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Title: The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch

Author: Petrarch

Editor: Thomas Campbell

Release Date: January 31, 2006 [EBook #17650]

Language: English


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Produced by Ted Garvin, Taavi Kalju and the Online
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[Illustration: PETRARCH. ]




THE SONNETS, TRIUMPHS,
AND OTHER POEMS

OF

PETRARCH.


NOW FIRST COMPLETELY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE

BY VARIOUS HANDS.


WITH A LIFE OF THE POET
BY THOMAS CAMPBELL.


ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.


LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1879.


[_Reprinted from Stereotype plates. _]




PREFACE.


The present translation of Petrarch completes the Illustrated Library
series of the Italian Poets emphatically distinguished as "I Quattro
Poeti Italiani. "

It is rather a singular fact that, while the other three Poets of this
world-famed series--Dante, Ariosto, and Tasso--have each found several
translators, no complete version of the fourth, and in Italy the most
popular, has hitherto been presented to the English reader. This lacune
becomes the more remarkable when we consider the great influence which
Petrarch has undoubtedly exercised on our poetry from the time of
Chaucer downwards.

The plan of the present volume has been to select from all the known
versions those most distinguished for fidelity and rhythm. Of the more
favourite poems, as many as three or four are occasionally given; while
of others, and those by no means few, it has been difficult to find even
one. Indeed, many must have remained entirely unrepresented but for the
spirited efforts of Major Macgregor, who has recently translated nearly
the whole, and that with great closeness both as to matter and form. To
this gentleman we have to return our especial thanks for his liberal
permission to make free use of his labours.

Among the translators will be found Chaucer, Spenser, Sir Thomas Wyatt,
Anna Hume, Sir John Harington, Basil Kennett, Anne Bannerman, Drummond
of Hawthornden, R. Molesworth, Hugh Boyd, Lord Woodhouselee, the Rev.
Francis Wrangham, the Rev. Dr. Nott, Dr. Morehead, Lady Dacre, Lord
Charlemont, Capel Lofft, John Penn, Charlotte Smith, Mrs. Wrottesley,
Miss Wollaston, J. H. Merivale, the Rev. W. Shepherd, and Leigh Hunt,
besides many anonymous.

The order of arrangement is that adopted by Marsand and other recent
editors; but to prevent any difficulty in identification, the Italian
first lines have been given throughout, and repeated in an alphabetical
index.

The Life of Petrarch prefixed is a condensation of the poet Campbell's
two octavo volumes, and includes all the material part of that work.

York Street, Covent Garden,
June 28, 1869.




LIST OF PLATES.


PAGE

1. PORTRAIT OF PETRARCH to face title.

2. VIEW OF NAPLES xliv

3. VIEW OF NICE li

4. COAST OF GENOA lxvi

5. BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE lxxviii

6. VICENZA lxxxiii

7. MILAN CATHEDRAL cvi

8. LIBRARY OF ST. MARK'S, VENICE cxv

9. FERRARA. THE OLD DUCAL PALACE cxxiii

10. PORTRAIT OF LAURA 1

11. VIEW OF ROME--ST. PETER'S IN THE DISTANCE 66

12. SOLITUDES OF VAUCLUSE (where Petrarch wrote most of
his Sonnets) 105

13. GENOA AND THE APENNINES 124

14. AVIGNON (where Laura resided) 189

15. SELVA PIANA (where Petrarch received the news of
Laura's death) 232

16. PETRARCH'S HOUSE AT ARQUA (where he wrote his
Triumphs) 322




CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF PETRARCH'S LIFE.


