Eleva Account of the present State of the Royal Society of London, 27 Proceedings of the National Infti- (Frederic Wm. III. of Prussia ; and the late Count de Bernstorff, Prime Minifter of Denmark,) 30 Scientific Intelligence, Literary Some Particulars of the late Pre- Letterto the Publishers of the Por- State of the BAROMETER in inches, and decimals, and of Farenheit's THERMOMETER in the open air, taken in the morning before fun-rife, and at noon; and the quantity of rain-water fallen, in inches and decimals, from January 1ft to 31ft, within one mile of the Caftle of Edinburgh. TORRENCE, the feat of Andrew Stewart Eiq. in the Parish of Kilbride, Lane arkshire, is fituated on the Calder, about two miles above Calderwood. The fcenery here is not of the bold, romantic defcription, which characterises the latter place; the banks are, however, fufficiently prominent, and beautifully ornamented with wood. The late Captain Stewart was at confiderable expence to cut a road through the grounds, which is, for the most part, done with very good effect. THE THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, OR LITERARY MISCELLANY, FOR JANUARY, 1798. 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. PIETRO 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 & Damaso, 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 freecitizens, 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 befides the poet. While he was in garrifon, to the fmall 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 partnership with a fhop keeper at Rome, for the fale of goods which belong to what the Romans call l'arte bianca, con fifting of oil, flower, paftry, and other culinary materials. And having been fomewhat profperous in this kind of merchandise, he placed his two eldeft fons Leopoldo and Pietro, at a Grammarschool. The latter difcovered an extraordinary quickness and difpofition for literature, and a violent paffion for poetry, with a power of making verses, extempore, on any given fubject, before he was ten years old. This faculty he was habituated to exercife, after school hours, at his father's fhop, where great crowds ufed to affemble in the street 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 struck with the sweetness of the child's voice, and ftill more with his verses, which he foon found were extempore, and either upon perfons who ftood near him, or on playful fubjects of their fuggefting. Gravina was fo aftonifhed 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 instant ly conceived a wish 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 become not only his preceptor, but father. tion, but wealth and affluence were ftrangers to their doors. 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, As the child was ftill to remain at Rome, and no cruel preliminary was mentioned, by which his natural parents were prohibited from fee. ing 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. in those of a female. Our young bard was now, from the legitimate child of a fhop-keeper become the adopted fon of a 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 refpect and reverence for ancient lore, he tranflated his name into Greek: calling him Metaftafio, inftead of Trapaffi; as MiTaoTaois, Mutatio, feemed at once to exprefs his former name of Trapaffo, and his new fituation as an adopted child. Through flow'ry paths of poetry to And however he was oftenfibly oc- And having changed his name, he undertook the more difficult task of changing, or at least enlarging, his mental faculties, and at the fame time that he was ftudying the learn ed languages, and imbruing his mind with the fciences, he wished to make him an orator rather than a poet, and determined that he should study the law as a profeffion; that, and divinity, being the only two roads by which a man of learning could arrive at honours and dignity in Rome. Poets, indeed, were rewarded with barren praise and acclama In of Homer and Ariofto, which were his favourite poets, he was unable to contain himself; and Gravina difcovering, in fpite of his pupil's determination to conform implicitly to his will, that this exclufive paffion for poetry was infuperable, at length permitted him to read those 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'Effai in a manner which he afterwards disliked in proportion to the pains he had taken to walk the ftage in Greek bufkins. 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 progress in that art, in favour of another study for |