502 



PETIT JURY PETRARCA. 



parliament are the ancient and undoubted birth- 

 right and inheritance of the subjects of England. 

 This protestation James, with his own hand, tore 

 out of the journal. The arbitrary measures of the 

 first Stuart reign, the forced lotins, benevolences, 

 taxes imposed without consent of parliament, arbi- 

 trary imprisonments, the billeting of soldiers, &c., 

 finally determined the commons to prepare a law 

 which should protect the rights of the subject against 

 further invasion ; this they called a petition of right, 

 as implying that it contained merely a corroboration 

 or explanation of the ancient constitution, not any 

 infringement of the royal prerogative, -or acquisition 

 of new liberties. It passed the commons and the 

 upper house (1628), and, after some attempts, on 

 the part of Charles I., to evade it, received the 

 royal assent. After reciting the grievances above 

 enumerated, it provides against their repetition as 

 contrary to the laws and statutes of the realm, and 

 the rights and liberties of the subject, and prays the 

 king to declare that his officers and ministers should 

 serve him according to the laws and statutes of the 

 realm. The petition is given in full by Hume (note 

 xx. to ch. 51.) 



PETIT JURY. See Jury. 



PETITIO PRINCIPH, in logic; the taking a 

 thing for true, and drawing conclusions from it as 

 such, when it requires to be proved before any in- 

 ferences can be deduced from it. 



PETIT TREASON. See Treason. 



PETRARCA, FRANCESCO, or, as he is generally 

 called by English writers, Petrarch, an Italian poet 

 and scholar the ornament of the fourteenth century, 

 was born of Florentine parents at Arezzo, in Tuscany, 

 July 4 (or, according to some, July 20), 1304, and 

 spent his youth at Ancisa in the Val d'Arno, Pisa, 

 Carpentras, and Avignon, which was then the resi- 

 dence of the pope. The beauty of the environs of 

 Avignon kindled his imagination. In 1318, he studi- 

 ed law at Montpellier, and, in 1322, at Bologna ; 

 but he was far more inclined to the study of the an- 

 cient classics, though his father burned many of the 

 works which the young Petrarch had procured. 

 Soon after his father's death, he left Bologna and 

 the study of law, and, in 1326, returned to Avignon, 

 and entered the ecclesiastical state. His diligence, 

 talents, learning and eloquence soon procured him 

 distinction, while his pleasing person and manners 

 made him the favourite of the ladies and the great. 

 Not being much confined by the duties of his 

 (several benefices, he followed the impulse of 

 his genius, which led him to literary pursuits. 

 He resided alternately at Avignon, Carpi, Parma, 

 Selvapiana, Mantua, Milan, Padua, Verona, Venice, 

 Home, Vaucluse, and Linterno, an estate near Milan. 

 He also made several journeys, visiting, in 1333, the 

 countries on the Rhine, and various cities of France. 

 Germany, and Flanders. We find interesting ac- 

 counts of some of his travels in his Epistolae Famili- 

 ares. He also made the tour of Spain, and visited 

 England ; but of these excursions we have no ac- 

 count. He afterwards visited, in a public character, 

 Naples, Venice, Avignon (in company with the cele- 

 brated Cola di Rienzi), Paris, and Prague. Prelates 

 and nobles loaded him witii proofs of their esteem, 

 and the German emperor, Charles IV., in particular, 

 conferred on him the title of count palatine, and cor- 

 responded with him. Petrarch communicated to him 

 his patriotic wishes often with the most unrestrained 

 boldness ; for he was an ardent lover of his country. 

 He exerted himself, especially in concert with Cle- 

 ment VI., to induce him to unite the Guelfs and 

 (iihf'lines. He made his learning of general utility 

 by his writings, and by opening lo others the access 

 to the sources of his own information, the works o/ 



the ancient classic writers. (See Philology.} He 

 brought to light Cicero's Episfola: Familiares, formed 

 a collection of manuscripts with great labour, and, 

 with Boccaccio, promoted the study of the Greek 

 language in Italy, which he had himself learned but 

 imperfectly, and at a late period of his life. One 

 of the first places, therefore, is due to him among 

 the restorers of ancient literature. He studied the 

 ancient philosophers, historians, and poets, as far 

 as they were then known, under the most di-- 

 couraging difficulties, arising from the imperfec- 

 tion of the means; and he had more accurate 

 philosophical notions, a more extensive knowledge 

 of history, and a more correct taste, than any of his 

 contemporaries. He paid particular attention to 

 practical philosophy. In his lively dialogues, he en- 

 deavoured to inculcate just notions of life and con- 

 duct. One of these is his book De Remediis utrius- 

 que Fortunes. With equal zeal he investigated 

 ancient history, and attended, especially, to the an- 

 cient Roman monuments, for the preservation of 

 which he earnestly exerted himself, and began to 

 form a collection of imperial coins. The unexampled 

 homage which was paid to Petrarch during his life, 

 was founded chiefly on his profound acquaintance 

 with ancient writers, displayed in his Latin works. 

 His historical treatises prove his extensive reading; 

 and he also wrote an Itinerarium Syriacum a Guide 

 to the Holy Land. His Latin, indeed, bears traces 

 of the time in which he lived ; but all will readily 

 pardon this defect. He cultivated poetry not less 

 than philosophy and history ; and genius and study 

 conspired to make him a poet. As models, he had 

 the ancients and Provenejal bards. The merits of 

 Dante he seems not to have appreciated. His Latin 

 poems are not, indeed, models, like those of the 

 ancients, but they are excellent for the age in which 

 he lived, and excited general admiration. They are 

 eclogues, poetic epistles, and an epic entitled Africa, 

 in which he celebrates Scipio, his favourite hero. It 

 was never finished ; but it gained him the poetic 

 laurel, with which he was crowned in the capitol on 

 Easter day, 134 1, with the greatest parade. This 

 poem he considered his best. His fame soon spread 

 throughout Italy and the neighbouring countries. His 

 reputation as a poet now rests on his beautiful Italian 

 poems, published in 1327 1354, in which he far ex- 

 celled his predecessors the Troubadours. 



He was led to write poetry in his mother tongue, 

 by his passion for the beautiful Laura, (q. v.) The 

 ardent youth had just returned from the university of 

 Bologna to Avignon, when, one morning in Passion- 

 week (April 6, 1327), he went to the chapel of St 

 Clara, according to his custom, where he saw Laura, 

 full of youthful beauty and grace, and his whole soul 

 was absorbed with the most ardent passion, which 

 was increased by the charms of her mind. Laura 

 was touched by his addresses ; for she knew how to 

 appreciate his merits, his constancy, and his admira- 

 tion ; yet she never forgot her character and her hon- 

 our. She always kept him within the limits of pro- 

 priety, and only vouchsafed to him a smile or a kind 

 word, when moved to compassion by his fruitless 

 love. He often resolved to tear himself away from 

 her, because he felt how much his passion checked 

 the activity of his mind. But he felt, likewise, that 

 this passion had inspired him to high efforts, that he 

 might deserve the regard of Laura. (See the canzone 

 Gentil mia Donna.") He betook himself to travelling, 

 and mingled in the bustle of the world ; but in vain. 

 The image of the object of his passion never left him. 

 (See his beautiful canzone Di Pensier in Pensier.) 

 He endeavoured to calm his passion by solitude ; but 

 it became more violent amid the hills and woods of 

 Vaucluse, where lie spent the principa' part of Jus 