A. D. PAGE

1304. Born at Arezzo, the 20th of July. ix

1305. Is taken to Incisa at the age of seven months, where
he remains seven years. x

1312. Is removed to Pisa, where he remains seven months. x

1313. Accompanies his parents to Avignon. xi

1315. Goes to live at Carpentras. xi

1319. Is sent to Montpelier. xi

1323. Is removed to Bologna. xii

1326. Returns to Avignon--loses his parents--contracts a
friendship with James Colonna. xiii

1327. Falls in love with Laura. xvii

1330. Goes to Lombes with James Colonna--forms acquaintance
with Socrates and Laelius--and returns to Avignon to
live in the house of Cardinal Colonna. xviii

1331. Travels to Paris--travels through Flanders and Brabant,
and visits a part of Germany. xxiv

1333. His first journey to Rome--his long navigation as
far as the coast of England--his return to Avignon. xxxiii

1337. Birth of his son John--he retires to Vaucluse. xxxv

1339. Commences writing his epic poem, "Africa. " xxxviii

1340. Receives an invitation from Rome to come and be
crowned as Laureate--and another invitation, to
the same effect, from Paris. xlii

1341. Goes to Naples, and thence to Rome, where he is
crowned in the Capitol--repairs to Parma--death
of Tommaso da Messina and James Colonna. xliii

1342. Goes as orator of the Roman people to Clement VI.
at Avignon--Studies the Greek language under
Barlaamo. xlviii

1343. Birth of his daughter Francesca--he writes his
dialogues "De secreto conflictu curarum
suarum"--is sent to Naples by Clement VI. and
Cardinal Colonna--goes to Rome for a third and
a fourth time--returns from Naples to Parma. li

1344. Continues to reside in Parma. lviii

1345. Leaves Parma, goes to Bologna, and thence to
Verona--returns to Avignon. lviii

1346. Continues to live at Avignon--is elected canon of
Parma. lix

1347. Revolution at Rome--Petrarch's connection with the
Tribune--takes his fifth journey to Italy--repairs
to Parma. lxiv

1348. Goes to Verona--death of Laura--he returns again
to Parma--his autograph memorandum in the
Milan copy of Virgil--visits Manfredi, Lord of
Carpi, and James Carrara at Padua. lxvii

1349. Goes from Parma to Mantua and Ferrara--returns
to Padua, and receives, probably in this year, a
canonicate in Padua. lxxiii

1350. Is raised to the Archdeaconry of Parma--writes to
the Emperor Charles IV. --goes to Rome, and, in
going and returning, stops at Florence. lxxiii

1351. Writes to Andrea Dandolo with a view to reconcile
the Venetians and Florentines--the Florentines
decree the restoration of his paternal property,
and send John Boccaccio to recall him to his
country--he returns, for the sixth time, to
Avignon--is consulted by the four Cardinals, who
had been deputed to reform the government of Rome. lxxx

1352. Writes to Clement VI. the letter which excites against
him the enmity of the medical tribe--begins
writing his treatise "De Vita Solitaria. " lxxxvii

1353. Visits his brother in the Carthusian monastery of
Monte Rivo--writes his treatise "De Otio
Religiosorum"--returns to Italy--takes up his
abode with the Visconti--is sent by the Archbishop
Visconti to Venice, to negotiate a peace between the
Venetians and Genoese. xc

1354. Visits the Emperor at Mantua. xcix

1355. His embassy to the Emperor--publishes his "Invective
against a Physician. " xcix

1360. His embassy to John, King of France. cxii

1361. Leaves Milan and settles at Venice--gives his library
to the Venetians. cxiii

1364. Writes for Lucchino del Verme his treatise "De Officio
et Virtutibus Imperatoris. " cxvii

1366. Writes to Urban V. imploring him to remove the
Papal residence to Rome--finishes his treatise
"De Remediis utriusque Fortunae. " cxviii

1368. Quits Venice--four young Venetians, either in this
year or the preceding, promulgate a critical judgment
against Petrarch--repairs to Pavia to negotiate
peace between the Pope's Legate and the
Visconti. cxix

1370. Sets out to visit the Pontiff--is taken ill at Ferrara--
retires to Arqua among the Euganean hills. cxxii

1371. Writes his "Invectiva contra Gallum," and his
"Epistle to Posterity. " cxxiii

1372. Writes for Francesco da Carrara his essay "De Republica
optime administranda. " cxxx

1373. Is sent to Venice by Francesco da Carrara. cxxx

1374. Translates the Griseldis of Boccaccio--dies on the
18th of July in the same year. cxxxi




THE LIFE OF PETRARCH.


