In 1795 the Memoirs of Metastasio made their appearance in the republic
of letters. They were received with interest and pleasure by all
readers of taste, and lovers of the lyric muse. They had not, indeed,
that brightness of popular success which had flourished into the world
the previous works of the Doctor; for though the name of Metastasio
was familiar to all who had any pretensions to an acquaintance with
the classical muses, whether ancient or modern, it was only the
chosen few who had any enjoyment of his merit, or who understood the
motives to his fame. The Italian language was by no means then in its
present general cultivation; and the feeling, exalted dramas of this
tenderly touching poet, were only brought forward, in England, by the
miserable, mawkish, no-meaning translations of the opera-house hired
scribblers.[42] And all that was most elegant and most refined, in
thought as well as in language, of this classical bard, was frequently
so ill rendered into English, as to become mere matter of risibility,
held up for mockery and ridicule.
The translations, or, more properly speaking, imitations, occasionally
interspersed in this work, of some of the poetry of Metastasio, were
the most approved by the best critics; as so breathing the sentiments
and the style of the author, that they read, said Horace Lord Orford,
like two originals.
But the dissertation concerning the rules was what excited most
attention. Dr. Warton, a professed and standard supporter of them and
of Aristotle, confessed, with surprise, that he was shaken from his
firm ancient hold, through the treatise on their subject by Metastasio,
as given, in so masterly a manner, by Dr. Burney.
Mr. Twining, the able and learned commentator and translator of
Aristotle, and one of the most candid of men, allowed himself, also,
to be struck, if not convinced, by the reasoning of Metastasio, as
presented by Dr. Burney.
Mr. Mason, likewise, owned that he was set upon taking quite a new
view of that long-battled topic. And the ingenious Mr. Walker opened
a critical and literary correspondence from Dublin with Dr. Burney,
relative to this interminable question.
Meanwhile, from the public at large, these Memoirs obtained a fair and
satisfactory approvance that kindly sheltered the long-earned laurels
of Dr. Burney from withering, if they elicited not such productive
fragrance as to make those laurels bloom afresh.
On the opening of July, 1796, the parental feelings of Dr. Burney were
auspiciously gratified by the reception of his daughter’s new attempt;
of which the first homage was offered, and graciously received in
person at Windsor, by the King, as well as by the Queen; with the most
benevolent marks of unvaried favour, and with the condescension of
repeated private audiences with the Queen, and with the Princesses,
during a short Windsor sojourn. But that which enchanted beyond his
hopes the Doctor’s fondest desires, was that his daughter had the
signal happiness of naming his foreign-born, though domestic-bosomed
son-in-law, General d’Arblay, to the King, upon the Terrace, by the
gracious motion of his Majesty; who there accorded him the high honour
of a conversation of several minutes.
This, which was the proudest instant of his daughter’s life, was not
less elevating to the loyal heart of the Doctor; who considered it
as an indication that the unsullied conduct and character of General
d’Arblay had reached the ears of the King, who had his Royal Highness
the Duke of York at his side; and who certainly would not himself
thus publicly have sought out and distinguished a foreigner, of whose
principles he could have had any doubt.
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