that they-fhould fweep along in fome certain courfe, and in one collected mafs. What then hall we think of that rich fountain which, whilft it was poured out by fo many channels, flowed through each with a full and equal stream? To be abforbed in one purfuit, however important, is not the characteristic of the higher clafs of genius, which, piercing through the various combinations and relations of furrounding circumftances, fees ail things in their just dimenfions, and attributes to each its due. Of the various occupations in which Lorenzo engaged, there is not one in which he was not eminently fuc, cefsful; but he was moft particu. larly diftinguifhed in thofe which juftly hold the first rank in human eftimation. The facility with which he turned from fubjects of the highest importance to thofe of a mufement and levity, fuggefted to his countrymen the idea that he had two diftinct fouls combined in one body. Even his moral character feems to have partaken in fome degree of the fame diverfity, and his devotional poems are as ardent as his lighter pieces are licentious. On all fides he touched the extremes of human character, and the powers of his mind were only bounded by that impenetrable circle which prefcribes the limits of human nature. "Asaftatefman, Lorenzo de' Medici appears to peculiar advantage. Uniformly employed in fecuring the peace and promoting the happinefs of his country by juft regulations at home, and wife precautions abroad, and teaching to the furrounding governments thofe important leffons of political fcience, on which the civilization and tranquillity of nations have fince been found to depend. Though poffeff ed of undoubted talents for mili tary exploits, and of fagacity to avail himfelf of the imbecility of neighbouring powers, he was fuperior to that avarice of dominion which, without improving what is already acquired, blindly aims at more extenfive poffeffions. The wars in which he engaged were for fecurity, not for territory; and the riches produced by the fertility of the foil, and the induftry and ingenuity of the inhabitants of the Florentine republic, inftead of being diffipated in impofing projects and ruinous expeditions, circulated in their natural channels, giving happinefs to the individual, and refpectability to the ftate. If he was not infenfible to the charms of ambition, it was the ambition to deferve rather than to enjoy; and he was always cautious not to exact from the public favour more than it might be voluntarily willing to beftow. The approximating fuppreffion of the liberties of Florence, under the influence of his defcendants, may induce fufpicions unfavourable to his patriotifm; but it will be difficult, not to fay impoffible, to difcover, either in his conduct or his precepts, any thing that ought to ftigmatize him as an enemy to the freedom of his country. The authority which he exercised was the fame as that which his anceftors had enjoyed, without injury to the republic, for nearly a century, and had defcended to him as infeparable from the wealth, the refpectability, and the powerful foreign connexions of his family. The fuperiority of his talents enabled him to avail himself of these advantages with irresistible effect; but hiftory fuggefts not an inftance in which they were devoted to any other purpofe than that of promoting the honour and independence of of the Tuscan ftate. It was not by the continuance, but by the dereliction of the fyftem that he had established, and to which he adbered to the close of his life, that the Florentine republic funk under the degrading yoke of defpotic power; and to his premature death we may unquestionably attribute, not only the destruction of the commonwealth, but all the calamities that Italy soon afterwards sustained. it was not without difficulty that he was refcued from the danger, to receive from the bounty of Lorenzo the reward of his well-meant though mistaken fidelity. "The fympathies of mind, like the laws of chemical affinity, are uniform. Great talents attract admiration, the offering of the underftanding; but the qualities of the heart can alone excite affection, the offering the heart. If we may judge of Lorenzo de' Medici by the ardour wih which his friends and contemporaries have expreffed their attachment, we fhall form conclufions highly favourable to his fenfibility and his focial virtues. The exaction of those attentions usually paid to rank and to power, he left to fuch as had no other claims to refpect; he rather chofe to be confidered as the friend and the equal, than as the dictator of his fellowcitizens. His urbanity extended to the lowest ranks of fociety; and while he enlivened the city of Florence by magnificent fpectacles and amufing reprefentations, he partook of them himself with a relish that fet the example of feftivity. It was the general opinion in Florence, that whoever was favoured by Lorenzo could not fail of fuccefs. Valori relates, that in the reprefentation of an engagement on horfeback, one of the combatants, who was fuppofed to contend under the patronage of Lorenzo, being overpowered and wounded, avowed his refolution to die rather