fourscore thousand florins. Under the shadow of the French monarchy, amidst an obedient people, the popes enjoyed an honourable and tranquil state, to which they long had been strangers: but Italy deplored their absence; and Rome, in solitude and poverty, might repent of the ungovernable freedom which had driven from the Vatican the successor of St. Peter. Her repentance was tardy and fruitless: after the death of the old members, the sacred college was filled with French cardinals, P who beheld Rome and Italy with abhorrence and contempt, and perpetuated a series of national, and even provincial, popes, attached by the most indissoluble ties to their native country. holy year, Institution of The progress of industry had prothe jubilee or duced and enriched the Italian repubA. D. 1300. lics the æra of their liberty is the most flourishing period of population and agriculture, of manufactures and commerce; and their mechanic labours were gradually refined into the arts of elegance and genius. But the position of Rome was less favourable, the territory less fruitful; the character of the inhabitants was debased by indolence and elated by pride; and they fondly conceived that the tribute of subjects must for ever nourish the metropolis of the church and empire. This prejudice was encouraged in some degree by the resort of pilgrims to the shrines of the apostles; and the last legacy of the popes, the institution of the HOLY YEAR," was not less beneficial to the people than to the clergy. Since the loss of Palestine, the gift of plenary indulgences, which had been applied to the crusades, remained without an object; and the most valuable treasure of the church was sequestered above eight years from public circulation. A new channel was opened by the diligence of Boniface the eighth, who reconciled the vices of ambition and avarice; and the pope had sufficient learning to recollect and revive the secular games, which were celebrated in Rome at the conclusion of every century. To sound without danger the depth of popular credulity, a sermon was seasonably pronounced, a report was artfully scattered, some aged witnesses were pronounced; and on the first of January of the year thirteen hundred, the church of St. Peter was crowded with the faithful, who demanded the customary indulgence of the holy time. The pontiff, who watched and irritated their devout impatience, was soon persuaded by ancient testimony of the justice of their claim; and he proclaimed a plenary absolution to all catholics who, o If a possession of four centuries were not itself a title, such objections might annul the bargain; but the purchase-money must be refunded, for indeed it was paid. Civitatem Avenionem emit. ... per ejusmodi venditionem pecuniâ redundantes, &c. (2da Vita Clement VI. in Baluz. tom. i. p. 272. Muratori, Script. tom. iii. p. ii. p. 565.) The only temptation for Jane and her second husband was ready money, and without it they could not have returned to the throne of Naples. p Clement V. immediately promoted ten cardinals, nine French and one English. (Vita 4ta, p. 63. et Baluz. p. 625, &c.) In 1331, the pope refused two candidates recommended by the king of France, quod xx. Cardinales, de quibus xvii. de Regno Franciæ originem traxisse noscuntur in memorato collegio existant. (Thomasin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 1281.) q Our primitive account is from Cardinal James Caietan; (Maxima Bibliot. Patrum, tom. xxv.) and I am at a loss to determine whether the nephew of Boniface VIII. be a fool or a knave: the uncle is a much clearer character. in the course of that year, and at every similar period, should respectfully visit the apostolic churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. The welcome sound was propagated through Christendom; and at first from the nearest provinces of Italy, and at length from the remote kingdoms of Hungary and Britain, the highways were thronged with a swarm of pilgrims, who sought to expiate their sins in a journey, however costly or laborious, which was exempt from the perils of military service. All exceptions of rank or sex, of age or infirmity, were forgotten in the common transport; and in the streets and churches many persons were trampled to death by the eagerness of devotion. The calculation of their numbers could not be easy nor