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PETRARCA, FRANCESCO. 



PETRABCA, FRANCESCO. 



Her* begins a new period of the life of Pctrarca, and with it the 

 Mewd put of his love poetry. Hitherto he had written Tenee in 

 praiae of Uura ; he now wrote verse* ' on Laura's death.' lie fancied 

 kiaaelf in frequent communion with her spirit ; he describee her 

 appearing to him in the middle of the night, comforting him, and 

 pointing to Heaven at the place of their next meeting. (Sonnet begin- 

 ning ' Lerotami il mio penaier,' and the other 'X<5 msi pietosa madre.') 

 The second part of Pctrarea'a poetry is superior to the first in purity 

 of feeling and loftiness of thought He himself felt this, and blessed 

 the memory of her who, by the even tanour of her virtue, had been the 

 means of oalmiug and purifying his heart. (Sonnet 249.) More than 

 twenty yean after Laura's death, when be was himself fast verging 

 toward* the grave, and when he was able to think of her with more 

 composure, he drew from his memory a picture of the heart, the 

 principles, and the conduct of the woman who had made all the 

 happiness and all the misery of his life. He describes Laura as 

 appearing to him through a mist, and reasoning with him on the 

 happiness of death to a well prepared mind ; she tells him that when 

 she died she felt no sorrow except pity for him. On 1 Ytrarca entreating 

 her to *y whether she ever loved him, she evaded the ijuestion by 

 saving that although she was pleased with his love, she deemed it 

 right to temper his passion by the ooldnen of her looks, but that when 

 she taw him sinking into despondency, she gave him a look of conso- 

 lation and spoke kindly to him. (' Trionfo della Morte,' ch. ii.) 



We have dwelt at some length on this subject because it hss acquired 

 an historical importance, and has been the subject of much controversy. 

 Unable to comprehend feelings with which they were unacquainted, 

 some critics have sneered at the passion of Petrsrca for Laura ; others 

 have doubted its existence ; whilst others again have disbelieved the 

 parity of Laura's conduct We have now however sufficient evidence 

 to establish two facto : 1, that the attachment of Petrarca for Laura 

 was real and lasting ; 2, that Laura's conduct was above suspicion. 

 What her inward feelings were towards the poet we have no means of 

 knowing, and Petrarca himself does not seem to have ever known. 

 Laura appears to have been imbued with religious sentiments, united 

 with serenity of mind, self-possession, discretion, and good sense. 

 There have been doubts expressed concerning the identity of the Laura 

 of Petrarca with Laura do Sade, but the evidence seems to be strong 

 in favour of that identity. (De Sade, ' Mdmoires pour la Vie de P. 

 Peirarque ;' Foscolo, Essays on Petrarch ;' Baldelli, ' Del Petrarca c 

 delle sue Opere,' 2nd edition, Fiesole, 1837; and the article 'Neves, 

 Laure de,' in the ' Biographic Universelle,') 



