But an event about this time took place, certainly the most important in the life of Petrarch, and which had a powerful effect on his future history. On the morning of 1pril the 6th, 1327, he saw, for the first time, the beau tiful Laura,—a name immortalized in his verses, and which, in the mind of every reader, is connected with the most interesting and romantic ideas. Various have been the conjectures concerning the identity of this celebrated lady, and in what circumstances she was placed, when Petrarch became her admirer. Referring the reader to the works mentioned at the end of this article, we shall here only state, that she seems to us to have been born of an honourable family in the neighbourhood of Avignon, in the parish in which Vaucluse is situated, and that, when Petrarch first beheld her, she was not only not married, but was only in her thirteenth year.
Whatever conflicting conjectures, however, have been made relative to the identity of Laura, all writers concur in representing her as distinguished by all that is beauti ful and elegant in the female form. " Her face, her air, her gait, were something more than mortal."—" The ex pression of her whole figure is that of a very young girl, of amiable ingenuity of countenance, much sweetness of disposition, and extreme bashfulness."—" Nature formed you," says the poet himself, " the most striking model of her own power : when I first beheld you, what emotions nothing can efface the impression you then made." But the love of Petrarth, though of the most pure and ardent kind, did not experience a suitable return. Un moved by the most devoted affection, or by the unrivalled beauty of those verses which it breathed, Laura treated him with unkindness or neglect. Some expressions of regard, indeed,—something like return of affection, she seems, in a favoured hour, to have condescended to be stow—which he felt deeply, and on which he expatiated with rapture—but her general demeanor was marked by coyness and indifference; and it is one of the most re markable facts in the history of the tender passion, that a female, young and unengaged, should thus remain unin fluenced by the affection and admiration of a lover, dis tinguished, as Petrarch was, by every grace of external form, by every accomplishment which can constitute a gentleman, and by the most brilliant genius. Yet, ex traordinary as it is, and painful as it may have been to Petrarch, posterity, we think, has no great reason to re gret it. For, to this indifference, the world is indebted for those elegant verses which have shed a lustre over the names of Petrarch and Laura, and which, for exquisite and romantic tenderness, stand unrivalled.
Petrarch, though, as is evident from his letters and works, he enjoyed positive pleasure in the indulgence of a tender melancholy, and though he experienced so much kindness as to induce him to cherish the hope of one day possessing his beloved Laura, yet felt that his days, ca pable of more noble undertakings, were ingloriously con suming in painful anxiety, and had the courage to make a vigorous effort to break the fetters by which he was en chained. He abandoned Avignon, and undertook a tour through France, Germany, and Flanders, partly from a wish to gratify natural curiosity, and partly from the hope, by removing from the object of his adoration, to abate the ardour of his passion, and to restore the peace of his mind. The attempt, however, was unavailing. " Laura," he confesses, " appeared in every object, and was heard in every breeze ;" and, after an absence of se veral months, he returned more enamoured, if possible, of Laura than before.
Another attempt, however, he yet resolved to make. Aware that the best years of his life were passing away unimproved, and remembering the delights he had once enjoyed in literary seclusion, in the remote bishopric of Lombes, he retired, at the age of thirty-four, to the so litude of Vaucluse, a place fifteen miles from Avignon beautiful as the vale of Tempe—surrounded by rocks of prodigious elevation, and intersected by a stream, the banks of which formed beautiful meadows and pastures of perpetual verdure? Here, in a small house, the humble dwelling of a shepherd, did Petrarch remain for many years ; and, following the natural tendency of his genius, devote his mind with the closest application to the pursuits of literature. He extended his acquaintance with ancient writings ; collected rare and valuable manuscripts, many of which would undoubtedly have been lost, had it not been for his care in preserving them,—and composed the most celebrated of his works, both in prose and verse. Of this latter kind, the epic poem of Africa, in honour of the great Scipio, gained him, though printing was then un known, the reputation of being the greatest poet of his time. And it may be mentioned, as a singular proof of
his celebrity, that, on the same day, in his remote her mitage at Vaucluse, he received an invitation from the senate of Rome, and the University of Paris, soliciting him to accept of the laureate's crown. A feeling of pa triotism, seconded by the advice of Cardinal Colonna, in duced him to accept this honour from Rome; "and thus," says an elegant writer, " the dignity of poet laureate, which, from the scanty appearance of genius in these dark ages, had not been conferred for some centuries, was now revived in honour of Petrarch." Notwithstanding, however, the ardour with which he prosecuted his studies, and the seclusion to which he had retired, the image of Laura was ever present to his thought, and his love for her seemed but to be strengthen ed by time. It has indeed been conjectured that he had withdrawn to Vaucluse, for the express purpose of seeing her often, as Cabrieres, her father's country seat, was in the neighbourhood. If this opinion be correct, Vaucluse was calculated rather to increase than to remove the ar dour of his love. "Hire," says he, "the fire which con sumed me having its free course, the valleys, and even the air itself, resounded with toy complaints." But the time had now arrived, when all hopes of be coming possessed of his adored Laura were at an end. This lovely lady died on the 6th April, 1348, the same day, the same hour when, twenty-one years ago, he first saw her and became her admirer. Petrarch was, as may easily be supposed, inconsolable at this event; and he spent several days without food, giving way to the bitter est sorrow. " I dare not think of my condition," says he, much less can I speak of it." " Since the strongest cord of my life is broken, with the grace of God I shall easily renounce a world where my cares have been deceitful, and my hopes vain and perishing." In this state of anguish he complains that the source of his genius was now dried up for ever ; and yet the sonnets and Canzoni, written af ter this event, are, if possible, the most elegant of his effusions, and " are so beautifully varied, so tender, and so affecting, that he seems to have exhausted the whole powers of pathetic composition." Nor was this the only cause of his grief; for while his tears were flowing for the loss of Laura, he was deprived by death of Cardinal Colonna, the man who had been his 'warmest friend and benefactor. The Bishop of Lombes had died a short time before, and ere long he saw the last of this illustrious family drop into the grave, their name extinguished, and their wealth pass the hands of strangers. Thus disengaged from the world, he saw it was necessary for him either to enter into the active busi ness of life, to dissipate the gloom by which he was over whelmed, or return into retirement, to undermine by grief the sinews of his existence, and to be laid in an untimely tomb. He chose the former ; and, removing to Milan, he entered the service of the powerful family of the Viscon ti, the sovereigns of that place, by whom he was greatly honoured, and frequently employed in state negotiations. He took a warm interest in the extraordinary and unsuc cessful attempt of Nicola Rienzi, who, on the wild pre tence of restoring the ancient liberties of his country, usurped the government of Rome, under the title of tri bune. Petrarch had before this time, obtained some ec clesiastical preferments : he was canon of Lombes, arch deacon of Parma, and canon of the Cathedral of Padua. He also held the office of domestic chaplain to Robert, King of Naples, and to his grand-daughter, Queen Joan na. But he was not ambitious of holding distinguished situations. He refused the offer of secretary to the Pope, and subsequently another eminent establishment in the court of his Holiness ; and he declined accepting a bishop ric, which was more than once offered by the Popes, his contemporaries. He was indeed never higher in the church than a secular clergyman ; he never entered into the order of priesthood, from a desire to preserve his freedom, and follow unrestrained that course of life most congenial to his taste. It is not improbable, indeed, that his views with regard to his beloved Laura, may have had some influence on this determination ; since, by not en tering the priesthood, he was at liberty, merely by resign ing, as has often been done, the ecclesiastical situations he held, to accept of her hand at any time she might think proper to offer it.