The family of Petrarch was originally of Florence, where his ancestors
held employments of trust and honour. Garzo, his great-grandfather, was
a notary universally respected for his integrity and judgment. Though he
had never devoted himself exclusively to letters, his literary opinion
was consulted by men of learning. He lived to be a hundred and four
years old, and died, like Plato, in the same bed in which he had been
born.

Garzo left three sons, one of whom was the grandfather of Petrarch.
Diminutives being customary to the Tuscan tongue, Pietro, the poet's
father, was familiarly called Petracco, or little Peter. He, like his
ancestors, was a notary, and not undistinguished for sagacity. He had
several important commissions from government. At last, in the
increasing conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines--or, as
they now called themselves, the Blacks and the Whites--Petracco, like
Dante, was obliged to fly from his native city, along with the other
Florentines of the White party. He was unjustly accused of having
officially issued a false deed, and was condemned, on the 20th of
October, 1302, to pay a fine of one thousand lire, and to have his hand
cut off, if that sum was not paid within ten days from the time he
should be apprehended. Petracco fled, taking with him his wife, Eletta
Canigiani, a lady of a distinguished family in Florence, several of whom
had held the office of Gonfalonier.

Petracco and his wife first settled at Arezzo, a very ancient city of
Tuscany. Hostilities did not cease between the Florentine factions till
some years afterwards; and, in an attempt made by the Whites to take
Florence by assault, Petracco was present with his party. They were
repulsed. This action, which was fatal to their cause, took place in the
night between the 19th and 20th days of July, 1304,--the precise date of
the birth of Petrarch.

During our poet's infancy, his family had still to struggle with an
adverse fate; for his proscribed and wandering father was obliged to
separate himself from his wife and child, in order to have the means of
supporting them.

As the pretext for banishing Petracco was purely personal, Eletta, his
wife, was not included in the sentence. She removed to a small property
of her husband's, at Ancisa, fourteen miles from Florence, and took the
little poet along with her, in the seventh month of his age. In their
passage thither, both mother and child, together with their guide, had a
narrow escape from being drowned in the Arno. Eletta entrusted her
precious charge to a robust peasant, who, for fear of hurting the child,
wrapt it in a swaddling cloth, and suspended it over his shoulder, in
the same manner as Metabus is described by Virgil, in the eleventh book
of the AEneid, to have carried his daughter Camilla. In passing the
river, the horse of the guide, who carried Petrarch, stumbled, and sank
down; and in their struggles to save him, both his sturdy bearer and the
frantic parent were, like the infant itself, on the point of being
drowned.

After Eletta had settled at Ancisa, Petracco often visited her by
stealth, and the pledges of their affection were two other sons, one of
whom died in childhood. The other, called Gherardo, was educated along
with Petrarch. Petrarch remained with his mother at Ancisa for seven
years.

The arrival of the Emperor, Henry VII. , in Italy, revived the hopes of
the banished Florentines; and Petracco, in order to wait the event, went
to Pisa, whither he brought his wife and Francesco, who was now in his
eighth year. Petracco remained with his family in Pisa for several
months; but tired at last of fallacious hopes, and not daring to trust
himself to the promises of the popular party, who offered to recall him
to Florence, he sought an asylum in Avignon, a place to which many
Italians were allured by the hopes of honours and gain at the papal
residence. In this voyage, Petracco and his family were nearly
shipwrecked off Marseilles.

