Cardinal Colonna, whom he revered and loved, he describes one of the bishops whose consecration he had witnessed. This person had, it seems, purchased a connection with a certain nominal college by money made in manufacturing bad aqua vite, so that he might thereby get the reputation of being a learned man. His next care was to secure a recommendation from his archbishop, for which he was also understood to have paid handsomely. The name of this divine was Coriguro and that of his see Neuorzo, as if the poet, satirist and archdeacon had indulged in prophecy in regard to a certain divine, college and diocese of our own time and country. But the Latin letters of Petrarch can be seen but by few at the present day. There is not much use in quoting them in the original, and if translated extracts be given their genuineness will be denied by those whom they describe but too faithfully. But it is different with those sonnets inspired by "consecrations" of the kind alluded to; the authenticity of the sonnets cannot be denied. One of these (ev.) opens thus: 66 May fire from heaven rain down upon thy head, How dost thou glory in thy vile misdeed! Nest of all treachery, in which is bred Whate'er of sin now through the world doth fly; Still worse, if possible, is sonnet cvi. : "Covetous Babylon, of wrath divine By its worst crimes has drained the full cup now, *Famma dol ciel sulle tue trecce piova, Di vin serva, dilette, edi vivande, In cui lussuria fa l'ultima prova! Alluding to the hideous shame of elevating ignorance and depravity, while allowing real merit, piety and worth to die in obscurity and neglect, the poet proceeds (sonnet cvii.): "O furnace of deceits, O prison dire, Where good roots die and the ill weed grows a tree," etc.' It is but fair to admit that it does honor to the princes of the church in those days, whatever their faults may have been, that, far from entertaining any spite against the satirist of the popedom and of the alleged licentiousness prevailing at the papal court, they never treated him otherwise than kindly and generously. Nor was any one more honored at his death by the church than Petrarch.† * Oh fucina d'ingami, oh prigion dira, Ove l' ben more, e 'l mal si nutre e cria, etc. The reader will be the better able to appreciate the kind indulgence thus allowed to Petrarch, both throughout life and in death, if he will only ask himself how little indulgence would be allowed at the present day by many who call themselves princes of the church, even to those who merely differ in opinion with them, if they had one tenth the power to gratify their resentments which the contemporaries of Petrarch had. Not, indeed, but there are learned, liberal, and generous catholic prelates at the present day. Nay, there are such in the United States, but for some time past it has seemed as if the Sacred College had come to the conclusion that there are some of our dioceses and archdioceses which, having long had the benefit of princes of the church worthy in every respect of the name, should now be content with "princes" who are so only by a very great stretch of conventional courtesy, in the same way as men not qualified, either by nature or education, for corporals, are sometimes dubbed generals. There is, however, one recent instance in which a good prelate has succeeded a good prelate, although we cannot see that the new prince sustains the princely character quite so well as the old. Be this as it may, it would be downright burlesque to compare some of our bishops and archbishops with those who both loved and honored Petrarch for any other purpose than that of contrasting the new with the old in every essential quality, and thereby showing how wonderfully easy it is to please American catholics at the present day in the matter of princes of the church, and what a strange anomaly it is that the very classes who only a few brief years ago indignantly denounced, and finally extinguished Know-Nothingism in politics, now submit quietly, if not admiringly, to Know-Nothingism in religion in its most palpable and most degrading form! No one could have a warmer or better friend than Cardinal Colonna was to Petrarch for more than a quarter of a century. For many years the generous churchman had the poet to reside with him, invariably treating him with all possible kindness and consideration. When Petrarch left him even to visit a friend he was impatient for his return, and when he left finally the good cardinal mourned after him as a fond parent would after a favorite son. Archbishop Visconti was scarcely less attached to him. Nor were these learned and good prelates merely willing to afford him an asylumthey were not merely anxious to have him with them for their own glory, or for the purpose of availing themselves of his learning and genius. Each did him every possible service. Thus, through the influence of one, he is elected canon of Parma in 1346; through the influence of the other he is made canon of Padua in 1349; and through the influence of both combined he is made archdeacon of Parma one year later. In short, it was through the influence of Colonna and Visconti that three successive popes sent letters to Petrarch earnestly inviting him to visit them; nay, it was they-one or both-who first gained him the friendship of King Robert of Naples, the most enlightened sovereign of his time, who was so anxious to gratify the poet in every possible way that he had him crowned at Rome, as Laureate, in 1340.