G 
PET R 
The above account of Arqua, which appeared in the 
New Monthly Magazine for Feb. 1817, occafioned another 
correfpondent, in the April following, to tranfmit an 
account of Vauclufe, where fo many of his youthful years 
are fuppofed to have been fpent, and which was the ima¬ 
gined fcene of moll of his fonnets. The vifit was made 
in theyeari8i6. “ The Valley and Fountain of Vauclufe 
are fituated in that range of mountains which bound 
the fertile plain of the Comtat, and are about the diftance 
of fixteen Englifn utiles from Avignon. On letting out 
from this city, after pading over a fmall traft partly cul¬ 
tivated and partly barren, the traveller afcends a moun¬ 
tain of moderate fize, and reaching its fummit beholds 
at his feet the rich plain which I have mentioned, inter- 
fperfed with towns and villages ; among the former of 
which l’lfle and Carpentras Hand confpicuous, and, by 
their white buildings embofomed in the verdure of the 
plain, form very linking and p'ifhirefque objeiffs. Beyond 
rifle, a dark lhade among the mountains, caufed by the 
interface which forms the valley, points out where is the 
object of his vifit. Acrofs the firlt part of the plain are 
confiderabie numbers of olive and mulberry trees ; the 
latter are ufed for the foie purpofe of fupplying the filk- 
worms with their leaves. L’lfle is an infignificant place, 
furrounded by a wall, and round it flows the fparkling 
llream of the Sorgue, forming an ifland : from which cir- 
cumllance it derives its name. On the outlide of the 
town is a fmall hotel for the accommodation of vifitors, 
and the commercial travellers who occasionally refort 
hither on bufinefs connected with its manufactures. 
Vauclufe is about four miles from this fpot, and the 
route is eafily traced by the Sorgue which flows from the 
entrance of the defile, which at firft could not be immedi¬ 
ately perceived. Here the valley appears of moderate 
breadth ; the upper part of the mountains, though bare, 
are, nevertheless, clothed towards the bafe with mulberry 
and olive trees, and the meadows on the banks of the 
Sorgue are peculiarly verdant and refrefhing to the eye 
accuftomed to a country where pafture-land is not com¬ 
mon ; while the river, perfectly limpid where the dream 
is uninterrupted, is covered with a kind of azure foam 
when it breaks over the oppofing mafles of rock which oc- 
cafionally interrupt its courfe. As the village is ap¬ 
proached, the defile becomes narrower, and the moun¬ 
tains higher and more barren, the river more rapid and 
violent, till at length, on turning a corner formed by a 
projecting mafs, the fmall groupe of houfes of which it is 
compofed appear at the foot of a barren rock, crowned 
with the ruins of a calile. A fliort didance further all 
cultivation ceafes; and at the foot of a perpendicular 
rock of prodigious height, which “ciofes the valley,” 
is the fountain of Vauclufe, lienee called Vauclufe, or 
Vallis claufa. The fountain idues from a cave hollowed 
by nature under the rock, and the waters continually 
vary in height. When they are low, which was the cafe 
when I faw the fountain, they are enclofed in the bafin 
which occupies all the interior of the cave, and the natural 
vault, the exidence of which the traveller would not 
othervvife have fufpeCled, can be diltinCtly obferved. The 
furface is calm and unruffled, though the water efcapes in 
prodigious quantities and with great force from a fubter- 
raneous opening fome hundred yards from the fpring, 
and the dream in its courfe receives the tribute of leveral 
minor fources which gufli from the rock on each fide : 
but after heavy rains the ordinary vent is infufficient— 
the waters rife, and, burding from the bafin, ruth over 
the rocks, form a cafcade, and by the foam and waves 
deprive the fpeCtator of the view of the lower opening. 
From this the naturalid will perceive that this fpring is 
not without fome marks of Angularity; and accordingly 
the increafe and decreafe of its waters have been dili¬ 
gently noticed. Two inferiptions record the greated 
height and depth to which, at lead in modern times, the 
waters have rifen and funk. In 1683 they were very low, 
and the then vicelegate (the Comtat being at that time a 
part of the papal territory) caufed one of thefe inferip- 
A E C H. 
tions to be cut in the rock at the level of the water: but 
it was not fudiciently low when I was there for the cha¬ 
racters to be feen 4 The other, which commemorates the 
greated height, is on the left of the fountain, about four 
feet from the bank; and from it we learn, that the differ¬ 
ence between the extreme height and depth of the waters 
has been eighty-eight palms, or about feventy feet. 
