LXX. ftoring to Rome her glory and her provinces, he CHAP. had bound himself, by a fecret treaty with the pope, to evacuate the city on the day of his coronation; and his fhameful retreat was pursued by the reproaches of the patriot bard ”. 57 age, Pe After the lofs of liberty and empire, his third and more humble wifh, was to reconcile the fhepherd with his flock; to recal the Roman bifhop to his ancient and peculiar diocefe. In the fervour of youth, with the authority of trarch addreffed his exhortations to five fucceffive popes, and his eloquence was always infpired by the enthusiasm of fentiment and the freedom of language ". The fon of a citizen of Florence invariably preferred the country of his birth to. that of his education: and Italy, in his eyes, was the queen and garden of the world. Amidft her domestic factions, fhe was doubtless superior to France both in art and science, in wealth and politeness; but the difference could fcarcely fupport the epithet of barbarous, which he promifcuously bestows on the countries beyond the Alps. Avignon, the myftic Babylon, the fink of vice and corruption, was the object of his hatred and con 56 The hopes and the disappointment of Petrarch, are agreeably described in his own words by the French biographer (Memoires, tom.iii. p. 375-413.); but the deep, though secret, wound, was the coronation of Zanubi the poet-laureat by Charles IV. 57 See in his accurate and amufing biographer, the application of Petrarch and Rome to Benedict XII. in the year 1334 (Memoires, tom. i. p. 261–265.), to Clement VI. in 1342 (tom. ii. p. 45-47-), and to Urban V. in 1366 (tom. iii. p. 677–691.): his praise (p. 711–715.) and excuse (p. 771.) of the laft of these pontiffs. His angry controverfy on the respective merits of France and Italy may be found (Opp. p. 1068-1085.). He folicits of Avignon to fix the popes their refi dence at Rome. LXX. CHAP. tempt; but he forgets that her fcandalous vices were not the growth of the foil, and that in every refidence they would adhere to the power and luxury of the papal court. He confeffes, that the fucceffor of St. Peter is the bishop of the universal church; yet it was not on the banks of the Rhone, but of the Tiber, that the apostle had fixed his everlasting throne: and while every city in the Christian world was bleffed with a bishop, the metropolis alone was defolate and forlorn. Since the removal of the Holy See, the facred buildings of the Lateran and the Vatican, their altars and their faints, were left in a state of poverty and decay; and Rome was often painted under the image of a disconfolate matron, as if the wandering husband could be reclaimed by the homely portrait of the age and infirmities of his weeping fpoufe 58. But the cloud which hung over the feven hills, would be difpelled by the prefence of their lawful fovereign: eternal fame, the profperity of Rome, and the peace of Italy, would be the recompence of the pope who should dare to embrace this generous refolution. Of the five whom Petrarch exhorted, the three first, John the twenty-fecond, Benedict the twelfth, and Clement the fixth, were importuned or amufed by the boldness of the orator; but the memorable change 58 Squalida fed quoniam facies, neglecta cultu Eripuit folitam effigiem: vetus accipe nomen; Roma vocor. (Carm. 1. 2. p. 77-) He fpins this allegory beyond all measure or patience. The Epiftles to Urban V. in profe, are more fimple and perfuafive (Senilium, 1. vii, p. 811-827. 1. ix. epift. i. p. 844-854.). LXX. Return of Urban V. 1367, October 16— A. D. 1370, which had been attempted by Urban the fifth, CHA P. was finally accomplished by Gregory the eleventh. The execution of their defign was oppofed by weighty and almost insuperable obstacles. A king of France who has deferved the epithet of wife, was unwilling to release them from a local dependence the cardinals, for the most part his fubjects, were attached to the language, manners, and climate, of Avignon; to their stately palaces; above all, to the wines of Burgundy. In their eyes, Italy was foreign or hoftile; and they reluctantly embarked at Marseilles, as if they had been fold or banished into the land of the Saracens. Urban the fifth refided three years in the Vatican with fafety and honour: his fanctity was protected April 17. by a guard of two thousand horse; and the king of Cyprus, the queen of Naples, and the emperors of the East and Weft devoutly faluted their common father in the chair of St. Peter. But the joy of Petrarch and the Italians was foon turned into grief and indignation. Some reasons of public or private moment, his own impatience or the prayers of the