than fubmit to his adverfary, and "The death of Lorenzo, which happened on the eighth day of April 1492, was no fooner known at Florence than a general alarm and confternation spread throughout the city, and the inhabitants gave way to the most unbounded. expreffions of grief. Even thofe who were not friendly to the Mediei lamented in this misfortune the profpect of the evils to come. The agitation of the public mind was increafed by a fingular coincidence of calamitous events, which the fuperftition of the people confidered as portentous of approaching commotions. The phyfician, Pier Leoni, whofe prefcriptions had failed of fuccefs, being apprized of the refult, left Careggi in a ftate of dif traction, and precipitated himfelf into a well in the fuburbs of the city. Two days preceding the death of Lorenzo, the great dome of the Reparata was flruck with lightning, and on the fide which approached towards the chapel of the Medici, a part of the building fell. It was also observed that one of the golden palle or bails, in the emblazonment of the Medicean arms, was at the fame time struck out. For three nights, gleams of light were faid to have been perceived proceeding from the hill of Fiefole, and hovering above the church of S. Lorenzo, where the remains of the family were depofited. Befides thefe incidents, founded perhaps on fome cafual occurrence, and only rendered extraordinary by the workings of a heated imagination, many others of a fimilar kind are related by contem-' porary authors, which, whilft they A 4 exemplify exemplify that credulity which characterises the human race in every age, may at least serve to fhew that the event to which they were fupposed to allude was conceived to be of fuch magnitude as to occafion a deviation from the ordinary course of nature. From Careggi the body of Lorenzo was conveyed to the church of his patron faint, amidst the tears and lamentations of all ranks of people, who bewailed the lofs of their faithful protector, the glory of their city, the companion of their amusements, their common father and friend. His obfequies were without oftentation, he hav ing a fhort time before his death given express directions to that effect. Not a tomb or an infcription marks the place that received his ashes; but the stranger, who, fmitten with the love of letters and of arts, wanders amidft the fplendid monuments erected to the chiefs of this illuftrious family, the work of Michelagnolo and of his powerful competitors, whilst he looks in vain for that infcribed with the name of Lorenzo, will be reminded of his glory by them all.” MEMOIRS of the ABATE METASTASIO, until his Arrival at VIENNA on his Appointment to the Office of IMPERIAL LAUREATE. [Extracted from Dr. BURNEY'S MEMOIRS of the LIFE and WRITINGS of that POET.] IETRO TRAPASSO, the fecond fon of Felice Trapaffo of Afifi, and Francesca Galafti of Bologna, was born at Rome, Jan. 6th, 1698, in the parish of Santi Lorenzo & Damafo, where he was baptifed the 19th of the fame month, by Card. Ottoboni. "His father, though defcended from a family in Afifi which had long enjoyed the privileges of free citizens, but which, by a gradual decline, was reduced to poverty, not being able to fubfift in the place of his birth, lifted for a foldier in the regiment of Corfi, and foon after married Francesca Galafti, by whom he had many children be fides the poet. "While he was in garrifon, to the fmali pay of a foldier, he added fomething towards the maintenance of his family, by becoming an amanuenfis. And at length, having ferved the ufual time, and by extreme industry and economy faved a little money, he entered into partnerfhip with a fhop-keeper at Rome, for the fale of goods which belong to what the Romans call Parte bianca, confifting of oil, flower, paftry, and other culinary materials. "And having been somewhat profperous in this kind of merchandife, he placed his two eldest fons, Leopoldo and Pietro, at a Grammar-fchool. The latter difcovered an extraordinary quickness and difpofition for literature, and a violent paffion for poetry, with a power of making verfes, extempore, on any given fubject, before he was ten years old. "This faculty he was habituated to exercife, after fchool hours, at his father's fhop, where great crowds used to affemble in the freet of an evening to hear the young Trapaffi fing, all'improvifta; who, befides the harmony of his numbers, was gifted with the melody of a fine voice. During one of these tuneful fits, the learned civilian Gravina having accidentally paffed that way, was ftruck with the sweetnefs of the child's voice, and ftill more with his verses, which he foon found were extempore, and either upon perfons who stood near him, or on playful fubjects of their fuggefting. "Gravina was fo astonished and pleafed at the precocity of the little bard's talents, that he ftopt to carefs, and converfe with him, offering him money for his performance, which however the child modeftly declined to accept. This fo much increased the civilian's admiration, that he inftantly conceived a wifh to adopt him, for the pleasure of cultivating a foil which nature had rendered