PETRARCH. 
2 
antiquity which ftill render Rome fo interefting. Curi- 
ofity, or the necefiity of diflipation to his mind, induced 
him to prolong his journey, fo that he did not return to 
Avignon till the fummer of 1337. 
The love of Petrarch was not of a kind to exclude 
tranfitory amours; and the manners of the time were 
little reftraint to fuch an indulgence. It appears that the 
birth of a natural fon, who died when a young man, mud 
be referred to this year. He had not long been returned 
to Avignon before he refolved upon that retreat which 
has made the name of Valchiufa, or Vauclufe, fo famous 
in the annals of love and poetry. This place, fituated in 
the county of Provence, where the river Sorgue fprings 
from a rocky cavern, is a romantic folitude, well fuited 
both to the lover and the ftudent; and Petrarch feems 
to have enjoyed it in both capacities. He laments, 
indeed, that his paflion, fo far from being extinguilhed 
by folitude, was rendered more forcible ; but w'e may 
fuppofe that the pleafure he felt in making it the theme 
of fo many beautiful verfes was a compenfation for fuf- 
ferings, probably more fanciful than real. 
He purchafed a fmall houfe and farm in this fequeftered 
fpor, which was his favourite refidence for many years. 
Here he compofed not only the greateft part of his verna¬ 
cular poetry, but many of his epiftles in Latin profe and 
verfe, and of his eclogues. Here he alfo wrote his books 
on a Solitary Life, and on Religious Tranquillity, and 
made a commencement, in 1339, of the poem on which 
he moft valued himfelf, his “Africa.” He did not en¬ 
tirely bury himfelf, however, in his retreat, but madeoc- 
cafional vifits to Avignon, and to other places. 
The literary reputation confequent upon his writings 
now began to make him extenlively known. One of its 
moft flattering efrefts was a letter addrefled to him by 
Robert king of Naples, the greateft proteftor of letters 
and learned men in that age. This connexion was a 
prelude to the higheft honour which could be conferred 
upon him as a poet, and which makes an a;ra in his life. 
The ancient cuftom of folemnly crowning eminent poets 
in the capitol of Rome had for fome ages fallen into dif- 
ule. From the revival of letters in the 13th century the 
lionour of the laurel had indeed occaflonally been con¬ 
ferred upon poets, but not in that place, nor with the 
former ceremonials. Petrarch had for fome time in¬ 
dulged the hope of attaining this diftinftion, when, in 
Auguft 1340, he unexpectedly received a letter from the 
Roman fenate urging him to come and take the laurel 
in their city ; and a few hours after, he was greeted with 
a ietter from the chancellor of the univerflty of Paris, 
containing a fimilar application in favour of that capital. 
It may be conceived how much a man, naturally fond of 
applaufe, would be gratified with fuch a rivalry between 
the two moft famous cities in Europe. He wavered for 
fome time in his choice, but at length his own inclina¬ 
tion, and the advice of cardinal Colonna, determined him 
for Rome. As he thought it a neceflary form previoufly 
to fubmit to an examination of his learning and talents, 
he gave king Robert the honour of being his examinant, 
and accordingly repaired to Naples in March 1341. His 
reception from that monarch was of the moft flattering 
kind, and they converfed together on terms of literary 
equality. During three days Petrarch, in prefence of the 
king and his whole court, fuftained his trials, which re¬ 
lated not to poetry, but to all the fciences then cultivat¬ 
ed ; and, in fine, he was declared worthy of the crown. 
Robert alfo decorated him with the honorary title of his 
chaplain, and appointed one of his courtiers to aflift in 
his name at the ceremony in the capitol. At Rome he 
was received by his friend the fenator Orfi count of An- 
guillara, who fixed upon Eaiter day for the time of con¬ 
ferring the deftined honour. On that day, which was 
the 8th of April, 1341, “ the ceremony of his coronation 
(fays Gibbon) was performed in the capitol, by his friend 
and patron the fupreme magiftrate of the republic. 
