MET 



109 



MET 



, often animated with theatrical action. His subjects are 

 taken indifferently from mythology and history ; and 

 deal not only with antiquity, but, in one 111^.11101-. with 

 the middle ages, in the romantic and chivalrous piece 

 of Rogero. This grand variety of ages anil com 

 and manners, not only give* much scope for theatrical 

 decoration in the representation of his pieces, but 

 prompts the reader's imagination, even without witness- 

 ing their exhibition, to form rich and numerous con- 

 ceptions of scenery and spectacle, and furnishes the 

 poet's own fancy with a wealth of local imagery. With 

 all this wide field of subjects, however, 

 far from exhibiting a fertile diversity of " 

 ten, interests, and passions ; nor has he even attempt- 

 ed to be a great painter of nature and history The 

 Mac of this deficiency may have partly lain in the frame 

 of hi* genius, and partly in the nature of the opera, to 

 which the temperament of his genius, by long habit, 

 conformed itself. His soul, aa a poet, was no doubt 

 fraught with impaaaioned feelings, and with high forma 

 and cooceptiona of the sublime and beautiful ; but he 

 bad not, perhaps, from nature, a profound or daring 

 character of thought ; or, at all events, if be had it, 

 be could not exercise it in the soft, roluptuous. and 

 abstracted reveries of the opera. He devoted himself 

 to the musical drama with an exquisite feeling of mu- 

 sic ; and, where poetry is incut unrated with music, 

 however enchanting their united effect may be. some- 

 thing of the independent and excursive vigour of the 

 latter will necessarily be sacrificed. The enchantment 

 which we experience from hearing some noble war. 

 song, or affecting strain of lender pasasoo, powerfully 

 sung, may seem for a moment to throw a doubt upon 

 this truth. We are apt to feel, in such instances, that 

 poetry and music are natural, and ought to be insepa- 

 rable allies. And we are right in thus appreciating the 

 magic reciprocity which is here exchanged between the 

 two sister arts, when it extends no farther than to a 

 simple burst of feeling, or the recitation of a short and 

 simple story ; for music CM express) paMton, and power- 

 fully aid the verbal expression of paaaian. But when 

 poetry extends to the unfolding of complicated situa- 

 tion- to dialogue, and diversified descriptions ol lite, 

 it leave* the expreeaive power* of music behind it ; and 

 if it accommodate* staeu to musical itpraiaiun. it must 

 lose by the accommodation. Music cannot paint man- 

 ners, but would degenerate to burlc-que and mimicry 

 if it attempted to do so The opera port, therefore, 

 whose aim i* to give his poetry that mould alone to 

 which musical tipraaason can dang, and that huati 

 alone which musc can heighten and adorn, though he 

 may bring the paraiim* into play, and though he may 

 be rich, ideal, and persuasive, cannot carry into imi- 

 tation that bojdnew and truth, which make the drama 

 " kultt />. at i> sNrr. e awrrer to mainrr." 



Mataaxasio. the fan*** genius who ever attempted the 

 musical drama, illustrate* this theory in hi- whole thea- 

 His character* are all general and abstracted re- 

 presentation* of human nature. They have individual 

 name*, but not individual nature* ; they bum with 

 passion . they are exslted by virtue or debased by vice ; 

 out are monotonously good or bad, without the parti- 

 cular and nt which make the picture* of hu- 

 man being-* illusive semblance* of reality. The hero of 

 one age and country is exactly the same with the hero 

 of another. They are vutu-n and vict* personified, 

 and in the extreme ; they are detective in physiogno- 

 my. Yet, if wr < i;li Meta*taio, not by his g. 

 but specific worth in the drama, at a writer of opera*, 

 4 



and not of tragedies, we shall find room for almost un- 

 qualified admiration His opera* are, on the whole, in 

 so far exquisite dramas, that the story which they tell 

 i* managed with classical and skilful arrangement; their 

 plots are striking, interesting, and well adjusted ; the 

 story is irresistibly captivating, fraught with grandeur 

 and fire, as. well as tenderness of passion. Love, toy. 

 ally, and patriotism, are eloquently expressed ; and the 

 harmony and diction, both of air and recitative, are 

 supported with exquisite power and simplicity. His 

 language is so perspicuous a* to be almost as intelligi- 

 ble to foreigners as pro*e itself. His nine drama* the 

 most esteemed, are those which he composed during 

 the ten first years of his residence at Vienna. Issjpile, 

 Olimpiade. I >ernophoonte, Laclemenra di Tito, Achille 

 in Teiro, Semirami de Riconosciuto Temistocle, Zcno- 

 bia, and Regolo. In our own opinion, the tenderness 

 and luxuriance of feeling in Demetrio is equal to any 

 thing in his works, and almost unrivalled in the drama. 

 The third scene of the third act of Demetrio is pecu- 

 liarly touching, where Cleonice, the princess of Egypt, 

 who had been induced, by a false sene of honour, to 

 give up her lover Alcestes, when repentance seizes 

 her, when she find* herself unable to suport a longer 

 struggle against affection, *nd overtakes Alcestes on 

 the sen-shore, in the moment of his embarkation. The 

 eloquence of love wa never more romantic and beau- 

 tiful, than in her peerh in that scene which begins 



'>V to* fOffro albrrgo 

 Qm'tUa f+t jastw, rke i* iffia telta 

 Lam ft 4. it fflito < nr MM goti." 



iletaataaio is eminently the poet of love, and. in ge- 

 neral, very happy in delineating noble and amiable 

 sentiment* It it astonishing liow much H/iiW, and sim- 

 ple feeling, and natural language, he has thrown into 

 the mmt artificial department of the drama ; with how 

 little constraint he moves in lyrical poetry, and with 

 what artleaa. unaffected language, he unites the richest 

 ornament* of imagination. In the opera, he is a poet 

 without model*, and without rivals. () 



Ml I 1 LIN, Anciently M\ TI.I.ENK and LlSBOS, an 

 island in the Mediterranean, at the mouth of the 

 'uii uf Adramyti, on the south-west coast of Asia 

 Minor. 



This island is of a triangular figure : its precise di- 

 mensions are not ascertained ; but in so far as we can 

 coUrct, it seems about 4S miles in extreme length from 

 north- we*t to south.eat, 26 in extreme breadth, and 

 the superficies probably may tie computed at 50O 

 Mjuare miles. Several roc-ky flats environing it are 

 conjectured to have been once an integral part of Me- 

 telin, and some have xuppoaed that an ancient concus- 

 sion of nature rent the inland itself from the neigh- 

 bouring continent. The intermediate channels be- 

 tween two sides of it nd the Asiatic coast are nine or 

 ten miles wide, with SO or 60 fathoms of water. 



-re are no river* here, but mountain torrents from 

 the ruins ; numerous fountains, and runny hot springs 

 of different qualities, to which valetudinarians resort 

 at all seaaona, both for drinking and bathing. The 

 southern const is penetrated by two canals, each ter- 

 minating in a *pacioua basin, forming two excellent 

 mul >ecure harlnmrs, which arc separated by the lofty 

 Mount Olympus. Of these Port Caloni is the larger, 

 I >-it not o much frequented as the other port Hiero, 

 or Olmrre lying towards the south-east extremity of* 

 the inland. Traders repair hither during the whole 

 year for cargoes of oil, and foreign navigator* take 



