17-2 
produced of such ceremonial ever being observed. U 
certainly appears strange that the Greeks — a people so 
ready to appreciate and reward merit of every kind and 
degree—should forget the claims of the poet. The 
afore-mentioned tyrant, “ affecting the patronage of 
literature, among other solemnities with which he cele¬ 
brated the annual Quinquatria to Minerva, introduced 
contests of orators and poets;” and the successful com¬ 
petitor was crowned in the presence of the applauding 
multitude. “ The establishment of Christianity re¬ 
strained, and afterwards extinguished, these ceremonies.” 
They were, however, revived some centuries after; and, 
in 1341, Petrarch, the greatest man of his times, was 
crowned with all due solemnity in the Capitol. The 
same ceremony was also to have been repeated in the 
person of Tasso: but he died the night before it should 
have taken place. 
In these rites the bay was generally in requisition, 
though sometimes it was left to the choice of the indi¬ 
vidual whether bay, ivy, or myrtle, should compose his 
crown. 
After contemplating its lofty destiny, as being the 
meed of the conqueror and the poet, there is something 
inexpressibly ludicrous in viewing the part it was for- 
