not yet ceased to charm. The lady, whoever she was, knew how to keep Petrarch at a respectful distance, and for using the only opportunity he had of avowing his love in her presence she so severely reproved him that he never repeated the offence. About 1338 he retired fur two or three years to dwell in the beautiful valley of Vaucluse, near Avignon. He himself said that his with- drawal to the retreat which he immortalized was caused by no reason more sentimental or poetic than his dis- gust with the licentiousness of the papal court, and the disappointment of the hopes of preferment which the pope had held out to him. Long before this time Pe- trarch's talents and accomplishments had procured for him not only distinguished patronage, but frequent and active employment. A most brilliant honor awaited him at Rome in 1341, where, on Easter-day, he was crowned in the Capitol with the laurel-wreath of the poet. The ceremonies which marked this coronation were a grotesque medley of pagan and Christian repro sentations. Petrarch was, however, as ardent a scholai as he was a poet; and throughout his whole life lie was occupied in the collection of Latin MSS., even copving some with his own hand. To obtain these, he trav- elled frequently throughout France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In 1353 Petrarch returned to Italy, and soon became the trusted counsellor and diplomatic agent of several of his country's rulers. He was sent on mis- sions at home and abroad. He finally settled at Milan, where he spent ten years, and lived for a season also at Parma, Mantua, Padua, Verona, Venice, and Rome. Though he had never entered holy orders, he was re- warded for his faithful services to the state by ecclesias- tic benefices in the north of Italy. He might have risen to positions of great influence and rich returns if he had chosen, but he preferred the quiet life of a recluse. In 1370 Petrarch removed to Arqua, a little village prettily situated among the Euganean hills, where he spent bis closing years in hard scholarly work, much annoyed by visitors, troubled with epileptic fits, not over rich, but serene in heart, and displaying in his life and corre- spondence a rational and beautiful piety. He died July 18, 1374. Petrarch was not only far beyond his age in learning, but had risen above many of its prejudices and superstitions. He despised astrology, and the childish medicine of his times; but, on the other hand, he had no liking for the conceited scepticism of the mediaeval savans; and in his De sui ipsius et multorum aliorum Tgnorantia he sharply attacked the irreligious specula- tions of those who had acquired a shallow, free- think- ing habit from the study of the Arabico- Aristotelian school of writers, such as Averroes. Petrarch's Latin works were the first in modern times in which the lan- guage was classically written. The principal are his Epistolee, consisting of letters to his numerous friends and acquaintances, and which rank as the best of his prose works: De Yitis Virorum Ulustrium: — De Reme- diis utriusque Fortunes: — De Vita Solitaria: — Rerum Memorandarum libri iv : — De Contewptu Mundi, etc. Besides his prose epistles, he wrote numerous epistles in Latin verse, eclogues, and an epic poem called Africa, on the subject of the Second Punic War. It was this last production which obtained for him the laurel-wreath at Home. Petrarch, whose life was thus active, is immor- tal in history by reason of more claims than one. He is placed as one of the most celebrated of poets in right of his "Rime," that is, verses in the modern Italian tongue, of which he was one of the earliest cultivators and refiners. Celebrating in these his visionary love, he modelled the Italian sonnet, and gave to it. and to other forms of lyrical poetry, not only an admirable pol- ish of diction and melody, but a delicacy of poetic feel- ing which has hardly ever been equalled, and a play of rich fancy which, if it often degenerates into false wit, is as often delightfully and purely beautiful. But though Petrarch's sonnets and canzoni and " triumphs" could all be forgotten, he would still be honored as one of the benefactors of European civilization. No one but
PETRAZZI
46
PETRI
Boccaccio Bharea with him the glory of having been the chief restorer of classical learning. His greatest merit lay in his having recalled attention to the higher and more correct classical authors; in his having been an enthusiastic and successful agenl in reviving the study of the Greek tongue, and in his having been, in his travels and otherw ise, an indefatigable collector and preserver of ancient manuscripts. T" his can- we owe copies of several classical works which, but lor him, would, in all likelifa 1. have perished. Collective edi- tions of his whole works have been repeatedly pub- lished (Basle, 1495, 1564, and 1581 sq.)< (lis life has em- ployed many writers, among whom may In- mentioned Bellutello, Beccadelli, Tomasini, I >t* la Bastie, De Sades, Tiraboschi, Baldelli, [Jgo Foscolo, < amphell. ami Geiger. In July, 1874, a Petrarch festival was held ai Padua, ami a statue of the great poet by Ceccon was erected. The eulogy on this occasion was pronounced by Alcardi, in the aula magna of the university. Sec. besides the complete biographies, Longfellow, Pot fs and Poetry <;/' Eurojx : Gibbon, Declini and Fall of tin Roman Empire, eh. lxx; Prescotr, Miscellanies, p. 616; For. Qu. Rev. July. L843; Contemp. Rev. July, 1874; /:■,■„, ,/,, Deux July 1."'. 1874 : Ueberweg, Hist, of Phil ii. 7. 8, 462; Revw Chrilieme, L869, p. 1 I.;.