accurate; and they have probably been magnified by a dexterous clergy, well apprized of the contagion of example; yet we are assured by a judicious historian, who assisted at the ceremony, that Rome was never replenished with less than two hundred thousand strangers; and another spectator has fixed at two millions the total concourse of the year. A trifling oblation from each individual would accumulate a royal treasure; and two priests stood night and day, with rakes in their hands, to collect, without counting, the heaps of gold and silver that were poured on the altar of St. Paul. It was fortunately a season of peace and plenty; and if forage was scarce, if inns and lodgings were extravagantly dear, an inexhaustible supply of bread and wine, of meat and fish, was provided by the policy of Boniface and the venal hospitality of the Romans. From a city without trade or industry, all casual riches will speedily evaporate: but the avarice and envy of the next generation solicited Clement the sixths to anticipate the distant period of the century. The gracious pontiff complied with their wishes; afforded Rome this poor consolation for his loss; and justified the change by the name and practice of the Mosaic jubilee.' His summons was obeyed; and the number, zeal, and liberality, of the pilgrims did not yield to the primitive festival. But they encountered the triple scourge of war, pestilence, and famine: many wives and virgins were violated in the castles of Italy; and many strangers were pillaged or murdered by the savage Romans, no longer moderated by the presence of their bishop." To the impatience of the popes we may ascribe the successive reduction to fifty, thirty-three, and twenty-five years; although the second of these terms is commensurate with the The second jubilee, A. D. 1350. r See John Villani (l. viii. c. 36.) in the twelfth, and the Chronicon Astense, in the eleventh, volume (p. 191, 192.) of Muratori's Collection. Papa innumerabilem pecuniam ab eisdem accepit, nam duo clerici, cum rastris, &c. s The two bulls of Boniface VIII. and »Clement VI. are inserted in the Corpus Juris Canonici. (Extravagant. Commun. 1. v. tit. ix. c. 1, 2.) t The sabbatic years and jubilees of the Mosaic law, (Car. Sigon, de Republicâ Hebræorum, Opp. tom. iv. 1. iii. c. 14, 15. p. 151, 152.) the suspension of all care and labour, the periodical release of lands, debts, servitude, &c. may seem a noble idea, but the execution would be im. practicable in a profane republic; and I should be glad to learn that this ruinous festival was observed by the Jewish people. u See the chronicle of Matteo Villani (1. i. c. 56.) in the fourteenth volume of Muratori, and the Memoires sur la Vie de Petrarque, tom. ii. p. 75-89. The nobles or life of Christ. The profusion of indulgences, the was converted to christianity; and honoured at his revolt of the protestants, and the decline of super-baptism with the name of his godfather, the reignstition, have much diminished the value of the ju- ing pope. The zeal and courage of Family of Leo bilee yet even the nineteenth and last festival was Peter the son of Leo were signalized the Jew.. a year of pleasure and profit to the Romans; and a in the cause of Gregory the seventh, who intrusted philosophic smile will not disturb the triumph of his faithful adherent with the government of Adthe priest or the happiness of the people. * rian's mole, the tower of Crescentius, or, as it is now called, the castle of St. Angelo. Both the father and the son were the parents of a numerous progeny: their riches, the fruits of usury, were shared with the noblest families of the city; and so extensive was their alliance, that the grandson of the proselyte was exalted by the weight of his kindred to the throne of St. Peter. A majority of the clergy and people supported his cause: he reigned several years in the Vatican, and it is only the eloquence of St. Bernard, and the final triumph of Innocent the second, that has branded Anacletus with the epithet of antipope. After his defeat and death the posterity of Leo is no longer conspicuous; and none will be found of the modern nobles ambitious of descending from a Jewish stock. It is not my design to enumerate the Roman families, which have failed at different periods, or those which are continued in different degrees of splendour to the