The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-06-15
A CLASSICAL FEUILLEToN.
THE LAURA OF PETRARCH.

~ he does to Italy. 10 ltay, lnueeu, he 49, oMe'
TOO, which might appear 10 have been MADE
auite expressly for the sonneteertng poetry OF
which he is the model. He also owes 10 her tue
earliest recognition of this poetry, through the
Donderous commentaries which were written to
Illustrate II, at period when ltay gave the zone
70 the rest of Europe. For with tne ltal1ans the
critic takes the form Of tue 1sI not
between the leviy OF the sonnet and the
gravity of the commentary; for a country
where the mind is of q feminine or boyish cast
ie on the contrary, the natural scene as we'll for
DedagoQues as priests. But Pctrarch also owed
to italy, or to her frantic factions-as Dante did
before him-his expulsion 10 foreign land
not indeed in his own person, but in childhood
with his parents.
This early exile Of PeIrarch was to the neigh
boring south of France. To this congenially
sunny land he was likewise much indebted. 1t
placed him at the distance which lent enchant
ment to his native country,-which left IN view
the halo of her historic glores, without drag
cling through the mire OF her corruptions, dlth,
and factions. II supplied him purer atmo.
sphere in that Vale OF vancluse which has pro-
bably contributed 10 their united i'm Immortality.
1t had provided HIM With the Trouoadours,
whose day of fame was then departing, but who
had left him rich materials in those ever-yarying
terms OF tender sentiment and sprightly fancy
by hlCh as in the magical effects OF the ka-
Ieidosct pc, he was enabled to transmit us
summary image oil that curious epoch. For this
is the true nature Of the sonnets by Petrarch, as
will be made appear before the conclusion OF
this notice.
But bey ord all the contributions of France TO
the fame OF Petrarch was the subject and the
soul oil those sonnets-the immortal Laura. IL
is singular, however, that lady then so promi-
nent, and who was made SO famous already with
her contemporaries, should have left no certain
trace of her leshly existence; that her family,
her place of residence, The date of her death aud
birth, the condition OF her, the occasion OF her
love, should all-and all alike remain in doubt
to the present day. after over two centuries OF
disputatiOn on the subject
Some VIII have it that her birthplace was the
town Of Avgnon, then the residence of the
Papacy which had, like Petrarch, TO 1y the
factions. Other writers will have the spit to
be suburb of the city, which OUGHT to be con-
side1ed distinction without difference. With
still others the favored locality was Vaucuse,
which is situated at distance of several miles
from Avignon. No less fluctuant is the place of
the first meeting of the lovers. The most
prevalent account says church at Avignon, the
Church of st. Claire, which was attached to
convent, a circumstance which would have
added poetry to the incident. Other commenta-
tors place the scene in the lady's own house, or
rather, out at the window-the qoselta fenestrd
of the sonnets Still others transport it to the
Vale OF Vancluse; and there again, as she sat
beneath the shade oil tree or otherwise "a she
was laviDg her hands in brook. So with some
OF these historians the time was Good Friday,
and at the early mass, or close to the house;
while, of course, with those who sought the
shade or brook IL must have been noon; and
others vary it to the sHeeter evening hour of
yespers in the church of AvieHon, but still DIFF
ferent f1om the st. Claire. Again, the age of
the lady at the time was either thirteen
an tene'o fore, as the poet himself de-
scribed her = or else seventeen, or else
twenty-for; while by some of these accounts
she remained all her life maiden, and accord
ing TO Others was the married mother of eleven
children. Even her death is represented as
having been by the great plague which at the
time invaded Europe from the East, like the
later cholera; while other writer's will have the
nalady to have been less vulgar, or the interest
mo nd md DaS nOfn
But of all these dubitations about the death
and life of Laura, her age, her state, her d vel
Hng-place, and other concrete circumstances,
and of which we shall supply the true explana-
tion, the most strange seems the uncertainty re-
specting the family. Petrarch himself used to
chant it as noble. Proceeding, perhaps, on this
intimation, the earlier traditions identified the
family with that of the Counts de Chabrieres, who
were lin English phrase) the lords of the manor
of Vancluse, and to one of whom Laura would be
either wife or daughter. This alternative ofmere
affinity would thus leave room for another
claimant Such accordingly appeared in the
family of De Sade, which at that time held the
principal magistracy of Avgnon, but even so
would have a taint OF the burgher in its no.
bllity. However, France was not country
where a claim to the inheritance OF any sort of
glory would be left unas,efted, any more than
would elsewhere the pretensions to gold or
lands; and so the De Sade family has found
modern champion, who has been the main occa
sion of most of the subsequent controversy.
But this trait of French manners is itself worth
weekly occurrence Nothing is more frequent
in the French. newspapers and courts of JUS
tice than so-called reclamations for alleged
wrong and injury to the repute ofancestors, who
may be dead for generations, and yet are they
supposed to react upon the living. The dis
pute about the Montmorency title is present
sample, but a sample OF a sentiment observed no
less in the lowest condition. There are few
publications OF national history or memoirs
that do not bring upon the author cloud OF
such remonstrances in private when not pub
lic. In short, the Paris correspondents of the
London newspapers are constantly amusing our
English common sense with reports of these frivo
iities by the fantastic Gauls. but they would
better serve their readers by endeayoring to ex-
plain them. If the French demanded damages -
conduct doubtless would be found quite simple,
and perhaps none the less so for the frivolity OF
the grounds. But to accept the mere correction
OF fact or OF an epithet as the sole satisfaction
for an injury to property, and the property Of
men only dead, appears tissue of absurdity
Yet this appearance or estimate is but an idiosyn
crasy, the same In nature as the French, although
quite opposite in the direction.
With the French the best of property, or what
as yulgarly called their glory, is the esteem OF
society for themselves and their connections
This is known in more humble and familiar
form in the Irish, who bewail a loss of ''char-
acter" as spreading infamy through the whole
family, An English person of the same condi-
lien, who complained of having lost his charac
ter, would be supposed to mean piece of paper
from bis last employer; and would probably
be never, by the loss of even the real one. un-
derstood by either others OF himself to have
hurt his relatives. This fairy currency of tn
Celts has nothing solid, nothing sterling, for the
grasp which DR.. Knox describes as "spatular
fingered" The Italians are more sensitive TO
ths social influence, though only to the narrow
sphere OF family society. Thus 'Iago," who has
shm respect for virtue or for women, is made
py ohskespeare to resent dercelY the ln6deIity OF
MS W1s, But the great British poet made "A
in Ainnr fI,,a