But the numbers that crowded to Avignon, and its luxurious court,
rendered that city an uncomfortable place for a family in slender
circumstances. Petracco accordingly removed his household, in 1315, to
Carpentras, a small quiet town, where living was cheaper than at
Avignon. There, under the care of his mother, Petrarch imbibed his first
instruction, and was taught by one Convennole da Prato as much grammar
and logic as could be learned at his age, and more than could be learned
by an ordinary disciple from so common-place a preceptor. This poor
master, however, had sufficient intelligence to appreciate the genius of
Petrarch, whom he esteemed and honoured beyond all his other pupils. On
the other hand, his illustrious scholar aided him, in his old age and
poverty, out of his scanty income.

Petrarch used to compare Convennole to a whetstone, which is blunt
itself, but which sharpens others. His old master, however was sharp
enough to overreach him in the matter of borrowing and lending. When the
poet had collected a considerable library, Convennole paid him a visit,
and, pretending to be engaged in something that required him to consult
Cicero, borrowed a copy of one of the works of that orator, which was
particularly valuable. He made excuses, from time to time, for not
returning it; but Petrarch, at last, had too good reason to suspect that
the old grammarian had pawned it. The poet would willingly have paid for
redeeming it, but Convennole was so much ashamed, that he would not tell
to whom it was pawned; and the precious manuscript was lost.

Petracco contracted an intimacy with Settimo, a Genoese, who was like
himself, an exile for his political principles, and who fixed his abode
at Avignon with his wife and his boy, Guido Settimo, who was about the
same age with Petrarch. The two youths formed a friendship, which
subsisted between them for life.

Petrarch manifested signs of extraordinary sensibility to the charms of
nature in his childhood, both when he was at Carpentras and at Avignon.
One day, when he was at the latter residence, a party was made up, to
see the fountain of Vaucluse, a few leagues from Avignon. The little
Francesco had no sooner arrived at the lovely landscape than he was
struck with its beauties, and exclaimed, "Here, now, is a retirement
suited to my taste, and preferable, in my eyes, to the greatest and most
splendid cities. "

A genius so fine as that of our poet could not servilely confine itself
to the slow method of school learning, adapted to the intellects of
ordinary boys. Accordingly, while his fellow pupils were still plodding
through the first rudiments of Latin, Petrarch had recourse to the
original writers, from whom the grammarians drew their authority, and
particularly employed himself in perusing the works of Cicero. And,
although he was, at this time, much too young to comprehend the full
force of the orator's reasoning, he was so struck with the charms of his
style, that he considered him the only true model in prose composition.

His father, who was himself something of a scholar, was pleased and
astonished at this early proof of his good taste; he applauded his
classical studies, and encouraged him to persevere in them; but, very
soon, he imagined that he had cause to repent of his commendations.
Classical learning was, in that age, regarded as a mere solitary
accomplishment, and the law was the only road that led to honours and
preferment. Petracco was, therefore, desirous to turn into that channel
the brilliant qualities of his son; and for this purpose he sent him, at
the age of fifteen, to the university of Montpelier. Petrarch remained
there for four years, and attended lectures on law from some of the
most famous professors of the science. But his prepossession for Cicero
prevented him from much frequenting the dry and dusty walks of
jurisprudence. In his epistle to posterity, he endeavours to justify
this repugnance by other motives. He represents the abuses, the
chicanery, and mercenary practices of the law, as inconsistent with
every principle of candour and honesty.

When Petracco observed that his son made no great progress in his legal
studies at Montpelier, he removed him, in 1323, to Bologna, celebrated
for the study of the canon and civil law, probably imagining that the
superior fame of the latter place might attract him to love the law.
NOW FIRST COMPLETELY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE

BY VARIOUS HANDS.


WITH A LIFE OF THE POET
BY THOMAS CAMPBELL.


ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.


LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET,
COVENT GARDEN.
1879.


[_Reprinted from Stereotype plates. _]




PREFACE.


