WITH THE COLLABORATION OF

HENRY WINCHESTER ROLFE

Sometime Professor of Latin in Swarthmore College

SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

PREFATORY NOTE TO THE FIRST EDITION

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

INTRODUCTORY

I.

BIOGRAPHICAL

Francesco Petrarca to Posterity.

Petrarch's Preface to his First Collection of Letters

II

PETRARCH AND HIS LITERARY CONTEMPORARIES

Petrarch's Passion for Work—The Trials of a Man of Letters

The Visit to the Goldsmith at Bergamo

Petrarch Disclaims all Jealousy of Dante

The Story of Griselda

On the Italian Language and Literature

His Aversion to Logicians

III

THE FATHER OF HUMANISM

To Marcus Tullius Cicero[1]

The Old Grammarian of Vicenza,

On the Nature of Poetry.

On the Scarcity of Copyists.

Ignorance and Presumption Rebuked.

The Young Humanist of Ravenna.

IV

TRAVELS

An Excursion to Paris, the Netherlands, and the Rhine.

The Ascent of Mount Ventoux.

The Charms of Pavia.

V

POLITICAL OPINIONS

RIENZO AND CHARLES IV

VI

THE CONFLICT OF MONASTIC AND SECULAR IDEALS

VII

PETRARCH'S CONFESSIONS

VIII

FINALE

Petrarch's Intention to Work until the Last.