Petrarch at the Banquet 85 



to such a meeting, we see that there are reasons enough in the 

 bodily infirmity of Petrarch, and his preoccupation with state- 

 affairs, to render such a meeting unhkely. Moreover, as he went 

 straight to Pavia from Padua, did not arrive till May 30, presum- 

 ably had no occasion to be in Milan till the eve of the wedding 

 (while Lionel's retinue had arrived on May 27), must have 

 watched over a sick-bed up to the moment of his departure for 

 Milan, and thenceforth, as soon as the wedding-day was over, 

 lay languishing with his festering wound until July 4, unable to 

 return to Pavia, the probability of a meeting between Petrarch 

 and the two young versifiers would seem to be excluded. And 

 had they met, it would have been the meeting of a grave 

 and aging student with sentimental and somewhat conventional 

 rhymesters, of the companion and idol of princes with a 

 yeoman of the king's household, and an amuser of noble leisures 

 by rather tinkling minstrelsy, dependent for his livelihood upon 

 chance doles and irregular patronage.-^ If Lionel's followers 

 were admitted into the courtyard of the Broletto, and allowed 

 to see the noble company at their magnificent feast, then, from 

 afar off, Froissart and Chaucer may have had sight of Petrarch ; 

 but a closer acquaintance than this is against all the probabilities. 



^In the Buisson de Jonece (230-369) he gives a list of his benefactors 

 and benefactresses, among whom were Philippa of England; Blanche of 

 Lancaster; the Lord and Lady of Coucy; Edward III (100 florins) ; the 

 Earl of Hereford; Edward Despenser; the Duke of Bourbon; Charles 

 V; the Duke and Duchess of Brabant; Pierre I, King of Cyprus (40 

 ducats); David Bruce; the Earl of Douglas; etc. Notable, in this 

 connection, is his mention of the Green Count (339-347) '- 



Ame, le conte de Savoie, 



Je ne sgai se nomme I'avoie, 



Mes a Melans, en Lombardie, 



Une bonne cote 'bardie 



Me donna de .xx. florins d'or; 



II m'en souvient moult bien encor, 



Pour un tant que moult me valirent; 



Car onques cil ne me fallirent 



Jusqu'a tant que je vine a Romme. 



In 1366 he received a gift of six golden muttons, when a great concourse 

 of minstrels came together at Brussels: 'uni Fritsardo, dictori qui est 

 cum regina Angliae, dicto die, VI mottones.' A year or so after Queen 

 Philippa's death, he is glad to receive 16 francs (the franc then had the 

 intrinsic value of 13.38 modern francs) from the Duchess of Brabant 

 ('uni Frisardo dictatori') for a new book in French. 



