4 
PETR 
tained. The plunderers, however, were taken and exe¬ 
cuted, in 1532. Of this tranfadtion Tommafini has given 
a circumftantial hiftory in his Petrarcha Redivivus ; Patav. 
1601. 4to. 
Petrarch was undoubtedly one of the moft memorable 
characters of his age and nation ; and, although his 
countrymen may perhaps have eftimated his genius at too 
high a rate, yet he has on various accounts merited the 
applaufe and admiration of pofterity. Of the feveral kinds 
of writing in which he diftinguifhed himfelf, his poetry 
is that on which his popular fame is chiefly founded. 
He himfelf had a fcholar’s predilection for his Latin 
poems ; and particularly valued his “ Africa,” as the 
greateft effort of his talents and induftry. But thefe have 
funk into the oblivion which fecond-rate performances 
in a foreign language are fure to incur; whilft his Italian 
poems, reckoned by himfelf only as juvenile amufements, 
the product of idlenefs and frivolity, ftill retain their 
place among the moft admired compositions of their kind. 
That in fat he did not think meanly of them is, how¬ 
ever, evident from the diligent corretion he bellowed 
upon them, and the fatisfation he difplays in having by 
their means immortalized the memory of his Laura. In 
thele pieces he exhibits all the qualities of a true poet ; 
for, although in his Sonnets and Canzoni he frequently 
falls into a vein of artificial conceit, which he derived from 
tiie Provengal poets, yet ftrains of fublime conception, 
of Ample pathos, and of elegant defcription, often break 
forth in language and verlification which, according to 
the judgment of the bell Italian critics, have never been 
furpalfed. 
Moral Philofophy was a topic in which Petrarch took 
great pleafure, and it has been the theme of many of his 
Latin works in profe. Of thefe are his books De Re- 
mediis utriufque Fortunae ; De vera Sapientia; De Vita 
folitaria ; De Contemptu Mundi; and others. They are 
in general what might be expedited from an age juft be¬ 
ginning to revive from barbarifm ; filled with fentiments 
which now appear common-place, exprefled in turgid 
and affedled phrafeology, yet occafionally exhibiting an 
elevated and vigorous tone of thought. His works De 
Republica optime adminiltranda, and De Officio et Virtu- 
tibus Imperatoris, fliow the attention he had paid to po¬ 
litical and military topics, but would now be deemed fu- 
perficial. In divinity he was thoroughly orthodox; and 
lie treated with great feverity the impious dodlrines of 
Averrhoes, againlt which, and againlt freethinking in 
general, he wrote a treatife “ De' lui ipfius et multorum 
Ignorantia.” If in thefe points he was afraid to trull his 
reafon, he applied it nieritorioufly in refuting and ridi¬ 
culing the deiufion of judicial altronomy and alchemy, 
which were fo prevalent in that age. In hiftory he wrote 
two works; one entitled Rerum Memorandarum, lib. iv. 
the ether, a Colledlion of Lives of Illultrious Men, chiefly 
Roman; both of which are compilations of no great 
value. He alfo compofed, for the ufe of a friend going 
to the Holy Land, a fmall piece entitled “ Itinerurium 
Syriacum,” containing a notice of all the places which 
he was to fee in his route, and difplaying his refearches 
into the hiftory and geography of thole times. The moft 
valuable of his profe-writings, however, are his Letters, of 
which a great number is extant in print and in manu- 
feript. Their ftyle, indeed, is not very pure, and they 
are often diffufe and pedantic ; but the curious notices 
of fails and manners with which they abound, and the 
franknefs and fimpiicity with which he fpeaks of himfelf 
in them, render them highly interefting and inllruilive. 