But the life of Petrarca was not spent in idle though eloquent 

 wailing*. He was an active labourer in the field of learning, and this 

 constitutes his real merit and his best title to fame. Besides the works 

 which he wrote, he encouraged literature in others, and he did every- 

 thing in his power to promote sound studies. Petrarca was a great 

 traveller for hi* age ; he visited every part of Italy, he went several 

 times to France and Germany, and even to Spain. Wherever he 

 went, he collected or copied manuscript*, and purchased medals and 

 oth- r remains of antiquity. At Arezzo he discovered the ' Institu- 

 tions ' of (juintilian ; at Verona, Cicero's Familiar letters ; in another 

 place, the epistles to Atticun; at Liege ho found some orations of 

 , which be transcribed ; he also speaks of Cicero's book ' He 

 Gloria, 1 of Varro's treatise 'De Rebus Divinis et Humnnis,' and of a 

 compilation of letters and epigrams of Augustus, which he had once 

 Men or possessed, but which hare not come down to us. (' Rerum 

 Mtmorandarum,' b. L) He was liberal iu lending manuscripts, and 

 thus several of them were lost He applied himself also to the diplo- 

 matic history of the dark sgea, and he investigated the means of 

 distinguUhing authentic diplomas and charters from numerous others 

 which were apocryphal. ('Epistolro Seniles,' b. xv., ep. 5.) He was 

 the friend and instructor of Boccaccio, John of Ravenna, and other 

 Italian and foreign contemporaries. He was the founder of the library 

 of 8t Mark at Venice, lie encouraged Qalcaxzo Visconti to found the 

 University of Pavia. In his extensive correspondence with the mott 

 distinguished persons of his time, he always inculcated the advantages 

 of study, of the investigation of truth, and of a moral conduct ; he 

 always proclaimed the great superiority of intellectual over corporeal 

 pleasures. He and his friend Boccaccio sre justly considered as the 

 reviver" of classical literature in Italy. His admiration of antiquity 

 was carried to excess, not being tempered by the light of criticism 

 which arose much later in Europe. It was this classical enthusiasm 

 that led him in support the tribune Hicnzi, and attach too great 

 importance to his abortive schemes. Petrarca beheld Home as entitled 

 to be again what ahe had once been, the mistress of the world, as if 

 the thing were possible, or even desirable. This error he perpetuated 

 by hi* writings, and his authority has contributed to that classical 

 tendency of recollections and aspirations which bos led aitray many 

 Italian mind., lly aspiring to be what they cannot be again, they have 

 lost sight of what they might and ought to be as members of tho great 

 modern European fan.ily. 



Prtrarc* acted an important part in the aflairs of state of his time. 

 His influence over the great and powerful is one of the moot extra- 

 linary parts of bis chsractcr, but it is a well ascertained fact He 

 enjoTed the friendship of several popes, of the Correggio lords of Parma, 

 of the Colonna of Rome, the Visconti of Milan, the Carrara of Padua, 

 the Oonaga of Mantua, of Robert, king of Naples, and of Charles IV., 



emperor of Germany. He was invited in turn by them all, was 

 consulted by them, and was employed by them in several affair* of 

 importance. He was sent by the nobles and people of Rome as their 

 orator to Clement VI., in order to prevail on that pope to remove his 

 residence from Avignon to Rome. He afterwards wrote a Latin 

 epistle to Urban V., Clement's successor, urging the same request, 

 and the pope soon after removed to Rome, at least for a time. In 

 1340 the senate of Rome sent him a solemn invitation to come there 

 and receive the laurel crown as a reward of his poetical merit Petraroa 

 accepted the invitation, and, embarking at Marseille, landed at Naples, 

 where King Robert, himself a man of learning, in order to enhance his 

 reputation, held a public examination in presence of all his court 

 during three days, in which various subjects of science and literature 

 were discussed. At the termination of these meetings, King Robert 

 publicly proclaimed Petraroa to be deserving of the laurel crown, and 

 sent an orator to accompany him to Rome to attend the ceremony, which 

 took place on Kaster-day in the year 1341, when Orso dell' Anguillara, 

 senator of Home, crowned the poet in the Capitol, in presence of a vast 

 assemblage of spectators, and in the midst of loud acclamations. 



Petrarca had ecclesiastical benefices at Parma and at Padua, which 

 were given to him by his patrons of the Corieggio and Carrara families, 

 and ho spent much of his time between those towns. From Padua he 

 sometimes went to Venice, where he became acquainted with the 

 Doge Andrea Dandolo, who was distinguished both as a statesman 

 and as a lover of literature. Venice was then at war with Genoa, 

 Petrarca wrote a letter to Dandolo from Padua, in March 1351, in 

 which he deprecated these hostilities between two Italian states, and 

 exhorted him to peace. Dandolo, in his answer, praised hi* ttylo 

 and his good intentions ; but he defended the right of Venice, after 

 the provocations that she hod received from her rival. In the follow- 

 ing year, after a desperate battle between the fleets of the two nations 

 in the Sea of Marmara, Petrarca wrote from Vaucluse, where he then 

 was, to the doge of Genoa, for the same laudable purpose, that of 

 promoting peace. In the next year, 1353, the Genoese fleet was 

 totally defeated by the Venetians off the coast of Sardinia; and 

 Genoa in its humiliation sought the protection of John Visoonti, arch- 

 bishop and lord of Milan, the most powerful Italian prince of his time. 