present time. The old consular line of the Frangipani discover their name in the generous act of breaking or dividing bread in a time of famine; and such benevolence is more truly glorious than to have enclosed, with their allies the Corsi, a spacious quarter of the city in the chains of their fortifications: the Savelli, as it should seem a Sabine race, have maintained their original dignity; the obsolete surname of the Capizucchi is inscribed on the coins of the first senators; the Conti preserve the honour, without the estate, of the counts of Signia; and the Annibaldi must have been very ignorant, or very modest, if they had not descended from the Carthaginian bero.d In the beginning of the eleventh barons of Rome. century, Italy was exposed to the feudal tyranny, alike oppressive to the sovereign and the people. The rights of human nature were vindicated by her numerous republics, who soon extended their liberty and dominion from the city to the adjacent country. The sword of the nobles was broken; their slaves were enfranchised; their castles were demolished; they assumed the habits of society and obedience; their ambition was confined to municipal honours, and in the proudest aristocracy of Venice or Genoa, each patrician was subject to the laws.y But the feeble and disorderly government of Rome was unequal to the task of curbing her rebellious sons, who scorned the authority of the magistrate within and without the walls. It was no longer a civil contention between the nobles and plebeians for the government of the state: the barons asserted in arms their personal independence; their palaces and castles were fortified against a siege; and their private quarrels were maintained by the numbers of their vassals and retainers. In origin and affection, they were aliens to their country: 2 and a genuine Roman, could such have been produced, might have renounced these haughty strangers, who disdained the appellation of citizens, and proudly styled themselves the princes, of Rome." After a dark series of revolutions, all records of pedigree were lost; the distinction of surnames were abolished; the blood of the nations was mingled in a thousand channels; and the Goths and Lombards, the Greeks and Franks, the Germans and Normans, had obtained the fairest possessions by royal bounty, or the prerogative of valour. These examples might be readily presumed: but the elevation of an Hebrew race to the rank of senators and consuls, is an event without a parallel in the long captivity of these miserable exiles. In the time of Leo the ninth, a wealthy and learned Jew The subject is exhausted by M. Chais, a French minister at the Hague, in his Lettres Historiques et Dogmatiques, sur les Jubiles et les Indulgences; la Haye, 1751, 3 vols. in 12mo; an elaborate and pleasing work, had not the author preferred the character of a polemic to that of a philosopher. y Muratori (Dissert. xlvii.) alleges the Annals of Florence, Padua, Genoa, &c. the analogy of the rest, the evidence of Otho of Frisingen, (de Gest. Fred. I. 1. ii. c. 13.) and the submission of the marquis of Este. z As early as the year 824, the emperor Lothaire I. found it expedient to interrogate the Roman people, to learn from each individual, by what national law he chose to be governed. (Muratori, Dissert. xxii.) a Petrarch attacks these foreigners, the tyrants of Rome, in a declamation or epistle, full of bold truths and absurd pedantry, in which he applies the maxims, and even prejudices, of the old republic to the state of the fourteenth century. (Memoires, tom. iii. p. 157-169.) b The origin and adventures of this Jewish family are noticed by Pagi, (Critica, tom. iv. p. 435. A. D. 1124. No. 3, 4.) who draws his information from the Chronographus Maurigniacensis, and Arnulphus Sagiensis de Schismate, (in Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. iii. p. i. p. 423 -432.) The fact must in some degree be true; yet I could wish that it had been coolly related, before it was turned into a reproach against the antipope. e Muratori has given two dissertations (xli. and xlii.) to the names, surnames, and families of Italy. Some nobles, who glory in their do But among, perhaps above, the peers The Colonna. and princes of the city, I distinguish the rival houses of COLONNA and URSINI, whose private story is an essential part