108 



M E T A S T A S I O. 



Mttaetasio. riod of his residence in Germany. It is clear, how- 

 """Y"^'' ever, that he must have ultimately saved money at 

 . Vienna in the course of his long life, from the sums 

 which he left at his death. 



These particulars of his private history are contain- 

 ed in his correspondence with the celebrated singer 

 Farinelli. A friendship subsisted between our poet 

 and that musician for fifty years, after they were sepa- 

 rated and established in the service of different mo- 

 narchs in the two most remote capitals of Europe. 

 The poet and musician were nearly of the same age, 

 and began their public career in the city of Naples at 

 the same time. They regarded each other as twins of 

 public favour, brought to light at the same birth, and 

 united in one common interest. Metastasio never ima- 

 gined his poetry injured by Farinelli's too florid style 

 of singing ; and such was his fraternal affection for his 

 " caro gemello," that he overlooked or forgot the want 

 of simplicity, action, and pathos in his singing so en- 

 tirely, as to censure young performers for these defects 

 in his letters to Farinelli*. 



The tenor of his life was uniform and placid at 

 Vienna, if not remarkably happy ; and whatever dis- 

 turbance the absence and remembrance of Marianna 

 may have given him, he never seems to have fallen 

 again in love. " You believe me," he says in one of 

 his letters to a friend, "in danger here from the charms 

 of some tranquil Teutonic beauty : how mistaken you 

 are. Here, love and hatred never disturb the sleep of 

 any mortal ; here the body cares very little for the af- 

 fairs of the mind ; at night you may be a favourite, 

 and in the morning unknown. Eagerness, agitation, 

 solicitude, little quarrels, reconciliations, gratitude, 

 vengeance, &c. all that gives terror or pleasure in the 

 commerce of delicate souls, is here thought ridiculous, 

 or fit only for the embellishments of romances. It is 

 incredible to what a pitch of indolence the placid 

 nymphs of this place are arrived. I should despair of 

 finding one that would relinquish a game at piquet for 

 the loss or death of her dearest lover. There are many 

 who would think the turning aside from their sampler 

 among the most mysterious excesses of genius." He 

 divided his apartments with the family of Signer Mar- 

 tinez, the imperial librarian, whose sister, brought up 

 from the cradle by the poet, and highly accomplished 

 in literature as well as in music, devoted herself with 

 filial attachment to his amusement. From the period 

 of his fixing in this intimacy with the family of Mar- 

 tinez, he acquired a habit of dividing his time so re- 

 gularly, that a single day became something like a mi- 

 niature of his life ; and he was often in jest, though 

 with great justice, compared to a clock. In the morn- 

 ing he went always at the same hour to hear mass at 

 the church of the Capuchins ; from thence he went to 

 visit the Coi/htess of Althau, with whom his Italian 

 biographer says, that he regularly spent his time from 

 eleven till two, in the morning, and from eight till ten 

 in the evening ; and after her death he spent the same 

 allotted hours with liis friend Perlas, the canon of 

 Breslaw. We must suppose that he met at that lady's 

 house the circle of friends to whose society he was 

 chieHy attached. He rose, took his meals, and went 

 to bed always at a stated hour. At six in the evening 

 he received at home the Sardinian minister, and Baron 

 Hagen, the president of the imperial Aulic council. 



With these friends he spent his time till eight, usually Metastasio. 

 reading the Greek and Latin classics in chronological """"Y""""' 

 order. In the intervals of the day he wrote his verses 

 and his letters. When he had finished his writing, he 

 never left a scrap of paper on the table. He was in 

 short such a lover of order in all his ways, that he used 

 to say jocularly that he feared Hell chiefly because it 

 was a place of utter disorder, and because he undei'- 

 stood that in the infernal regions " nullus ordo sed 

 sempeternus horror inhabitat." He was accused of 

 being finical in his person, from his attachment to odo- 

 riferous washes, and delicate soaps and pomatums. In 

 his dress he was excessively neat and simple. He had 

 a frailty in his advanced years of being averse to de- 

 clare his age, and was not fond of alluding to his hum. 

 ble parentage. Having never had the small-pox, he 

 could not bear to hear the word mentioned j and when 

 Lewis XV. died of that distemper, not only that 

 circumstance, but even every thing concerning the 

 Court of France, were forbidden topics in his presence. 

 This weakness was the result of the uncommon dread 

 of death, with which he was so tormented, that when 

 any of his friends were given over, he never inquired 

 more about them, nor was willing to hear their names 

 mentioned. These were foibles in a character upon 

 the whole highly estimable ; for if not possessed of the 

 strong and active virtues, he was perfectly free from 

 jealousy, envy, malignity, and the selfish passions. In 

 the April of 1782, having attained his 8Uh year, he 

 was suddenly seized with a fever, which for some time 

 made him delirious ; but on recovering his senses he 

 received the sacrament with symptoms of devout sen- 

 sibility, which drew tears from the surrounding spec- 

 tators; he also had the Apostolic benediction pronoun- 

 ced upon him in the article of death. This benedic- 

 tion was sent to him from Pope Pius VI., who was 

 then at Vienna, by the Nuncio Garampi. He was 

 buried with great funeral-solemnity by his principal 

 heir, Signer Joseph Martinez, to whom he left his 

 house and library, and about 100,000 florins. A re- 

 maiujng, though small portion of his fortune, went to 

 his sisters. 



Metastasio was of middle stature, rather inclined to 

 be large, but well proportioned in his person, with 

 fine dark eyes, an aquiline nose, a well-shaped mouth, 

 and fresh complexion ; and, even at his advanced age,, 

 never wore glasses. Dr. Burney' found him, at 72, 

 looking like a man of 50, and the handsomest person 

 for his age he had ever seen. On his features, he says, 

 was painted all the genius, goodness, and propriety, 

 which characterize his writings. He was cautious and 

 modest in his intercourse, and so polite that he was sel- 

 dom known to contradict any body in conversation. 



Our limits necessarily oblige us to give a general 

 character, and not an analysis, of the works of Me- 

 tastasio. They contain, besides his poetry, a number 

 of letters to friends, which were published after his 

 death, and some reflections on the poetics of Aristotle. 

 Gravina had taken care that he should be a good clas- 

 sical scholar, and lie had studied with some depth the 

 principles of his own art. He has left also some poe- 

 tical versions from Horace and Juvenal. He composed 

 eight-and twenty regular operas, without reckoning a 

 number of short pieces and entertainments, containing 

 both airs and recitatives, like his greater operas, and 



' * Farinelli (whose voice was found to operate on the disordered mind of Pliilip V. like the harp of David on the evil spirit of Saul,) 

 was retained in the scrrke of the Spanish cuuit with a pension of '300 a-j car, which, after i'hilip V. died, was continued under his sue* 



