[Footnote 28: Epist. ad Posterit.] [Footnote 29: Canzone IV.] [Footnote 30: Secretum Francaci Petrarchæ.] [Footnote 31: Abbé de Sâde.] [Footnote 32: Canzone IV. In this, one of the most beautiful of his canzoni, Petrarch narrates the early story of his love. In it occur the following lines:-- "I' seguii tanto avanti il mio desire, Ch' un dì cacciando siccom' io solea, Mi mossi; e quella fera bella e cruda In una fonte ignuda Si stava, quanto 'l Sol più forte ardea. Io, perchè d' altra vista non m' appago, Stetti a mirarla: ond' ella ebbe vergogna, E per farne vendetta, o per celarse, L' acqua nel viso con le mane mi sparse, Vero dirò, forse e' parrà menzogna: Ch' i, sentii trarmi della propria immago; Ed un cervo solitario, e vago, Di selva in selva ratto mi transformo; Ed ancor de' miei can' fuggo lo stormo." The abbé de Sâde, commenting on this poem with true French dryness of fancy, supposes that the scene actually occurred, and would point out the very spot in the environs of Avignon; not perceiving that the poet, in an exquisite allegory, founded on the story of Acteon, describes the wanderings of his mind, and the reveries in which he indulged concerning her he loved; and that both lady and fountain are the creations of his imagination, which so duped and absorbed him; that passion changed him to a solitary being, and his thoughts became the pursuers that perpetually followed and tormented him.] [Footnote 33: I adopt Petrarch's own words, here and elsewhere, translated from the "Secretum Francisci Petrarchæ."] [Footnote 34: Secretum Francisci Petrarchæ.] [Footnote 35: Epist. ad Posterit.] [Footnote 36: Ibid.] [Footnote 37: Epist. ad Posterit.] [Footnote 38: Epist. Fam.] [Footnote 39: Sonnets 53, 54. The Abbé de Sâde notices these sonnets. They prove that the order of time is not preserved in the arrangement of his sonnets; as his letters prove that this journey through the forest of Ardennes preceded many events recorded in poems which are represented as if of an earlier date.] [Footnote 40: Epist. Fam.] [Footnote 41: The envoy shows that this canzone was written in Italy, probably when Petrarch was residing at Parma, a few years after. Yet being able to quote only a poem of which there exists a worthy translation, I could not refrain from extracting it; and though alluding to another country, and finished there, it is almost impossible not to believe that it was conceived at Vaucluse, and that it breathes the spirit that filled him in that solitude.] [Footnote 42: This was not a painting, but a small marble medallion. It has been, since the fourteenth century, in possession of the Peruzzi family at Florence. Behind the portrait of Laura are four Italian verses, not inserted in any editions of Petrarch:-- "Splendida luce cui chiaro se vede Quel bel che può mostrar nel mondo amore, O vero exemplo del sopran valore E d'ogni meraviglia intiera fede."