of the annals of modern Rome. I. The name and arms of Colonna have been the theme of much doubtful etymology; nor have the orators and antiquarians overlooked either Trajan's pillar, or the columns of Hercules, mestic fables, may be offended with his firm and temperate criticism; yet surely some ounces of pure gold are of more value than many pounds of base metal. d The cardinal of St. George, in his poetical, or rather metrical, his. tory of the election and coronation of Boniface VIII. (Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. iii. p. i. p. 641, &c.) describes the state and families of Rome at the coronation of Boniface VIII. (A. D. 1295.) Interea, titulis redimiti sanguine et armis, Illustresque viri Romanâ a stirpe trahentes Nomen, in emeritos tantæ virtutis honores, Intulerant se medios, festumque colebant, Aurata fulgentes toga, sociante catervâ. Ex ipsis devota domus præstantis ab Ursa Ecclesiæ, vultumque gerens demissius altum Festa Columna jocis, necnon Sabellia mitis; Stephanides senior, Comites, Anibalica proles, Præfectusque urbis magnum sine viribus nomen. (1. ii. c. 5. 100. p. 647, 648.) The ancient statutes of Rome (1. iii, c. 59. p. 174, 175.) distinguish eleven families of barons, who are obliged to swear in concilio communi, before the senator, that they would not harbour or protect any malefactors, outlaws, &c.-a feeble security! e It is pity that the Colonna themselves bave not favoured the world with a complete and critical history of their illustrious house. I ad. here to Muratori. (Dissert. xlii. tom. iii. p. 647, 648.), or the pillar of Christ's flagellation, or the luminous the hope of deliverance and revenge. In this column that guided the Israelites in the desert. Their first historical appearance in the year eleven hundred and four, attests the power and antiquity, while it explains the simple meaning, of the name. By the usurpation of Cava, the Colonna provoked the arms of Paschal the second; but they lawfully held in the Campagna of Rome, the hereditary fiefs of Zagarola and Colonna; and the latter of these towns was probably adorned with some lofty pillar, the relic of a villa or temple. They likewise possessed one moiety of the neighbouring city of Tusculum; a strong presumption of their descent from the counts of Tusculum, who in the tenth century were the tyrants of the apostolic see. According to their own and the public opinion, the primitive and remote source was derived from the banks of the Rhine; and the sovereigns of Germany were not ashamed of a real or fabulous affinity with a noble race, which in the revolutions of seven hundred years has been often illustrated by merit, and always by fortune.h About the end of the thirteenth century, the most powerful branch was composed of an uncle and six brothers, all conspicuous in arms, or in the honours of the church. Of these, Peter was elected senator of Rome, introduced to the capitol in a triumphant car, and hailed in some vain acclamations with the title of Cæsar; while John and Stephen were declared marquis of Ancona and count of Romagna, by Nicholas the fourth, a patron so partial to their family, that he has been delineated in satirical portraits, imprisoned as it were in a hollow pillar.i After his decease, their haughty behaviour provoked the displeasure of the most implacable of mankind. The two cardinals, the uncle and the nephew, denied the election of Boniface the eighth; and the Colonna were oppressed for a moment by his temporal and spiritual arms. He proclaimed a crusade against his personal enemies; their estates were confiscated; their fortresses on either side of the Tiber were besieged by the troops of St. Peter and those of the rival nobles; and after the ruin of Palestrina or Præneste, their principal seat, the ground was marked with a ploughshare, the emblem of perpetual desolation. Degraded, banished, proscribed, the six brothers, in disguise and danger, wandered over Europe without renouncing f Pandulph. Pisan. iu Vit. Paschal. II. in Muratori, Script. Ital. tom. iii. p. i. p. 335. The family has still great possessions in the Campag. na of Rome; but they have alienated to the Rospigliosi this original fief of Colonna. (Eschinard, p. 258, 259.) g Te longinqua dedit tellus et pascua Rheni, says Petrarch; and, in 1447, a duke of Guelders and Juliers acknow. ledges (Lenfant, Hist. du Concile de Constance, tom. ii. p. 539.) his descent from the ancestors of Martin V. (Otho Colonna ;) but the royal author of the Memoirs of Brandenberg observes, that the sceptre in his arms has been confounded with the column. To maintain the Roman origin of the Colonna, it was ingeniously supposed, (Diario di Monaldeschi, in the Script. Ital. tom. xii. p. 533.) that a cousin of the emperor Nero escaped from the city, and founded Mentz in Ger many. h I cannot overlook the Roman triumph or ovation of Marco Antonio Colonna, who had commanded the pope's galleys at the naval victory of Lepanto. (Thuan. Hist. 1. 