The Life of Petrarch, Volume 1 |
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Page 107 - Mediterranean, and on a plain beautiful as the vale of Tempe, you discover a little valley, enclosed by a barrier of rocks, in the form of a horse-shoe. The rocks are high, bold, and grotesque ; and the valley is divided by a river, along the banks of which are extended meadows and pastures of a perpetual verdure. A path, which is on the left side of the river, leads in gentle windings to the head of this vast amphitheatre. There, at the foot of an enormous rock, and directly in front, you behold...
Page 250 - I suspected something ; and, observing her with more attention, I found under the helmet, the face of this formidable virgin. Was I to inform you of half the things they relate of her, you would take them for fables : I will therefore confine myself to a few facts, to which I was witness.
Page 110 - I make war upon my senses, and treat them as my enemies. My eyes, which have drawn me into a thousand difficulties, see no longer either gold or precious stones, or ivory, or purple ; they behold nothing save the water, the firmament and the rocks. The only female who comes within their sight is a swarthy old woman, dry and parched as the Lybian deserts. My ears are no longer courted by those...
Page 112 - ... spreading the nets. As to my dress, there is an entire change; you would take me for a labourer, or a shepherd. " My mansion resembles that of Cato or Fabricius. My whole house-establishment consists of myself, my old fisherman and his wife, and a dog. My fisherman's cottage is contiguous to mine; when I want him I call, when I no longer need him, he returns to his cottage. " I have made two gardens that please me wonderfully.
Page 26 - Her face, her air, her gait, were something more than mortal. Her person was delicate, her eyes tender and sparkling, and her eye-brows black as ebony. Golden locks waved over her shoulders whiter than snow, and the ringlets were woven by the fingers of Love.
Page 25 - I fometimes acted with freedom, becaufe love had not yet become an inhabitant of my breaft.' No eflential reproach however could be caft on his manners till after the twenty-third year of his age. The fear of God, the thoughts of death, the love of virtue, and thofe principles of religion which were inculcated by his mother, preferved him from the furrounding temptations of his earlier life.
Page 24 - E il viso di pietosi color farsi, Non so se vero o falso, mi parea. '' Petrarch's person, if we trust to his biographers, " was so striking with beauties, as to attract universal admiration ". They represent him " with large and manly features, eyes full of fire, a blooming complexion, and a countenance that bespoke all the genius and fancy that shone forth in his works ". 1 c Possibly Petrarch was not over vain of his exterior endowments; though it does not appear that modesty had ever interfered...
Page 26 - Her person was delicate, her eyes tender and sparkling, and her eye-brows black as ebony. Golden locks waved over her shoulders whiter than snow : and the ringlets were interwoven by the fingers of Love.
Page 170 - When the ceremony in the capitol was ended, Petrarch was conducted in pomp, with the same retinue, to the church of St. Peter, where, after a solemn mass, and returning thanks to God for the honour he had received, he took off his crown to place it among the offerings, and hung it up on the arch of the temple.
Page 171 - In fine, they declare him a citizen of Rome, with all the privileges thereof, as a reward for the affection he has always expressed for the city and republic. " Petrarch was then brought to the palace of the Colonnas, where a magnificent feast was prepared for him, at which were assembled all the nobility and men of letters in Rome ".