it would again be* 

 'I "' hi* essence. This doctrine deatrand 

 ..y profitable conchuion. which might be dWucad 

 * soul's immortality : for it went to annihilate 

 identity, and virtually to set a>ide a tirte of 



EZ? "?""* , " wa * '"""W with other 



re thus stated by St. Augustine 



"u credi potest, quaro Dei partem vapu- 



n puer yapulat ? Jam vert, partes Dei fieriTas- 



>as, atque oinnim, damnabues, quis 

 i^Jiir potent ii: - 



for the 



its? ^^ M ^^~ 



mal snUtancM, it can be destroyed only 



oy unninilation : bat w hat n _ 



> c never span any unrig like 



I to material .uUunU- 



nma muunt.ir. ,,,h,l ,, , ouwe we haw 



reason to suspect the annihilation of the 



whi< h we have never seen snbjutsxJ to any of the 



f"**y *'" r 'i pr<*luce Mich striking alteration* in the 



a i'i"' : ' r -" " ' '!">:'t. .-..t ,,,,,,,. r . 



... ' ""or* completely eatabli*he<l than 



Irty of the soul, when we take into view 

 <w argument* drawn from the ca- 

 thes.wl, and the general ail, 

 d w,thiregard to th,. lower world ; and more eape- 

 n..i we attend to the instructions of th 



lav m i 



METASTASIO, PIETRO ABATE, the celebrated dra- Mctatalo. 

 m.uist, was born at Rome on the 3d of lanuary ItipS *. "~^Y"^ 

 His birth name was Trapassi. We shall immediately 

 have occasion to mention the circumstance in con.-v- 

 quence of which it was changed. His family had once 

 been opulent, though reduced to poverty by gradual 

 decline. His grandfather, Felician Trapassi, was one 

 of the thirty inhabitants of Assisi, to whom the free- 

 dom of the city belonged. The father of the poet, Fe. 

 lici Trapassi, was however unable to subsist in his na- 

 tive place, and enlisted for a soldier in the regiment of 

 CorM. I It- ^x)ti afterward* married Franceses Galasti, 

 of Bologna, by whom he had many children. The 

 poet was their second son. Felice, whilst he was in 

 garrison, added something to the scanty pay of a sol- 

 dier toward* the maintenance of a fainily, by becoming 

 an amanuensis ; and having fulfilled his military ser- 

 vice, and by extreme industry and economy saved a 

 little money, +ie entered into partnership with a shop, 

 keeper at Rome, for the sale of goods which belong to 

 what the Romans call 1'arte bianc.i, consisting of oil, 

 floyr, pastry, and other culinary materials. Having 

 prospered tolerably in this kind of merchandise, he 

 placed his two eldest son*. Leoppldo and 1'ietro at a 

 grammar school. 1'ietro (our subject) soon discovered 

 an extraordinary quickness for learning, and a dispo- 

 sition for poetry. He could turn extempore verses on 

 any given subject before he w. s ten years of age. This 

 fnoilty he used to exercise after school hours at his fa- 

 ther's shop, where crowds would assemble in the treets 

 to Mar the young improvisator!. 1 hirit.g one of those 

 fit*, the learned civilian and critic, Gravina, 

 accidentally pawed, and was so struck by the harmony 

 of the chilli's verves, and the sweetness of his voice, as 

 well a by the liveliness of the thoughts which he threw 

 out al iw/>ro>tf." either on persons who Mood near 

 him. or any subject of their suggesting, that he mopt 

 to admire him, and offered him money. The jx.lii 

 fual of the little bard to acrepl of hit donation increas- 

 ed his admiration of him he resolved to adopt him, 

 and went immediately to solicit the consent ot in, |>a- 

 rents for that purpose. As the civilian did not pro- 

 pose to take him from Home, his father saw no necessi- 

 ty for refusing the proffered patron.-ge. and the next 

 img 1'ietro wa* consigned to CJr.nma's care, who 

 gave him the Greek name of Meta>kitio, as f.iTrr<[ 

 mulatto, seemed at once to express hi* former nnme of 

 1 rspa,i*i, and hi* new situatjon as an adopt. <l child. 



** at first sight raf er in'n.i-t. nt, that hi* 

 patron, who bad adopted him on account of hi, poetry 

 ould have deine<l him to a study so unpropilious to 

 etry as that of the law ; but Gnvina was himself a 

 iwyer ; and, excepting the church, there ws no other 

 *son by which emolument* and honour* could be 

 then attained. At first, Metastaio wa* set to the per- 

 usal of pandects, decree*, and edicu he nevertheless 

 read the poet., by Gravina'* permission, particularly 

 Anosto ami Homer ; and having, at the ae of f.,, lr - 

 i'i tragedy of (oust,,,.,. .-, -t.,,,-hing 

 work lor a boy, though Metastasio alter* ..m- r, t; retted 

 s appearance among his riper work, ; his patron not 

 only tolerated but encouraged hi* poetical bia*. Gravi- 

 na look him, when he was 1 8, to Naples, expressly to af- 

 I him an opportunity of singing extempore with the 

 Celebrated improviwitori at that time in Italy 

 then he appeared in Naples, he soon became an un 

 versal favounte. Nothing wa* to be heard of but his 



poct'i work*. 



VGA. Xir. fAT I. 