7. tom. ii. p. 55, 56. Muret. Oratio x. Opp. tom. i. p. 180-190.) i Muratori, Annali d'Italia, tom. x. p. 216. 220. k Petrarch's attachment to the Colonna has authorized the Abbé de Sade to expatiate on the state of the family in the fourteenth century, the persecution of Boniface VIII. the character of Stephen and his sons, their quarrels with the Ursini, &c. (Memoires sur Petrarque, tom. i. p. 98-110. 146-148. 174–178. 222–230. 275-280.) His criticism often double hope, the French court was their surest and Ursini. 1 Alexander III. had declared the Colonna who adhered to the emperor Frederic I. incapable of holding any ecclesiastical benefice; (Vilfani, 1. v. c. 1.) and the last stains of annual excommunication, were purified by Sixtus V. (Vita di Sisto V. tom. iii. p. 416.) Treason, sacrilege, and proscription, are often the best titles of ancient nobility. Vallis te proxima misit Appenninigenæ quâ prata virentia sylvæ Spoletana metunt armenta greges protervi. Monaldeschi (tom. xii. Script. Ital. p. 533.) gives the Ursini a French origin, which may be remotely true. In the metrical life of Celestin V. by the cardinal of St. George, (Muratori, tom. iii. p. i. p. 613, &c.) we find a luminous, and not inelegant, passage: (1. i. c. 3. p. 203. &c.) genuit quem nobilis Ursa (Ursi?) Muratori (Dissert. xlii. tom. iii. p. .) observes, that the first Ursini feuds. Celestin; and Nicholas was ambitious for their sake to solicit the alliance of monarchs; to found new kingdoms in Lombardy and Tuscany; and to invest them with the perpetual office of senators of Rome. All that has been observed of the greatness of the Colonna, will likewise redound to the glory of the Ursini, their constant and equal antagonists in the long hereditary feud, which distracted above two hundred and fifty years the ecclesiastical state. Their hereditary The jealousy of pre-eminence and power was the true ground of their quarrel; but as a specious badge of distinction, the Colonna embraced the name of Ghibelines and the | party of the empire; the Ursini espoused the title of Guelphs and the cause of the church. The eagle and the keys were displayed in their adverse banners; and the two factions of Italy most furiously raged when the origin and nature of the dispute were long since forgotten." After the retreat of the popes to Avignon, they disputed in arms the vacant republic; and the mischiefs of discord were perpetuated by the wretched compromise of electing each year two rival senators. By their private hostilities, the city and country were desolated, and the fluctuating balance inclined with their alternate suc tribune Rienzi.-His virtues and vices, his expulsion and death.—Return of the popes from Avignon. -Great schism of the west.-Re-union of the Latin church. Last struggles of Roman liberty.-Statutes of Rome.-Final settlement of the ecclesiastical state. Petrarch, June 19A. D. 1374. July 19. In the apprehension of modern times, Petrarch is the Italian songster of A. D. 1304. Laura and love. In the harmony of his Tuscan rhymes, Italy applauds, or rather adores, the father of her lyric poetry: and his verse, or at least his name, is repeated by the enthusiasm, or affectation, of amorous sensibility. Whatever may be the private taste of a stranger, his slight and superficial knowledge should humbly acquiesce in the taste of a learned nation; yet I may hope or presume, that the Italians do not compare the tedious uniformity of sonnets and elegies, with the sublime compositions of their epic muse, the original wildness of Dante, the regular beauties of Tasso, and the boundless variety of the incomparable Ariosto. The merits of the lover I am still less qualified to appreciate: nor am