“ As to the Sonnets of Petrarcha, (lays Mr. Euftace,) 
in the eyes of a moralift they are trifles, and fo are the 
Elegies of Propertius and Tibullus, and all the numerous 
poems, both ancient and modern, that treat the fame airy 
and unfubftantial fubjeil: but trinkets may derive value 
from their materials and workmanfhip, and even love- 
fongs may acquire both importance and intereft from their 
language and fentiments. Genius communicates its own 
ARCH. 
dignity to every fubjedl that it choofes to handle ; it can 
give weight to infignificance, and make even an amorous 
ditty the vehicle of awful truths and ufeful leflons. This 
obfervation is more applicable perhaps to Petrarcha than 
to any other poet. Equal, I had almoft faid fuperior, in 
felicity of expreflion, and harmony of language, to his 
Roman predeceflors, he.rifesfar above them in delicacy 
of thought, and dignity of fentiment. He borrows no 
embellilhments from the fidlions of mythology, and in¬ 
dulges himfelf in nopaftoral tales, no far-fetched allufions. 
The fpirit of religion, which ftrongly influenced his mind 
in all the viciffitudes of life, not unfrequently gives his 
paflion fomething of the folemnity of devotion, and in- 
fpires the holy ltrains that chant 
Quanto piu vale 
Sempiterna bellezza che mortale. 
This peculiar turn of thought, that pervades the poems 
of Petrarcha, and raifes them fo much above all other 
fimilar compofitions, is noticed by his biographer as a 
diftinftion highly honourable to the Tufcan mufe, le 
quali, ha mojlro, come altamente e fantamente poffono cantar 
d'amore. It is not wonderful, therefore, that the poet him¬ 
felf ftiould have perfifted in correcting and repolifhing 
them with fo much affiduity; or that pofterity ftiould 
have continued ever fince to fet a high value on thefe 
fliort, but highly laboured, productions. While his 
Latin poems, hiftories, and moral differtations, flumber 
undifturbed on the ftielf, his Rime will fometimes amufe 
the leifure of the youthful reader, and now and then, 
perhaps, attraCl the attention of the philofopher, who will 
often find in them, intermingled with the frivolous 
graces of the fubjeCt, fublime fentiments, exprefled in 
language the moft harmonious.” 
But it is not only as an author that literature is in¬ 
debted to Petrarch ; no one had a greater (hare in bring¬ 
ing to light thofe writers of antiquity, the revived ftudy 
of whole u'orks was the great inftrument of difpelling 
the barbarifm of the dark ages. Pie was actuated by a 
kind ofenthufiafm in this matter; and was indefatigable, 
both in his own refearches, and in folicitations to his 
friends in different parts for the fame purpoie. The 
works of Cicero, an author for whom he had the higheft 
veneration, were efpecially the objeCt of his afliduous en¬ 
quiry ; and to him is owing the difeovery of the valuable 
“ Familiar Epiftles” of that great man. Although his 
reading was chiefly confined to Latin authors, yet he ex¬ 
tended his fearch to the Greek, and his literary reputa¬ 
tion procured him from Conftantinople the prefent of a 
copy of Homer’s poems. The library, which by means of 
great care and expenfe he collected, appears to have been 
confiderable for the time, and he fpeaks with rapture of 
the delight which he took in it. He was however dif- 
pofed to part with it, probably on account of the trouble 
it gave him in his frequent removals; and in 1362 he 
made an offer to the republic of Venice to prefent it to 
that capital for public ufe, provided a commodious place 
were allotted for its reception. His offer was gratefully 
accepted, and a part, at leaft, of his books appear to have 
been fo difpofed of; but a letter of Boccacio, written on 
the news of Petrarch’s death, implies that he was then in 
poffeffion of a valuable library. Petrarch fpeaks likewife 
of a colleClioti which he had made of imperial medals in 
gold and filver, and which he offered to the emperor 
Charles IV. No earlier mention occurs of a treafure of 
that kind. 
The elieein in which this great man was held by his 
countrymen was fhowr. by the countlefs tribe of commen¬ 
tators on his works, efpecially his Italian poems, which 
appeared from his death almoft down to modern times. 
T 1 is frequent obfeurity and myftical turn of thought 
have given abundant fcope to their gloffes and paraphra- 
fes, which they have carried to an unfufferable degree of 
prolixity. The editions of his poems have been almoft 
innumerable. The earlieft was that of Venice, 1470, fol. 
3 The 