* If, in a word, it be remembered that while he received various preferments, not only were those in power in the church-its real princes -well aware of Petrarch's passion for Laura, a married woman, but also aware that he had two illegitimate children, John and Francesca, and aware, moreover, of his sarcasms on more than one of the popes, it must be admitted that if he One of Petrarch's most faithful biographers describes his coronation as follows: "Revêtu de la robe que le roi lui avait donnée, Petrarque marchait au milieu de six principaux citoyens de Rome, habillés de vert, et précédét par douze jeunes gens de quinze ans vétus d'ecarlate, choisis dan les meilleures maisons de la ville. Le sénateur Orso comte de l'Anguillara, ami de Petrarque, venait ensuite, accompagné des principaux du conseii de ville et suivi d'une foule innombrable, attirée par le spectacle d'une fête interrompue depuis tant de siecles. -Ginguenè Hist. Litt., t. 11, p. 360. had been known to be an angel sent directly from heaven and required by God to transgress certain moral laws to make him seem human, the church could hardly have treated him with more benevolent indulgence. But, in order to appreciate this liberality to its full extent, it will be necessary to bear in mind, further, that at this time the church was the repository of all learning, the sole fountain throughout Europe of profane as well as sacred knowledge, and, moreover, the universally recognized chief source of influence and power. True, there is abundant evidence that Petrarch lived and died a firm believer in the Catholic religion. We see proofs of the fact, even in his Latin memoranda, at the heads of his sonnets. Thus, for example, over one he writes: “I began this by the impulse of the Lord (Domino jubento), 19th September, at the dawn of day, after my matins.* This reminds us of an interesting passage in De Sade's memoirs. The pleasure of living his youth over again," says the Abbè, "meeting Laura in every line, of examining the history of his own heart; and perhaps the consciousness which, after all, rarely misleads authors, respecting the best of their works, induced the poet in his old age to give to his love-verses a perfection which has never been attained by any other Italian writer. If the manuscripts did not still exist, it would be impossible to imagine, or believe, the unwearied pains he has bestowed on the correction of his verses." Yet in no poetry is art less apparent than in the sonnets of Petrarch; there is no other poetry whose charms the impressible reader is more disposed to regard, without asking any questions, as the results of sudden and irresistible inspiration. But we find that our article has already exceeded the bounds we had prescribed for it. We cannot close, however, without presenting a few specimens of Petrarch's amatory *Petrarque," says Joubert, "n'etait ni un libre pensourni un hérétique; c'était un catholique convancu, regulier et m me zlé dans les pratiques religieuses, mais exempt de superstitions. Sos sentiments modérés et eclairés qui se reconnaissent dans ses po sies se montrent surtout dans sa curieuse correspondance, qui a tant de prix pour l'histoire politique et litt raire du quatorzième siecle.-Neuv. Biog. Gen. Art. Pétrarque. poetry for the benefit of such of our readers as may not hitherto have had an opportunity of reading even his most celebrated works. We think we cannot more appropriately introduce the few extracts for which we can make room than by transcribing Campbell's translation of Petrarch's description of Laura, sonnet exxvi.: **In what ideal world or part of heaven Did nature find the model of that face And form, so fraught with loveliness and grace, E'en though those charms have slain my bosom's weal? Turn when she sweetly speaks, or smiles, or sighs, This, it will be admitted, is above all praise. It were superfluous to point out its beauties; and yet even the bard of Hope has failed to render full justice to the original gem. In one of the volumes before us there is a fine engraved portrait of Laura. This, indeed, represents the lady as very beautiful-as much so, perhaps, as the pupil of Angelo could make it—still, it by no means carries out the poet's full conception of the beloved one. Our next is a fragment from canzon xxiv., translated by Lady Dacre, its subject being the Fountain of Vaucluse, in that famous valley in which the author composed most of his sonnets, and which was endeared to him by so many tender reminis cences: "If so I must my destiny fulfil, And Love to close these weeping eyes be doom'd By Heaven's mysterious will, Oh! grant that in this loved retreat, entomb'd, My poor remains may lie, And my freed soul regain its native sky! Less rude shall Death appear, If yet a hope so dear Smooth the dread passage to eternity! |