I deeply interested in a metaphysical passion for a But none of either family had fallen by the nymph so shadowy, that her existence has been sword, till the most renowned champion of the Ur-questioned; for a matron so prolific, that she was sini was surprised and slain by the younger Stephen | delivered of eleven legitimate children,d while her Colonna. His triumph is stained with the reproach of violating the truce; their defeat was basely avenged by the assassination, before the church door, of an innocent boy and his two servants. Yet the victorious Colonna, with an annual colleague, was declared senator of Rome during the term of five years. And the muse of Petrarch inspired a wish, a hope, a prediction, that the generous youth, the son of his venerable hero, would restore Rome and Italy to their pristine glory; that his justice would extirpate the wolves and lions, the serpents and bears, who laboured to subvert the eternal basis of the marble COLUMN." cess. CHAP. LXX. Character and coronation of Petrarch.—Restoration of the freedom and government of Rome by the o Filii Ursi, quondam Cœlestini papæ nepotes, de bonis ecclesiæ Romanæ ditati. (Vit. Innocent. III. in Muratori, Script. tom. iii. p. i.) The partial prodigality of Nicholas III. is more conspicuous in Villani and Muratori. Yet the Ursini would disdain the nephews of a modern pope. p In his fifty-first Dissertation on the Italian Antiquities, Muratori explains the factions of the Guelphs and Ghibelines. q Petrarch (tom. i. p. 222-230.) has celebrated the victory according to the Colonna; but two contemporaries, a Florentine (Giovanni Villani, 1. x. c. 220.) and a Roman, (Ludovico Monaldeschi, p. 533, 534.) are less favourable to their arms. r The Abbé de Sade (tom. i. Notes, p. 61-66.) has applied the sixth Canzone of Petrarch, Spirto Gentil, &c. to Stephen Colouna the younger : Orsi, lupi, leoni, aquile, e serpi a The Memoires sur la Vie de François Petrarque (Amsterdam, 1764, 1767, 3 vols. in 4to,) form a copious, original, and entertaining work, a labour of love, composed from the accurate study of Petrarch and his contemporaries; but the hero is too often lost in the general history of the age, and the author too often languishes in the affectation of politeness and gallantry. In the preface to his first volume, he enumerates and weighs twenty Italian biographers, who have professedly treated of the same subject. b The allegorical interpretation prevailed in the fifteenth century; but the wise commentators were not agreed whether they should amorous swain sighed and sung at the fountain of Vaucluse. But in the eyes of Petrarch, and those of his graver contemporaries, his love was a sin, and Italian verse a frivolous amusement. His Latin works of philosophy, poetry, and eloquence, established his serious reputation, which was soon diffused from Avignon over France and Italy: his friends and disciples were multiplied in every city: and if the ponderous volume of his writings be now abandoned to a long repose, our gratitude must applaud the man, who by precept and example revived the spirit and study of the Augustan age. From his earliest youth, Petrarch aspired to the poetic crown. The academical honours of the three faculties had introduced a royal degree of master or doctor in the art of poetry; and the title of poet-laureat, which custom, rather than vanity, perpetuates in the understand by Laura, religion, or virtue, or the blessed Virgin, or See the prefaces to the first and second volume. e Laure de Noves, born about the year 1307, was married in January 1325 to Hugues de Sade, a noble citizen of Avignon, whose jealousy was not the effect of love, since he married a second wife within seven months of her death, which happened the 6th of April, 1348, precisely one and twenty years after Petrarchi had seen and loved her. d Corpus crebris partubus exhaustum: from one of these is issued, in the tenth degree, the Abbé de Sade, the fond and grateful biogra pher of Petrarch; and this domestic motive most probably suggested the idea of his work, and urged him to inquire into every circumstance that could affect the history and character of his grandmother. (See particularly tom. i. p. 122-133. notes, p. 7–58. tom. ii. p. 455–495. notes, p. 76-82) Vaucluse, so familiar to our English travellers, is described from the