fo fertile, that even the fpontaneous flowers and fruits it produced were of a fuperior kind. Without hesitation he therefore applied to his parents, foliciting them to transfer to him the care of their fon's education, promifing to be come not only his preceptor, but father. "As the child was ftill to remain at Rome, and no cruel preliminary was mentioned, by which his natural parents were prohibited from seeing him and cherishing reciprocal affection, Felix was too wife, and zealous for the welfare of his fon, to refuse the proffered patronage; and the next morning Pietro was conducted by his father and mother to the house of Gravina, and wholly configned to his care and protection. "Our young bard was now, from the legitimate child of a flop-keeper, become the adopted fon of man of letters. And as his learned patron was partial to Greek literature, and wished to implant in the mind of the young Roman a re fpect and reverence for ancient lore, "And having changed his name, "Yet while he was obliged to read the dry books of the law, and to hear the wrangling and jargon of the bar, his natural paffion never quitted him, but True as the needle to the Polar ftar, Which nightly guides the advent'rous mariner, Its glowing influence pointed out the way, Through flow'ry paths of poetry to firay. And however he was oftenfibly occupied by other ftudies, he found time, by stealth, to read the great models of the art, of which fays an Italian writer, he fucked the fweet, and devoured the fubftance.' Indeed he was as much in difguife in the robes of the forum, as Achilles in those of a female. At the names of Homer and Ariofto, which were his favourite poets, he was unable to contain bimfelf; and Gravina difcovering, in fpite of his pupil's determination to conform implicitly to his will, that this exclufive paf fion fion for poetry was infuperable, atnificence of princes,' and he was length permitted him to read thofe poets which he himself thought not only the best, but the only models of perfection. At the age of fourteen, during the early period of this indulgence, Metaftafio produced his tragedy of Giuftino, conformable to the rigour of all the rules of the ancient Greek dramatic writers, with which his learned preceptor had fupplied him. But he lifped the numbers of the dry and formal fcenes of this Coup d'Efai in a manner which he afterwards difliked in proportion to the pains he had taken to walk the flage in Greek buskins.” "It feems fomewhat inconfiftent, that Gravina, whofe firft impreffions in favour of his young pupil were the effects of his premature genius for poetry, fhould check his progrefs in that art, in favour of another ftudy for which he had no paffion or uncommon difpofition; but thinking more of his future fortune than fame, he chained him to legislation, pandects, edicts, decrees, codes, rolls, and every fpecies of advocation that was likely to contribute to his profeffional knowledge and advancement. But after producing the tragedy of Giuftino upon Gravina's favourite Greek model, the learned civilian feems not only to have tolerated, but encouraged his pupil's adoration of the Mufes; and at eighteen carried him to Naples exprefsly to afford him an opportunity of finging extempore with the moft celebrated Improvifatori of Italy at that time." And it is related by his biographers, that in this very year of his age, he fung, all' improvifta, at Naples, forty octave ftanzas, on a fubject propofed to him by one of the audience, which was the mag heard with wonder and rapture by all the learned prefent. They admired the fecundity of his ideas, the fublimity of his conceptions, the flights of his fancy, and the facility and neatness of his expreffion. Indeed he became in that city, the general and favourite fubject of literary academies and affemblies of good tafte and polite conversation; where nothing was repeated but the favourite verfes which he had fung extempore, and which were remembered by those who had heard them from his own mouth: on thefe occafions, the order, clearness, and learning, with which he treated the fubjects, as well as the beauty of his verfes, the sweetness of his voice, the grace of his action, his modeft deportment, and the expreffion of his countenance, were univerfally extolled. By thefe excellencies, joined to his fine features and great natural dignity, he became the idol of all who heard and faw him; and the love of his preceptor, Gravina, encreased with his years, as the genius and gratitude of his pupil rendered him every day more and more fatisfied with his own difcernment in fe. lecting and adopting him. "With his poetical studies Metaftafio ftill continued to purfue thofe of the law, and in order to obtain a paffport through the two most promifing roads to preferment at Rome, he cherished alfo a hope of rifing in the church; affumed the clerical habit, and took the minor orders of priesthood; not indeed, fay the Italian writers of his life, from any partiality for that profeffion, but by the advice of his affectionate mafter, as the most likely means of obtaining honour and emoluments. "At twenty years of age he had |