The present translation of Petrarch completes the Illustrated Library
series of the Italian Poets emphatically distinguished as "I Quattro
Poeti Italiani. "

It is rather a singular fact that, while the other three Poets of this
world-famed series--Dante, Ariosto, and Tasso--have each found several
translators, no complete version of the fourth, and in Italy the most
popular, has hitherto been presented to the English reader. This lacune
becomes the more remarkable when we consider the great influence which
Petrarch has undoubtedly exercised on our poetry from the time of
Chaucer downwards.

The plan of the present volume has been to select from all the known
versions those most distinguished for fidelity and rhythm. Of the more
favourite poems, as many as three or four are occasionally given; while
of others, and those by no means few, it has been difficult to find even
one. Indeed, many must have remained entirely unrepresented but for the
spirited efforts of Major Macgregor, who has recently translated nearly
the whole, and that with great closeness both as to matter and form. To
this gentleman we have to return our especial thanks for his liberal
permission to make free use of his labours.

Among the translators will be found Chaucer, Spenser, Sir Thomas Wyatt,
Anna Hume, Sir John Harington, Basil Kennett, Anne Bannerman, Drummond
of Hawthornden, R. Molesworth, Hugh Boyd, Lord Woodhouselee, the Rev.
Francis Wrangham, the Rev. Dr. Nott, Dr. Morehead, Lady Dacre, Lord
Charlemont, Capel Lofft, John Penn, Charlotte Smith, Mrs. Wrottesley,
Miss Wollaston, J. H. Merivale, the Rev. W. Shepherd, and Leigh Hunt,
besides many anonymous.

The order of arrangement is that adopted by Marsand and other recent
editors; but to prevent any difficulty in identification, the Italian
first lines have been given throughout, and repeated in an alphabetical
index.

The Life of Petrarch prefixed is a condensation of the poet Campbell's
two octavo volumes, and includes all the material part of that work.

York Street, Covent Garden,
June 28, 1869.




LIST OF PLATES.


PAGE

1. PORTRAIT OF PETRARCH to face title.

2. VIEW OF NAPLES xliv

3. VIEW OF NICE li

4. COAST OF GENOA lxvi

5. BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE lxxviii

6. VICENZA lxxxiii

7. MILAN CATHEDRAL cvi

8. LIBRARY OF ST. MARK'S, VENICE cxv

9. FERRARA. THE OLD DUCAL PALACE cxxiii

10. PORTRAIT OF LAURA 1

11. VIEW OF ROME--ST. PETER'S IN THE DISTANCE 66

12. SOLITUDES OF VAUCLUSE (where Petrarch wrote most of
his Sonnets) 105

13. GENOA AND THE APENNINES 124

14. AVIGNON (where Laura resided) 189

15. SELVA PIANA (where Petrarch received the news of
Laura's death) 232

16. PETRARCH'S HOUSE AT ARQUA (where he wrote his
Triumphs) 322




CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF PETRARCH'S LIFE.


A. D. PAGE

1304. Born at Arezzo, the 20th of July. ix

1305. Is taken to Incisa at the age of seven months, where
he remains seven years. x

1312. Is removed to Pisa, where he remains seven months. x

1313. Accompanies his parents to Avignon. xi

1315. Goes to live at Carpentras. xi

1319. Is sent to Montpelier. xi

1323. Is removed to Bologna. xii

1326. Returns to Avignon--loses his parents--contracts a
friendship with James Colonna. xiii

1327. Falls in love with Laura. xvii

1330. Goes to Lombes with James Colonna--forms acquaintance
with Socrates and Laelius--and returns to Avignon to
live in the house of Cardinal Colonna. xviii

1331. Travels to Paris--travels through Flanders and Brabant,
and visits a part of Germany. xxiv

1333. His first journey to Rome--his long navigation as
far as the coast of England--his return to Avignon. xxxiii

1337. Birth of his son John--he retires to Vaucluse. xxxv

1339. Commences writing his epic poem, "Africa. " xxxviii

1340. Receives an invitation from Rome to come and be
crowned as Laureate--and another invitation, to
the same effect, from Paris. xlii