 Petrarca was staying at Milan as a friend of Visconti, who had made 

 him one of his councillors, and as such he was present at the solemn 

 audience of tho deputies of Genoa and at the act of surrender. In 

 1354 Visconti sent Petrarca on a mission to Venice to negociate a 

 peace between the two republics. He was received with great dis- 

 tinction, hut failed in the object of bis mission. Soon after 

 John Vitconti died, and his three nephews divided his dominion 

 amongst them. The youngest and the best of them, Galeazzo, 

 engaged Petrarca to remain at Milan near his person. In November, 

 1354, tho Emperor Charles IV. arrived at Mantua from Germany ; anil 

 he wrote to Petrarca, who had been in correspondence with him 

 before, to invite him to his court Pvtrarcn repaired to Mantua, * pent 

 several days with the emperor, and accompanied him to Milan. 

 Petrarca wished to persuade him to fix his residence in Italy; but 

 the emperor, after being crowned at Milan and at Rome, hastened to 

 return to Germany. However, before he left Italy, peace was pro- 

 claimed between Venice and Genoa. In 135G Petrarca was sent by 

 the Visconti on a mission to tho emperor, whom they suspected of 

 hostile intentions towards them. He met Charles at Prague, and 

 having succeeded in 1m mission, he returned to Milan. In 1360 he 

 was sent by Galeazzo Viscunti on a mission to Paris to compliment 

 King John on his deliverance from his captivity iu England. In hi* 

 "familiar epistles " ho describes the miserable state of France, and the 

 traces of the devastation perpetrated by fire and sword. He was 

 well received by the king and the dauphin, and after three months 

 spent at Paris, he returned to Milan. The next year he left Milan to 

 reside at Padua. The introduction into Italy of the mercenary bands 

 called 'Companies,' which the marquis of Montferrat and other 

 Italian princes took into their pay, and which c mini: t. ,1 the greatest 

 outrages, and the plague which they brought with them into Lorn- 

 bardy, were the reasons which induced Petrarca to remove to Padua. 

 In 1862, the plague having reached Padua, he retired to Venire, 

 taking bis books with him. Soon after his arrival, he off-red to 

 bequeath his library to the church of St. Mark. The offer was 

 accepted, and a large house was assigned for the reception of 

 Petrarca and bin books. This was the beginning of the celebrated 

 library of St. Mark, which was afterwards increased by Cardinal 

 riiiissiimi and others. At Venice, Petrarca was visited by his friend 

 Boccaccio, whq spent three months in his company. Petraroa passed 

 several years at Venice, honoured by the doge and the principal 

 senators, and now and then making excursions to Padua, Milan, and 

 Pavia, to visit his friends the Carrara and Galeazzo Visconti. In 1368 

 he was present at the marriage of Galeaczo's daughter Violantc with 

 Prince Lionel of England. From Milan he returned to Padua, where 

 he received a pressing invitation from pope Urban V., who had fixed 

 bis residence at Rome, and who wished to become acquainted ith 

 him. Petrarca had a great esteem for Urban's character; and he 

 determined, notwithstanding his age and his infirmities, on a journey 

 to Home; but, on arriving at Ferrara, his strength failed him ; he fell 

 into a swoon, and remained for thirty hours apparently dead. 

 Nicholas d'Este, lord of Ferrara, and his brother Hugo, took tho 