cardinals, recalled Urban to France; and the approaching election was faved from the tyrannic patriotism of the Romans. The powers of heaven were interested in their caufe: Bridget of Sweden, a faint and pilgrim, disapproved the return, and foretold the death, of Urban the fifth; the migration of Gregory the eleventh_Final rewas encouraged by St. Catherine of Sienna, the fpoufe of Chrift and ambaffadrefs of the Florentines; and the popes themselves, the great mafters of human credulity, appear to have liftened to Jan. 17. these turn of Gregory XI. A. D. 1377, CHAP. thefe vifionary females 59. Yet thofe celestial adLXX. monitions were fupported by fome arguments of temporal policy. The refidence of Avignon had been invaded by hoftile violence: at the head of thirty thousand robbers, an hero had extorted ranfom and abfolution from the vicar of Chrift and the facred college; and the maxim of the French warriors, to fpare the people and plunder the church, was a new heresy of the most dangerous import. While the pope was driven from Avignon, he was ftrenuously invited to Rome. The fenate and people acknowledged him as their lawful fovereign, and laid at his feet the keys of the gates, the bridges, and the fortreffes; of the quarter at least beyond the Tyber". But this loyal offer was accompanied by a declaration, that they could no longer fuffer the fcandal and calamity of his abfence; and that his obftinacy would finally provoke them to revive and affert the primitive right of election. The abbot of mount 59 I have not leifure to expatiate on the legends of St. Bridget or St. Catherine, the laft of which might furnish fome amufing ftories. Their effect on the mind of Gregory XI. is attefted by the last folemn words of the dying pope, who admonished the affiftants, ut caverent ab hominibus, five viris, five mulieribus, fab fpecie religionis loquentibus vifiones fui capitis, quia per tales ipfe feductus, &c. (Baluz. Not. ad Vit. Pap. Avenionenfium, tom. i. p. 1223.) 60 This predatory expedition is related by Froiffard (Chronique, tom. i. p. 230.), and in the life of du Guefclin (Collection Generale des Memoires Hiftoriques, tom. iv. c. 16. p. 107-113.). As early as the year 1361, the court of Avignon had been molefted by fimilar freebooters, who afterwards paffed the Alps (Memoires fur Petrarque, tom. iii. p 563-569.). 61 Fleury alleges, from the Annals of Odericus Raynaldus, the original treaty which was figned the 21st of December 1376, between Gregory XI. and the Romans (Hift. Ecclef. tom. xx. p. 275.). 63 LXX. Caffin had been confulted, whether he would ac- CHAP. 64 " A. D. March 27. If superstition will interpret an untimely death"; His death, if the merit of counfels be judged from the event; the heavens may seem to frown on a measure of fuch apparent reason and propriety. Gregory the eleventh did not furvive above fourteen months his return to the Vatican; and his deceafe was followed by the great fchifm of the Weft, which diftracted the Latin church above forty years. 62 The first crown or regnum (Ducange, Gloff. Latin. tom. v. p. 702.) on the episcopal mitre of the popes, is afscribed to the gift of Constantine, or Clovis. The second was added by Boniface VIII. as the emblem not only of a spiritual, but of a temporal, kingdom. The three states of the church are represented by the triple crown which was introduced by John XXII. or Benedict XII. (Memoires fur Petrarque, tom. i. p. 258, 259.). 63 Baluze (Not. ad Pap. Avenion. tom. i. p. 1194, 1195.) produces the original evidence which attefts the threats of the Roman ambaffadors, and the refignation of the abbot of mount Caffin, qui ultro fe offerens, refpondit fe civem Romanum effe, et illud velle quod ipfi vellent. 64 The return of the popes from Avignon to Rome, and their reception by the people, are related in the original Lives of Urban V. and Gregory XI. in Baluze (Vit. Paparum Avenionenfium, tom. i. p. 363–486.) and Muratori (Script. Rer. Italicarum, tom. iii. P. i. p. 610-712.). In the difputes of the fchifm, every circumftance was feverely, though partially, ferutinised; more especially in the great inqueft, which decided the obedience of Caftile, and to which Baluze, in his notes, so often and fo largely appeals, from a MS. volume in the Harlay library (p. 1281, &c.). 65 Can the death of a good man be efteemed a punishment by those who believe in the immortality of the foul? They betray the inftability of their faith. Yet as a mere philofopher, I cannot agree with the Greeks, όν οι θεοι φιλεσιν αποθνήσκει νέος (Brunck, Poetæ Gnomici, p. 231.). See in Herodotus (I. i. c. 31.) the moral and' pleafing tale of the Argive youths. The |