1341. Goes to Naples, and thence to Rome, where he is
crowned in the Capitol--repairs to Parma--death
of Tommaso da Messina and James Colonna. xliii

1342. Goes as orator of the Roman people to Clement VI.
at Avignon--Studies the Greek language under
Barlaamo. xlviii

1343. Birth of his daughter Francesca--he writes his
dialogues "De secreto conflictu curarum
suarum"--is sent to Naples by Clement VI. and
Cardinal Colonna--goes to Rome for a third and
a fourth time--returns from Naples to Parma. li

1344. Continues to reside in Parma. lviii

1345. Leaves Parma, goes to Bologna, and thence to
Verona--returns to Avignon. lviii

1346. Continues to live at Avignon--is elected canon of
Parma. lix

1347. Revolution at Rome--Petrarch's connection with the
Tribune--takes his fifth journey to Italy--repairs
to Parma. lxiv

1348. Goes to Verona--death of Laura--he returns again
to Parma--his autograph memorandum in the
Milan copy of Virgil--visits Manfredi, Lord of
Carpi, and James Carrara at Padua. lxvii

1349. Goes from Parma to Mantua and Ferrara--returns
to Padua, and receives, probably in this year, a
canonicate in Padua. lxxiii

1350. Is raised to the Archdeaconry of Parma--writes to
the Emperor Charles IV. --goes to Rome, and, in
going and returning, stops at Florence. lxxiii

1351. Writes to Andrea Dandolo with a view to reconcile
the Venetians and Florentines--the Florentines
decree the restoration of his paternal property,
and send John Boccaccio to recall him to his
country--he returns, for the sixth time, to
Avignon--is consulted by the four Cardinals, who
had been deputed to reform the government of Rome. lxxx

1352. Writes to Clement VI. the letter which excites against
him the enmity of the medical tribe--begins
writing his treatise "De Vita Solitaria. " lxxxvii

1353. Visits his brother in the Carthusian monastery of
Monte Rivo--writes his treatise "De Otio
Religiosorum"--returns to Italy--takes up his
abode with the Visconti--is sent by the Archbishop
Visconti to Venice, to negotiate a peace between the
Venetians and Genoese. xc

1354. Visits the Emperor at Mantua. xcix

1355. His embassy to the Emperor--publishes his "Invective
against a Physician. " xcix

1360. His embassy to John, King of France. cxii

1361. Leaves Milan and settles at Venice--gives his library
to the Venetians. cxiii

1364. Writes for Lucchino del Verme his treatise "De Officio
et Virtutibus Imperatoris. " cxvii

1366. Writes to Urban V. imploring him to remove the
Papal residence to Rome--finishes his treatise
"De Remediis utriusque Fortunae. " cxviii

1368. Quits Venice--four young Venetians, either in this
year or the preceding, promulgate a critical judgment
against Petrarch--repairs to Pavia to negotiate
peace between the Pope's Legate and the
Visconti. cxix

1370. Sets out to visit the Pontiff--is taken ill at Ferrara--
retires to Arqua among the Euganean hills. cxxii

1371. Writes his "Invectiva contra Gallum," and his
"Epistle to Posterity. " cxxiii

1372. Writes for Francesco da Carrara his essay "De Republica
optime administranda. " cxxx

1373. Is sent to Venice by Francesco da Carrara. cxxx

1374. Translates the Griseldis of Boccaccio--dies on the
18th of July in the same year. cxxxi




THE LIFE OF PETRARCH.


The family of Petrarch was originally of Florence, where his ancestors
held employments of trust and honour. Garzo, his great-grandfather, was
a notary universally respected for his integrity and judgment. Though he
had never devoted himself exclusively to letters, his literary opinion
was consulted by men of learning. He lived to be a hundred and four
years old, and died, like Plato, in the same bed in which he had been
born.

