Account of Fobn of Ravenna 
kefs. and’ famithed, at the houle of his. 
former patron, who happened then not 
to beat home; but he was received and 
kindly entertained by his fervants, till 
their mafter returned. 
Petrarch, by his. entreaties and pater- 
mal admonitions, retained the young man 
at his houfe for about, a year, and pre- 
vented him from engaging in any more 
romantic adventures ; but, at the end of 
that period, his defire for rambling again 
returned ; and as Petrarch found that all 
attempts to check him would be fruitlefs, 
he gave him letters of recommendation to 
two of his friends, Hugo de St. Severino 
and Francifcus Brunus, at Rome. ‘To 
the former of thefe, Petrarch fays, ‘‘ This 
youth of raye talents, but ftill a youth, 
after propofing to himéelf various plans, 
has at length embraced the nobleft; and 
as he once travelled, he is now defirous of . 
doing fo again, in order to gratify his 
thirft of knowledge. He has, in parti- 
eular, 2 ftrong inclination for the Greek 
language; and entertains a with which 
Cato firft conceived in his‘old age. This 
with I haye endeavoured for {ome years 
to fubdue; fometimes by entreaties, at 
ether times by admonition; fometimes 
by reprefenting how much he is fill de- 
ficient in the Roman language; and fome- 
times by laying before him the difficulties 
which muft attend him in his journey, 
efpecially as he once before left me, and 
by want was obliged to return. As long 
as that unfortunate excurfion was frefh in 
his memory he remained quict, and gave 
me hopes that his reftleis {pirit could be 
evercome and reftrained. But now, fince 
the remembrance of his misfortuaes is 
almoft obliterated, he again fighs after 
the world; and can be retained neither by 
force nor perfuafion. Excited by a de- 
fire which betrays more ardour than pru- 
dence, he is refolved to leave his country, 
friends, and relations, his aged father, 
and me whom he loved as a father, and 
whofe company he preferred to a refidence 
at home, and to haften to you whom he 
knows only by name. ‘This precipita- 
tion even has an appearance cf prudence. 
The young man firft withed to vifit Con- 
ftantinople ; but when I told him that 
Greece, at prefent, is as poor as it was 
formerly rich in learning, he gave credit 
to.my aflertion, and at any rate altered 
his plan, which he could not carry into 
execution. He is now defirous of traverf- 
ing Calabria, and the whole coalt of 
Italy, diltinguifhed formerly by the name 
of Magna Gracia, becaufe I once told 
him that there were in that quarter feveral 
ror 
men well fkilled in the Greek language, 
particularly a monk, Barlaam,and oneLeo, 
or Leontius, with whom.I was intimatel 
acquainted, and of whom. the firft had 
been fome time my fcholar. In confe- 
quence of this propofal, he begged me to 
give him a recommendatory letter to you, 
ag you have confiderable influence in that 
part of the country. This requeft EF 
granted, in hopes that the young man, by 
his genius and talents, will afford you 
fatisfa€tion equal to the fervice which 
you mayrender to him.’’ In his letter 
to Brunus, Petrarch exprefles himfelf as 
follows: “ He is a young man who 
wifhes to fee the world as I formerly did, 
but I never refle&t on it without horror. 
He is defirous of feeing Rome; and this. 
defire I cannot condemn, as I myfelf . 
have fo often vifited that city, and could 
ftill revifit it with pleafure. I fufpe&, 
however, that he will venture on 2 
more extenfive ocean, and imagines to 
find a fortune where he will, perhapgy 
meet with a fhipwreck. At any rate, he 
is defirous, he fays, of putting his for- 
tune to atrial. IE wifh it may be favour- 
able ; fhould it be adverfe, he is ftil} 
at Kberty to return to my peaceful, 
though {mall, haven; for § hang out a 
light, during the day as well as the night, .. 
to guide thofe who quit me through 
youthful folly; and to enable them to 
find their way back. The ardour by 
which he is impelled maft not be afcribed 
fo much to him as to his age, andis in 
itfelf commendable. If I am not much 
deceived, the young man loves me and 
virtue in general. He is unfteady, but 
modeft ; and deferves that all good men 
fhould contribute to his profperity as far 
as they can.” 
From the letters of Petrarch, there is 
reafon to believe, that John de Ravenna 
lived with him only ebout three years. 
in all; and that-he had not attained te 
the full age of maniiocd when he lett hin. 
Tt appears alfo, for this circumftance ts 
very obfeure, that after he quitted him, 
he wandered about 2 confiderable time 
before he was fo. fortunate as to meet 
with a protector aud patron, at. whole 
houfe, as he wrote to Petrarch, he.at lait , 
found a permanent afylum. How. Icng 
he remained with his patron, -whom.fome 
believe to-have been. Cardinal Philip, and 
what happened to him till the death. of 
Petrarch in. 1374, and for fome years 
after, is unknown... ‘The literary monu- - 
ments of the foyrtcenth, and fifteenth cer-. . 
turies fay nothing farther of hira..till his 
appearance at Padua ; where, according 
re 
e 
