LETTER TWENTY-FIRST.

FLORENCE, September 18-.

MY DEAR

As you have expressed yourself so favourably regarding the fruits of our researches in the Laurentian, and other libraries of Florence, into the history and character of their great artists, and their most celebrated patrons, I make no apology for giving you the following account-of course, in the usual desultory epistolary style-of some of those extraordinary authors, who may be said, like the morning star, to have foretold the approaching day of literature; or, perhaps, more appropriately might themselves be styled the dawn of that glorious era. To the Commedia of Dante-says Andres in his work, "Dell' Origine, progressi, e stato attuale d'ogni litteratura "-the sonnets of Petrarch, and the Decamerone of Boccacio, three little books written for the purpose of satire, of gallantry, and of feminine amusements, we are to trace

the origin of learning, and modern taste in modern times. It seems the most probable opinion that Dante was stimulated to this singular work by the example of the ancient Roman authors. He had evidently the descent of Eneas in his eye when writing the Inferno, and through the regions of horror, Dante evidently had Virgil for his guide. In all the remainder of his poem there is a perfect originality; and compared with the Æneid, as is well said by an old author, it is a piece of grand Gothic architecture alongside of a beautiful Roman temple. It is evident that Landino considered Dante an imitator of Virgil, for he observes, "Nonne e nostris Danthem virum omni doctrina excultum cravissimum auctorem habemus," etc., etc.

Boccacio and Petrarch were the immediate successors of Dante, each in a new and untried field of his own, and each reaped an abundant harvest. Their merits have been recognised and appreciated by all men of letters, but by no one more than Lorenzo di Medici, who, in illustrating the beauty and dignity of the Italian language, frequently remarked that the proofs of its excellence are displayed in the writings of those three great authors, who, he observes, have well shown with what ease it may be adapted to the expression of every sentiment. He then proceeds as follows, though somewhat condensed :

In studying the Commedia of Dante, we shall find

that he treats theological and natural subjects with the most perfect ease and address; we shall there discover the three great requisites in oratory-the simple, the middle style, and the sublime; and will find concentrated in his works, all the excellences that are dispersed through the ancient Greek and Roman writers. Is it not plain that the subject of love is treated by Petrarch with more elegance than by Ovid, Catullus, Tibullus, or Propertius? The prose compositions of the elegant Boccacio are unrivalled on account of their invention, copiousness, and elegance. In the Decamerone we find a vast variety of subjects-serious, tragical, commonlife, humourous, ridiculous-displaying all the perturbations incident to mankind; their affections and aversions, hopes, and fears. When we consider the variety of the narratives, so curiously wrought by the inventive genius, which displays all the peculiarities of our nature and the result of our passions, we may fairly conclude that there is no greater genius than Boccacio in this department of literature, and no language so well adapted for every species of expression as the Italian.

In the province of his birth, and in a country that owes such obligations to the literary talents of Petrarch, whose sonnets you have so often read with intense admiration, you will naturally expect that I should have peculiar opportunities of information. He is the

frequent topic of conversation among the literary and accomplished in a city where all may be said to be of that character, and where every source of information can be obtained regarding him in her splendid libraries, particularly celebrated for manuscripts, the only mode of literary information at the period in which Petrarch lived. Petrarch, you know, was born in 1304, and no sooner were his writings seen by the world, than the admiration for his poetical talents and wonderful genius was so great, that he at the same time received from the University of Paris and the Senate of Rome, the offer of the Laureate Crown. By the advice of his patron, Colonna, he preferred the latter, and Senaccio del Vene, an eye-witness of the solemnity, describes the inauguration as rivalling the pomp and pageantry of the ancient Roman triumphs. Petrarch, in a splendid robe of violet colour, bound with a girdle of diamonds, was conveyed in a splendid car to the Capitol, and there, amidst the acclamations of an innumerable multitude, was presented by the chief senator with three crowns— of laurel, of ivy, and of myrtle. The dignity of Poet Laureate, which, from the dearth of high talents, had not been conferred for some centuries, was now revived in favour of Petrarch.

Two features in the character of Petrarch do him the highest honour. The one is that, in an age of general ignorance, opposed to the cultivation of letters,

Petrarch, by the force of native genius, roused a passion for literature which had the happiest influence on succeeding ages. The other is that, though flattered by sovereign princes and emperors, and earnestly solicited to accept of lucrative employments, he continued through life to preserve his independence, preferring the pursuit of his favourite studies in retirement to all worldly splendour. Petrarch was greatly distinguished by his contemporaries as an able politician, theologian, and philosopher. But it is to those beautiful verses in which he has celebrated the accomplishments and bewailed the fate of Laura, that Petrarch owes his high reputation with posterity. The history of his passion for this lovely woman will ever be regarded as the most interesting portion of his annals; it was a passion, indeed, which gave a tone to his affections, studies, habits of life, and all his pursuits and occupations. It is impossible to conceive a love more pure, more ardent, more lasting. He was the passionate admirer of Laura for twenty-one years while she was in life, and with unabated affection he bewailed her loss for many years more. Every line of the poet bears testimony that this passion was an honourable and virtuous flame. Petrarch indulged the fond hope of being united to Laura in marriage, and it is evident from his own writings that Laura was not insensible to his passion; though the term of his probation was tedious