Garzo left three sons, one of whom was the grandfather of Petrarch.
Diminutives being customary to the Tuscan tongue, Pietro, the poet's
father, was familiarly called Petracco, or little Peter. He, like his
ancestors, was a notary, and not undistinguished for sagacity. He had
several important commissions from government. At last, in the
increasing conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines--or, as
they now called themselves, the Blacks and the Whites--Petracco, like
Dante, was obliged to fly from his native city, along with the other
Florentines of the White party. He was unjustly accused of having
officially issued a false deed, and was condemned, on the 20th of
October, 1302, to pay a fine of one thousand lire, and to have his hand
cut off, if that sum was not paid within ten days from the time he
should be apprehended. Petracco fled, taking with him his wife, Eletta
Canigiani, a lady of a distinguished family in Florence, several of whom
had held the office of Gonfalonier.

Petracco and his wife first settled at Arezzo, a very ancient city of
Tuscany. Hostilities did not cease between the Florentine factions till
some years afterwards; and, in an attempt made by the Whites to take
Florence by assault, Petracco was present with his party. They were
repulsed. This action, which was fatal to their cause, took place in the
night between the 19th and 20th days of July, 1304,--the precise date of
the birth of Petrarch.

During our poet's infancy, his family had still to struggle with an
adverse fate; for his proscribed and wandering father was obliged to
separate himself from his wife and child, in order to have the means of
supporting them.

As the pretext for banishing Petracco was purely personal, Eletta, his
wife, was not included in the sentence. She removed to a small property
of her husband's, at Ancisa, fourteen miles from Florence, and took the
little poet along with her, in the seventh month of his age. In their
passage thither, both mother and child, together with their guide, had a
narrow escape from being drowned in the Arno. Eletta entrusted her
precious charge to a robust peasant, who, for fear of hurting the child,
wrapt it in a swaddling cloth, and suspended it over his shoulder, in
the same manner as Metabus is described by Virgil, in the eleventh book
of the AEneid, to have carried his daughter Camilla. In passing the
river, the horse of the guide, who carried Petrarch, stumbled, and sank
down; and in their struggles to save him, both his sturdy bearer and the
frantic parent were, like the infant itself, on the point of being
drowned.

After Eletta had settled at Ancisa, Petracco often visited her by
stealth, and the pledges of their affection were two other sons, one of
whom died in childhood. The other, called Gherardo, was educated along
with Petrarch. Petrarch remained with his mother at Ancisa for seven
years.

The arrival of the Emperor, Henry VII. , in Italy, revived the hopes of
the banished Florentines; and Petracco, in order to wait the event, went
to Pisa, whither he brought his wife and Francesco, who was now in his
eighth year. Petracco remained with his family in Pisa for several
months; but tired at last of fallacious hopes, and not daring to trust
himself to the promises of the popular party, who offered to recall him
to Florence, he sought an asylum in Avignon, a place to which many
Italians were allured by the hopes of honours and gain at the papal
residence. In this voyage, Petracco and his family were nearly
shipwrecked off Marseilles.

But the numbers that crowded to Avignon, and its luxurious court,
rendered that city an uncomfortable place for a family in slender
circumstances. Petracco accordingly removed his household, in 1315, to
Carpentras, a small quiet town, where living was cheaper than at
Avignon. There, under the care of his mother, Petrarch imbibed his first
instruction, and was taught by one Convennole da Prato as much grammar
and logic as could be learned at his age, and more than could be learned
by an ordinary disciple from so common-place a preceptor. This poor
master, however, had sufficient intelligence to appreciate the genius of
Petrarch, whom he esteemed and honoured beyond all his other pupils. On
the other hand, his illustrious scholar aided him, in his old age and
poverty, out of his scanty income.

