L'ABBE PIERRE BONVENTURE, a celebrated Italian poet, whose real name was Trapassi, was born at Affile, on January 3d. 1698. His talent for poetry was first unfolded by the reading of Tasso; and he began to compose verses at ten years of age. "A prodigy of this nature (says Metastasio) made such an impression on my master, the celebrated Gravina, that he thenceforth considered me as a plant worthy of being cultivated by his own hands." Metastasio was only fourteen years of age when he composed his tragedy entitled Il Giustino; in which he appears too close and scrupulous an imitator of the Grecian drama. Our young poet unfortunately lost his patron in 1717; who left him his heir, "as being a young man of the most promising abilities." Metastasio, at the age of nineteen, being, in consequence of this inheritance, superior to those wants which require the exertions of genius, and to which men of abilities are too often subject, gave full scope to his inclination for poetry. He began his dramatic career with the Didone Abbandonata, which was acted at Naples in 1724; the music was composed by Sarro. He soon acquired such celebrity, that in 1729 he was invited to Vienna by the emperor Charles VI.; who appointed him imperial poet, and granted him a pension of 4000 florins. From that time some of his works were presented at every court festival; and notwithstanding the extreme magnificence of these entertainments, they would now be forgotten were it not for the verses which he composed upon the occasion. The courts of Vienna and Madrid vied with each other in the present which they conferred upon him. From Maria Theresa he received a snuff-box and a port-folio set with diamonds, and a golden candelstick with a screen. Ferdinand VI., king of Spain, informed of the great merit of Metastasio by Farinelli, of whom he was a passionate admirer, sent him a present of a casket mounted with gold, and furnished with the different implements of writing. This favourite of kings and of the muses was of a cheerful temper, and was exceedingly temperate: to this he was probably indebted for the uninterrupted health which he enjoyed, and for the entire possession of his senses and faculties to the most advanced period of old age. He took his meals, arose, and went to bed, always at stated hours. This exactness and order were scrupulously observed even in the most trifling actions of his life. He used to say in jest, that he dreaded hell for no other reason but because it was a place ubi nulius ordo, sed sempiternus horror inhabitat. He had even his stated hours for making verses; to which he scrupulously adhered, without waiting for the moment of poetical enthusiasm. He was equally regular in the duties of the Christian as in the labours of the scholar. His behaviour was that of a true philosopher: his ambition extended no farther than the attainment of literary fame; and he despised every civil mark of distinction. When Charles VI. offered him the titles of Count or of Baron, which add no real worth or dignity to the possessor, but frequently make him appear in a more ridiculous light, he instantly begged the favour that he would allow him still to continue Metastasio. The empress Maria Theresa afterwards wished to bestow upon him the small cross of St Stephen; but he excused himself on account of his age, which would prevent him from attending at the festivals of the order. He was attacked by a fever on the 2d of April 1782; and he died on the 12th of the same month, at the age of 84. Before his death he received the sacrament according to the form of the Roman church; and Pius VI. who was then at Vienna, sent him his apostolical benediction in articulo mortis. He left about 150,000 florins. He composed a great number of tragic operas, and several small dramatic pieces which have been set to music. We have different editions of them in 4to, 8vo, and 12mo; and M. Richelet has published a translation of them into French, in 12 vols, small 12mo.

The greatest part of Metastasio's writings will confer immortality on their author. His dialogue is natural, Metastasio, simple, and easy; his style is always pure and elegant, and sometimes sublime and pathetic. His subjects are noble, interesting, and excellently adapted for representation. He was perfectly acquainted with the resources of his art, and has subjected the opera to rules. He stripped it of its machinery, and of the marvellous, which was fitted to excite the gaze of astonishment, but which gave no instruction to the understanding, and made no impression on the heart. His descriptions are copied from nature; the situations of his characters never fail to raise an interest in the reader, and often excite the tear of pity. His fables are celebrated; his characters are noble and well supported; his plots are excellently conducted, and happily unravelled. "There are scenes (says Voltaire) worthy of Corneille when he does not declaim, and of Racine when he is not feeble." His operas, in point of the pathetic, may be compared with our finest tragedies; and may be read with great pleasure, independent of the charms of the music. We must not, however, expect to find in Metastasio that exact regularity, and that fertile simplicity, which constitutes the excellence of some of our tragic poets: But though he sometimes transgresses the unities of time and place, he always preserves the unity of interest. Notwithstanding all these advantages, some critics will not allow him the merit of invention, which is the first qualification of a poet. They consider him only as a successful imitator of the French tragic writers, from whom a great part of his beauties are borrowed, and place him at the head of the finest wits in Italy, but deny that he possessed genius. He was a fond admirer of the ancients; and this admiration, increasing with the solidity of his understanding, continued to the last period of his life. He recommended reading them, as he himself had done, in a chronological order. His memory was excellent, and continued unimpaired even in old age. Horace was his favourite author, and he could repeat almost the whole of his verses. Metastasio, who, as we have observed, was the pupil of the celebrated Gravina, added a gentleness of character peculiar to himself to the accuracy of thinking and great erudition of his master. His abilities and fame were respected by the critics in general; and whereas the life of most men of letters is one continued warfare, his days happily glided away in tranquillity and peace.

The circumstance which occasioned the change of his name is thus related in a late anecdote: "Gravina's barber, who, like most of his profession, was a great talker, one day informed him, that in the Place de la Valicella, where he had his shop, a young boy came every evening, and sung extempore verses of his own composition, so harmonious and elegant that all the passersby stopped to listen to them. Gravina, upon this information, added one to the number of the young poet's audience, and found the verses so superior to the idea which he had formed of them from the account of the barber, and so much above the capacity of a child of ten or eleven years of age, that he instantly determined to undertake the cultivation of so promising a plant. His first care was to put the young Trapassi (which was the boy's name) to school; but apprehending that the ordinary methods of education might check the progress of so uncommon talent, he took him home to his own house, and changed his name into Metastasio, which signifies the same thing in Greek. In short, by a plan of education and by instructions suited to his genius, Gravina laid the foundation of that reputation which he predicted, and which Metastasio now enjoys." Vies des Hommes Illustres d'Italie, tom. i. p. 187.