writings of Petrarch, and the local knowledge of his biographer. (Memoires, tom. i. p. 340-359.) It was, in truth, the retreat of a hermit, and the moderns are much mistaken, if they place Laura and a happy lover in the grotto. f Of 1250 pages, in a close print, at Basil in the sixteenth century, but without the date of the year. The Abbé de Sade calls alond for a new edition of Petrarch's Latin works; but I much doubt whether it would redound to the profit of the bookseller, or the amusement of the public. g Consult Selden's Titles of Honour, in his works, (vol. iii. p. 457466.) A hundred years before Petrarch, St. Francis received the visit of a poet, qui ab imperatore fuerat coronatus et exinde rex versttum dictus. English court," was first invented by the Cæsars of Germany. In the musical games of antiquity, a prize was bestowed on the victor; the belief that Virgil and Horace had been crowned in the capitol inflamed the emulation of a Latin bard; and the laurel' was endeared to the lover by a verbal resemblance with the name of his mistress. The value of either object was enhanced by the difficulties of the pursuit; and if the virtue or prudence of Laura was inexorable," he enjoyed, and might boast of enjoying, the nymph of poetry. His vanity was not of the most delicate kind, since he applauds the success of his own labours; his name was popular; his friends were active; the open or secret opposition of envy and prejudice was surmounted by the dexterity of patient merit. In the thirty-sixth year of his age, he was solicited to accept the object of his wishes and on the same day, in the solitude of Vaucluse, he received a similar and solemn invitation from the senate of Rome and the university of Paris. The learning of a theological school, and the ignorance of a lawless city, were alike unqualified to bestow the ideal though immortal wreath which genius may obtain from the free applause of the public and of posterity: but the candidate dismissed this troublesome reflection, and after some moments of complacency and suspense, preferred the summons of the metropolis of the world. nation at Rome, His poetic coro- The ceremony of his coronation" was D. 13m performed in the capitol, by his friend April 8. and patron the supreme magistrate of the republic. Twelve patrician youths were arrayed in scarlet; six representatives of the most illustrious families, in green robes, with garlands of flowers, accompanied the procession; in the midst of the princes and nobles, the senator, count of Anguillara, a kinsman of the Colonna, assumed his throne; and at the voice of a herald Petrarch arose. After discoursing on a text of Virgil, and thrice repeating his vows for the prosperity of Rome, he knelt before the throne, and received from the senator a laurel crown, with a more precious declaration, "This is the reward of merit." The people shouted, "Long h From Augustus to Louis, the muse has too often been false and venal: but I much doubt whether any age or court can produce a similar establishment of a stipendiary poet, who in every reign, and at all events, is bound to furnish twice a year a measure of praise and verse such as may be sung in the chapel, and, I believe, in the presence, of the sovereign. I speak the more freely, as the best time for abolishing this ridiculous custom, is while the prince is a man of virtue, and the poet a man of genius. i Isocrates (in Panegyrico, tom. i. p. 116, 117. edit. Battie, Cantab. 1729.) claims for his native Athens the glory of first instituting and recommending the αγώνας και τα αθλα μεγιςα μη μονον τάχους και ρωμης, αλλά και λόγων και γνώμης. The example of the Panathenæa was imitated at Delphi; but the Olympic games were ignorant of a musical crown, till it was extorted by the vain tyranny of Nero. (Sueton. in Nerone, c. 23.; Philostrat. apud Casaubon ad locum; Dion Cassius, or Xiphilin. I. Ixiii. p. 1032. 1041. Potter's Greek Antiquities, vol. i. p. 445. 450.) k The Capitoline games (certamen quinquennale, musicum, equestre, gymnicum) were instituted by Domitian (Sueton. c. 4.) in the year of Christ 86, (Censorin. de Die Natali, c. 18. p. 100. edit. Havercamp,) and were not abolished in the fourth century. (Ausonius de Professoribus Burdegal. V.) If the crown were given to superior merit, the exclusion of Statius (Capitolia nostræ inficiata lyræ, Sylv. 1. iii. v. 31.) may do honour to the games of the capitol; but the Latin poets who lived before Domitian were crowned only in the public opinion. 