Petrarch used to compare Convennole to a whetstone, which is blunt
itself, but which sharpens others. His old master, however was sharp
enough to overreach him in the matter of borrowing and lending. When the
poet had collected a considerable library, Convennole paid him a visit,
and, pretending to be engaged in something that required him to consult
Cicero, borrowed a copy of one of the works of that orator, which was
particularly valuable. He made excuses, from time to time, for not
returning it; but Petrarch, at last, had too good reason to suspect that
the old grammarian had pawned it. The poet would willingly have paid for
redeeming it, but Convennole was so much ashamed, that he would not tell
to whom it was pawned; and the precious manuscript was lost.

Petracco contracted an intimacy with Settimo, a Genoese, who was like
himself, an exile for his political principles, and who fixed his abode
at Avignon with his wife and his boy, Guido Settimo, who was about the
same age with Petrarch. The two youths formed a friendship, which
subsisted between them for life.

Petrarch manifested signs of extraordinary sensibility to the charms of
nature in his childhood, both when he was at Carpentras and at Avignon.
One day, when he was at the latter residence, a party was made up, to
see the fountain of Vaucluse, a few leagues from Avignon. The little
Francesco had no sooner arrived at the lovely landscape than he was
struck with its beauties, and exclaimed, "Here, now, is a retirement
suited to my taste, and preferable, in my eyes, to the greatest and most
splendid cities. "

A genius so fine as that of our poet could not servilely confine itself
to the slow method of school learning, adapted to the intellects of
ordinary boys. Accordingly, while his fellow pupils were still plodding
through the first rudiments of Latin, Petrarch had recourse to the
original writers, from whom the grammarians drew their authority, and
particularly employed himself in perusing the works of Cicero. And,
although he was, at this time, much too young to comprehend the full
force of the orator's reasoning, he was so struck with the charms of his
style, that he considered him the only true model in prose composition.

His father, who was himself something of a scholar, was pleased and
astonished at this early proof of his good taste; he applauded his
classical studies, and encouraged him to persevere in them; but, very
soon, he imagined that he had cause to repent of his commendations.
Classical learning was, in that age, regarded as a mere solitary
accomplishment, and the law was the only road that led to honours and
preferment. Petracco was, therefore, desirous to turn into that channel
the brilliant qualities of his son; and for this purpose he sent him, at
the age of fifteen, to the university of Montpelier. Petrarch remained
there for four years, and attended lectures on law from some of the
most famous professors of the science. But his prepossession for Cicero
prevented him from much frequenting the dry and dusty walks of
jurisprudence. In his epistle to posterity, he endeavours to justify
this repugnance by other motives. He represents the abuses, the
chicanery, and mercenary practices of the law, as inconsistent with
every principle of candour and honesty.

When Petracco observed that his son made no great progress in his legal
studies at Montpelier, he removed him, in 1323, to Bologna, celebrated
for the study of the canon and civil law, probably imagining that the
superior fame of the latter place might attract him to love the law. To
Bologna Petrarch was accompanied by his brother Gherardo, and by his
inseparable friend, young Guido Settimo.

But neither the abilities of the several professors in that celebrated
academy, nor the strongest exhortations of his father, were sufficient
to conquer the deeply-rooted aversion which our poet had conceived for
the law. Accordingly, Petracco hastened to Bologna, that he might
endeavour to check his son's indulgence in literature, which
disconcerted his favourite designs. Petrarch, guessing at the motive of
his arrival, hid the copies of Cicero, Virgil, and some other authors,
which composed his small library, and to purchase which he had deprived
himself of almost the necessaries of life. His father, however, soon
discovered the place of their concealment, and threw them into the fire.
Petrarch exhibited as much agony as if he had been himself the martyr of
his father's resentment. Petracco was so much affected by his son's
tears, that he rescued from the flames Cicero and Virgil, and,
presenting them to Petrarch, he said, "Virgil will console you for the
loss of your other MSS. , and Cicero will prepare you for the study of
the law. "

It is by no means wonderful that a mind like Petrarch's could but ill
relish the glosses of the Code and the commentaries on the Decretals.