THE CERTOSA OF FLORENCE 
laurel crown from the hands of the Emperor Charles 
IV. For him the Grand Seneschal had a deep and 
tender affection, which nothing could ever impair ; 
and the letter which he wrote on the poet’s death is a 
touching memorial of an intimacy honourable to both 
men. Genuine sorrow for his friend is mingled with 
lamentation over the loss sustained by the world in 
the death of a poet, the like of whom had not arisen 
for perhaps a thousand years, “ saving only one other, 
Messer Francesco Petrarcho.” 
“ No gift of all that Fortune has bestowed upon 
me in this world do I hold equal to the friendship of 
this man. He chose me and I chose him as friend, 
in all things our souls agreed together. Leaving his 
country, his home, and his kinsfolk, at my request he 
gladly followed me. When he was present we took 
sweet counsel together ; in his absence his letters 
were my joy and delight. As I read I saw my friend 
and felt all the nobility of his soul, the graces with 
which God had filled this divine spirit. But since 
the clearness of his intellect could distinguish things 
unseen through the mists of this life, since while my 
excellent friend lived he saw what was hidden and 
recognised the vanity of this world, he is now come 
to the place where he lives and will live for ever, and 
I am there with him. Inseparable were our souls 
and inseparable will they remain.” 
Like the poet of In Memoriam , he notes the dif¬ 
ferent phases of grief, and from the contemplation 
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