1 Petrarch and the senators of Rome were ignorant that the laurel was not the Capitoline, but the Delphic, crown. (Plin. Hist. Natur. xv. Hist. Critique de la Republique des Lettres, tom. i. p. 150-220.) 39. life to the capitol and the poet!" A sonnet in praise of Rome was accepted as the effusion of genius and gratitude; and after the whole procession had visited the Vatican, the profane wreath was suspended before the shrine of St. Peter. In the act of diploma which was presented to Petrarch, the title and prerogatives of poet-laureat are revived in the capitol, after the lapse of thirteen hundred years; and he receives the perpetual privilege of wearing, at his choice, a crown of laurel, ivy, or myrtle, of assuming the poetic habit, and of teaching, disputing, interpreting, and composing, in all places whatsoever, and on all subjects of literature. The grant was ratified by the authority of the senate and people; and the character of citizen was the recompence of his affection for the Roman name. They did him honour, but they did him justice. In the familiar society of Cicero and Livy, he had imbibed the ideas of an ancient patriot; and his ardent fancy kindled every idea to a sentiment, and every sentiment to a passion. The aspect of the seven hills and their majestic ruins confirmed these lively impressions: and he loved a country by whose liberal spirit he had been crowned and adopted. The poverty and debasement of Rome excited the indignation and pity of her grateful son: he dissembled the faults of his fellow-citizens; applauded with partial fondness the last of their heroes and matrons; and in the remembrance of the past, in the hope of the future, was pleased to forget the miseries of the present time. Rome was still the lawful mistress of the world: the pope and the emperor, her bishop and general, had abdicated their station by an inglorious retreat to the Rhone and the Danube; but if she could resume her virtue, the republic might again vindicate her liberty and dominion. Amidst the indulgence of enthusiasm and eloquence, Petrarch, Italy, and Europe, were astonished by a revolution which realized for a moment his most splendid visions. The rise and fall of the tribune Rienzi will occupy the following pages: the subject is interesting, the materials are rich, and the glance of a patriot-bard' will some The victors in the capitol were crowned with a garland of oak leaves. (Martial, 1. iv. epigram 54.) m The pious grandson of Laura has laboured, and not without success, to vindicate her immaculate chastity against the censures of the grave, and the sneers of the profane, (tom. ii. notes, p. 76-82.) n The whole process of Petrarch's coronation is accurately described by the Abbé de Sade, (tom. i. p. 425-435. tom ii. p. 1-6. notes, p. 1-13.) from his own writings, and the Roman Diary of Ludovico Monaldeschi, without mixing in this authentic narrative the more re. cent fables of Sannuccio Delbene. o The original act is printed among the Pieces Justificatives in the Memoires sur Petrarque, tom. iii. p. 50--53. p To find the proofs of his enthusiasm for Rome, I need only request that the reader would open, by chance, either Petrarch, or his French biographer. The latter has described the poet's first visit to Rome, (tom. i. p. 323-335.) But in the place of much idle rhetoric and mo. rality, Petrarch might have amused the present and future age with an original account of the city and his coronation. It has been treated by the pen of a Jesuit, the P. du Cerceau, whose posthumous work, (Conjuration de Nicolas Gabrini, dit de Rienzi, Tyran de Rome, en 1347.) was published at Paris 1748, in 12mo. I am indebted to him for some facts and documents in John Hocsemius, canon of Liege, a contemporary historian. (Fabricius, Bibliot. Lat, med. Evi, tom. iii. p. 273. tom. iv. p. 85.) r The Abbé de Sade, who so freely expatiates on the history of the fourteenth century, might treat as his proper subject, a revolution in which the heart of Petrarch was so deeply engaged. (Memoires, tom. ii. p. 50, 51. 320-417. notes, p. 70-76. tom. iii. p. 221-243. 366-375.) Not an idea or a fact in the writings of Petrarchi has probably escaped him. |