Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1833-05-02

trait in fresco, and Laura's, and the
small closet-like room where he died.
1t was an interesting visit, and we re-
turned by the golden twilight of this
heavenly climate, repeating Childe Har-
old, and wishing for his pen to describe
afresh the scene about US.
~Petrarch retired TO Arqua immedi-
ately on his return from the unsuocess-
ful attempt to visit Urban v. at Rome,
in the year 1870, and with the excep-
ton Of his celebrated visit to Venice,
in company with francesca Novellode
Carara, he appears to have passed the
four last years of his life between that
charming solitude and Padua. For four
months previous to his death, he was
in state of continual languor, and in
the morning of July nineteenth, in the
year 1874, he was found dead in his
library, chair, with his head resting
upon book. The chair is still shown
among the precious relics of Arqua,
which from the uninterrupted venera-
ton that has been attached to every
thing relating to this great man, from
the moment of his death to the present
hour, have, it may be hoped, better
chance of authenticity, than the Shaks-
pcrian memorials, of Stratford-upon-
Avon.
Arqua for the last syllable is accent
ed in pronunciation, although the anal
ogy Of the English language has been
observed in the verse) is twelve miles
from Padua, and about three miles on
the right Of the high road to Rovigo,
in the bosom Of the Eugenean hills.
After walk of twenty minutes across
fiat we'll wooded meadow, you come
to little blue lake, clear, but fathom-
less, and to the foot of succession of
acclivities and hills, clothed with vine-
yards and orchards, rich fir, and with
pomegranate trees, and every sunny
fruit shrub. From the banks of the
lake, the road winds into the hills, and
the church of Arqua is soon seen be-
tween cleft, where two ridges slope
towards each other, and nearly enclose
the village. The houses are scattered
! at intervals on the steep sides of these
! submits; and that Of the poet is on the
edge of little knoll overlooking two
descents, and commanding a view not
only of the glowing gardens in the
dales Immediately beneath, but of the
| wide plains, above whose low woods of
mulberry and willow, thickened into a
dark mass by festoons of vines, tall
single expresses, and the spires of
towns, are seen in the distance, which
stretches to the mouths of the Pc, and
the shores of the Adriatic. The CHM
ate of these volcanic hills is warmer,
and the vintage begins week sooner
than in the plains Of Padua. rctrarch
| is laid, for he cannot be said to be
| buried, in sarcophagus of red marble,
raised on four pilasters on an elevated
base, and preserved from an ASSOCIATE
on with meaner tombs. 1t stands con-
spicuously alone, bat win soon be over
Swallowed by four lately planted lau-
rels. Petrarch's fountain, for here ev.
cry thing is Petrarch's, springs and
expands itself beneath an artificial arch,
a little below the church, and abounds
plentifhlly, in the driest season, with
that soft water which was the ancient
wealth of the Euganean hills. 1t would |
be more attractive, were il not, in
some seasons, beset with hornets and
wasps. No other coincidence could as-
simulate the tombs of Petrarch and
| Archilocus. The revolutions OF GEN.
turtles have spared these sequestered
valleys, and the only violence which
has been offered to the ashes Of Pc
trarch was prompted, not by hate, but
vencration. An attempt was made to
! rob the sarcophagus of its treasure,
and one of the arms was stolen by
Florentine, through a rent which is
still visible. The injury is not forgot
ten, but has served to identify the poet
with the country where he was born,
but where he would not live. A peas
ant boy at Arqua being asked who
Petrarch was, replied, "that the peo-
pie Of the parsonage knew all about
him, but that he only knew that he
was Florentire."
Mr.. Forsyth was not quite correct
in saying that Petrarch never returned
to Tuscany after he had once quilted it
when boy. 1t appears he did pass
through Florence on his way from
| Parma to Rome and on his return in
the year 1850, and remained there
long enough to form some acquaint-
ance with its most distinguished inhab-
itants. A Florentine gentleman, asha-
med of the aversion of the poet for his
native country, was eager to point out