Twelve patrician youths were arrayed in fcarlet; fix re- 
prefentatives of the moft illuftrious families, in greert 
robes, with garlands of flowers, accompanied the prccef- 
fion ; in the midft of the princes and nobles, the fenator, 
count Anguillara, a kinfman of the Golonna, aflumed 
his throne ; and, at the voice of a herald, Petrarch arofe. 
After difcourfing on a text of Virgil, and thrice repeating 
his vows for the profperity of Rome, he knelt before the 
throne, and received from the fenator a laurel crown, with 
a more precious declaration, ‘ This is the reward of 
merit!’ The people fhouted, ‘Long life to the Capitol 
and the poet!’ A fonnet in praife of Rome v/as accepted 
as the effufion of genius and gratitude; and, after the 
whole procefllon had vifited the Vatican, the profane 
wreath was fufpended before the fhrine of St. Peter. In 
the aft or diploma which was prefented to Petrarch, the 
title and prerogatives of poet-laureat are revived in the 
Capitol after the lapfe of 1300 years; and he receives the 
perpetual privilege of wearing, at his choice, a crown of 
laurel, ivy, or myrtle; of afluming the poetic habit; and 
of teaching, difputing, interpreting,and compofing, in all 
places whatfoever, and on all fubjeftsof literature. The 
grant was ratified by the authority of the fenate and 
people ; and the charafter of citizen w r as the recompenfe 
of his affeftion for the Roman name.” 
From Rome the poet went to Parma, wdiere he pafled 
fome time with his proteftors the lords of Correggio, and 
employed himfelf in finifhing his “ Africa.” It was pro¬ 
bably from this family that he obtained the dignity of an 
archdeacon in the church of Parma. At the acceflion of 
pope Clement VI. in 134a, Petrarch was one of the am- 
bafladors fent to compliment him in the name of the fe¬ 
nate and people of Rome ; foon after which a priory in 
the diocefe of Pifa was conferred upon him through the 
favour of the fame pope. In the fo 1 lowing year he com¬ 
pofed his curious “Dialogue with St. Auguftine,” in 
which he confefles the paflion for Laura, which ftill held 
dominion over his foul. That this confefiion v/as rather 
fentimentai and rhetorical than penitentiary, is evidenr, 
as he makes no mention in it of a connexion which about 
this time made him the father of a fecond natural child. 
In the year 1348 Petrarch vifited Padua for the firft 
time, where he became acquainted with Jacopo da Car¬ 
rara, who was one of his great friends and admirers; and 
it was this year that was remarkable for the univerfal 
peftilence which ravaged all Europe, and one of the vic¬ 
tims to it was the celebrated Laura. How Petrarch was 
affefted with this intelligence may be judged from an 
entry made by him in his manufcript of Virgil, preferved 
in the Ambrofian library at Milan; which, after mention¬ 
ing the date of his firft view of her at the church of St. 
Clara in Avignon, and of her death on the anniverfary 
of the fame day twenty-one years after, proceeds to fay, 
that “ he has written a memorial of the faft in this place, 
in order that he may be frequently reminded, that, there 
being nothing now left which ought to give him pleafure 
in this world, he ftiould think of his removal from it." 
This Ample and private note is perhaps a ftronger tefti- 
mony of the reality of his attachment to her, than all the 
verfes in which, while he celebrates her perfections, be 
ftudies to advance his own poetical reputation. 
The fame peftilence deprived him of his great patron, 
cardinal Colonna; but he was now in fuch general efteem, 
that wherever he went he was fure of an honourable re¬ 
ception from perfons of the firft rank. He pafted a year 
or two at Parma, Carpi, and Mantua, and in 1350 again 
vifited Padua, where Jacopo de Carrara, in order to detain 
him, procured him a canonry. From that city he wrote 
a very eloquent letter to the emperor Charles IV. exhort¬ 
ing him to come into Italy for the purpofe of remedying 
the many evils with which that country was opprefled. 
Sentiments of piety induced him to take a journey to 
Rome in this holy or jubilee year; and in the w’ay he 
faw for the firft time Florence, the place whence he de¬ 
rived his origin, and where he had feveral perfonal friends. 
At Rome he gave fcope both to his religious and his an¬ 
tiquarian 
