"Fate and metaphysical nid doth seem To have thee crowned." — Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3.
Clemens Alexandrinus (^Strom. i) considered metapihys- ical as equivalent to sup>ernatural ; and is supported by the Greek commentator Philoponus. But if //tra be interpreted, as it may, to mean along with, then meta- physics, or metaphysical philosophy, will be that phi- losophy which we should take alo7ig with us into phys- ics, and into every other philosophy— that knowledge of causes and principles which we should carry with us into every department of inquiry. Aristotle called it the governing philosophy, which gives laws to all, but receives laws from none (Metap/iys. lib. i, cap. 2). Lord Bacon {Advancement of Learning, bk. ii) has lim- ited its sphere, when he says, " The one part (of philos- ophy), which is physics, inquireth and handleth the ma- terial and efficient causes; and the other, which is meta- physics, handleth the formal and fnal cause." But all causes are considered by Aristotle in his Avritings which have been entitled Jfefaphysics. "Aristotle," says Schwegler {Hist, of Philos. p. 112), "held that every, science must have for investigation a determined prov- ince and separate form of being, but that none of these sciences reaches the conception of being itself. Hence there is needed a science which should investigate that which the other sciences take up hypothetically, or through experience. This is done by the first philoso- phy, which has to do with being as such, Avhile the other sciences relate only to determined and concrete being. The metaphysics, which is this science of being and its primitive grounds, is the frst philosophy, since it is presupposed by every other discipline. Thus, says Aristotle, if there were only a physical substance, then
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-would physics be the first and the only philosophy ; but if tliere be an immaterial and unmoved essence which is the ground of all being, then must there be also an antecedent, and, because it is antecedent, a universal philosophy. The lirst ground of all being is God, whence Aristotle occasionally gives to the tirst philosophy the name of theology." " The aim of metaphysics," says D'Alembert (^Melanges, iv, 143), "is to examine the gen- eration of our ideas, and to show that they come from sensatioiis." This is the ideology of Condillac and De Trace. "Metaphysics," says Stewart (Dissert, pt. ii, p. 475), " was a word formerly appropriated to the ontol- ogy and pneumatology of the schools, but now under- stood as equally apphcable to all those inquiries which have for their object to trace the various branches of human knowledge to their lirst principles in the consti- tution of the human mind ;" and in the Preface to the same Dissertation he sa\-s that by metaphysics he mi- derstands the " inductive philosophy of tlie human mind." For literature, see rniLOSoi'UV. (J. H.W.)
Metastasio, Pietko Bonaventuka, an eminent Italian poet, deserves our notice as the author of several sacred dramas, oratorios, etc. He was born at Rome in 1698, and was originally named Tkapassi. He mani- fested at an early age extraordinary talents for improv- isation on any subject. Having attracted the notice of the celebrated jurist Gravina. he was adopted by him, and his name was changed to ^l(tM-.ia>iii ( a •• changing"), in allusion to his adoption. Hi- luiirrarinr died in 1718, leaving his property to jM(i.i>.iasii). wlio now devoted himself principally to literary pursuits and the publica- tion of his different poetical productions. In 1729 he was invited to Vienna to become jioet laureate, and nourished at the Austrian capiial nniil liis death in 1782. The genius of Metastasio is ciilo^i/iil liy Voltaire and La Harpe, the former of whom ((iiiiiiaii's some of his scenes to the most sublime of the (ireek jioets. Kous- seau, in his Xvurelle IlUoise, pronounces him " the only poet of the heart, the only genius who can move by the charm of poetic and musical harmony ;" and Schlegel observes that his purity of diction, grace, and delicacy liave rendered him, in the eyes of his countrymen, a classic author — the Racine of Italy. Of Metastasio's seven sacred dramas, or oratorios, La Passione, La Morte fVAbel, and Isacco, are best known; but all of them, Calsabigi justly obser\'es, are as perfect as this kind of composition will allow. See Biirncy, Memoirs q/' Me- tastasio (1796, 3 vols.) ; Torcia, Elogio del A bbate. P. Me- tastasio (1782); Hiller, Ueber P. Metastasio unci seine Werke (1786); Altanesi, FtVrt di P. Metastasio (1787); Lires of the Italian Poets, by the Rev. Henry Slebbing (London, 1X31). (J. H.W.)
Metcalfe, Wir.i.iAM, M.D., a prominent minister of the lJil)Ie-Christian Churcii, was born in the parish of Orton, Westmoreland, England, :March 11, 1788. He became a tlisciple of the Rev. Dr. Cowherd, a noted minister of the Swedenborgian Church, who in 1809 organized the Bible -Christian Ciuirch. j\Ietcalfe in 1811 was ordained as a minister of this Church by Dr. Cowherd, and in 1817, with a. small company of his fellow-believers, innnigrated to Philadeli)hia, where he continued iiis ministerial labors till the day of his death in 1)S62. According to his bic)gra|)her, tlie specilic work of Mr. Jletcalfe's life was " that of sowing the seeds and cultivating the princi])les of temperance and vegetarian- ism, and permanently establishing the Bible-Christian Church in tliis country." The Bible-Christian Church in England founded its doctrinal basis mainly upon the writings df Swedenborg. It propoinided views upon two subjects, however, which have never been generally received in the \ew Jenisiditn Cliurcli, as the Sweden- borgians prefer to call themselves. It incidcated tlie duty of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks as a bev- erage, and from the use of animal food. These two re- quirements were made conditions of Church member- ship, more particularly by 3Ir. Metcalfe. He was one