"There are fome other phenomena which might be 
noticed, but it is not neceffary to trouble you with them,' 
and I proceed to confider the fcene in its mod: intereding 
light; as the felefted retreat of the elegant and tender 
Petrarch. All vediges of the houfe which he occupied 
are faid to have been dedroyed in 1335 by a band of rob¬ 
bers then infeding thofe parts, who after having pillaged 
burnt it; but it is fuppofed to have dood between the 
caftle and the village. The former, of which the ruins 
are dill extant, is dyled by the inhabitants of the latter 
Le Chateau de Petrarque. A little to the left, beyond 
a dark pafl'age cut through the rock which forms the 
principal entrance of the village, there is a garden and a 
fmallrneadow, bounded on one fide by the rock, and on the 
other by the Sorgue. This is called Le Jar din de Pe¬ 
trarque; and in the garden are fome laurels, which the 
older inhabitants of the valley declare to have been fuc- 
ced'ors of former plants, which it is confldered pnfible the 
poet might have planted. Here is alfo a natural grotto, 
narrow towards the bottom, and in fuch a direction that 
the. rays of the fun cannot enter it. The defeription of 
Petrarch himfeif feems to apply to this fpot: 
Pars amne profundo 
Cingitur, ad partem prreruptis rupibus ambit 
Mons gelidus, caiidumque jugis obverlus ad audrum; 
Hind medio ruit umbra die, See. Lib. iii. Epijl. 3. 
And to the grotto in bis garden he frequently re¬ 
fers as being the fcene of his dudies. In many of his let¬ 
ters -alfo the poet (peaks in rapturous terms of the 
charms of this valley; and, like his great poetical predecef- 
fors, Virgil, Ovid, and Horace, adverts to the lading 
celebrity of his writings, and the importance which they 
had conferred and were afterwards to confer on the fpot. 
But it is with regard to his ardent .nd hopelefs paflion, 
which infpired fo many of the elegant and tender drains 
of his fonnets, that thefe (hades are fo generally intereding. 
He fil'd retreated thither, as he tells us, to avoid, indead 
of to meet, the object of his affeCtions, as is frequently 
fuppofed, though Laura was born, and her refidence at 
one time was, in this part of the country.” 
Mrs. (or Mifs) Coliton vifited this intereding fpot fo 
lately as the 17th of April, 1821. She found that the 
road from Avignon was too bad for a common carriage. 
“ The afpeCt of the country was very agreeable, and our 
road coaded the Durance, that flows in a very broad 
channel, in which there was an abundance of water. 
After we turned off from the pod-road, we came into a 
dough, through which we were obliged to wade. We 
were beaten from fide to fide with great violence, and I 
expected every minute to be upfet. Our journey was 
indeed quite a pilgrimage; and the difficulties we expe¬ 
rienced moderated the enthufiafm with which I ap¬ 
proached the facred ground of Vauclufe. At length, to 
our great joy,'we arrived at the poor little inn of this vil¬ 
lage; and as it was now between twelve and one o’clock, 
and we had taken nothing but a cup of coffee at feven, 
our claflic impatience to view the (pot was obliged to 
give way to the plebeian neceffity of eating. The houfe 
in which Petrarch redded, was a mere cottage, and our 
guide pointed out to us a ruined cottage, as having been 
dignified as his abode; but I believe there is no autho¬ 
rity but vague report for its identity. As we afeended- 
the Sorgue to its fource, we could not fudiciently exprel's 
our aftonilhment at the fize and apparent depth of the 
river, fo near the fpot where it firft rifes from the earth ; 
and at the volume of water which poured along, cover¬ 
ing the rocks over which it forces its pafl'age with froth 
and fcHm. As we afeended to the bafin, the river pre¬ 
fen ts 
