The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch

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Title: The Sonnets, Triumphs, and Other Poems of Petrarch
Author: Petrarch
Editor: Thomas Campbell
Release Date: January 31, 2006 [EBook #17650]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SONNETS, TRIUMPHS, AND ***
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[Illustration: PETRARCH.]
THE SONNETS, TRIUMPHS,
AND OTHER POEMS
OF
PETRARCH.
NOW FIRST COMPLETELY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH
VERSE

BY VARIOUS HANDS.
WITH A LIFE OF THE POET
BY THOMAS CAMPBELL.
ILLUSTRATED WITH SIXTEEN ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET,

COVENT GARDEN.
1879.
[Reprinted from Stereotype plates.]
PREFACE.
The present translation of Petrarch completes the Illustrated Library
series of the Italian Poets emphatically distinguished as "I Quattro Poeti
Italiani."
It is rather a singular fact that, while the other three Poets of this
world-famed series--Dante, Ariosto, and Tasso--have each found
several translators, no complete version of the fourth, and in Italy the
most popular, has hitherto been presented to the English reader. This
lacune becomes the more remarkable when we consider the great
influence which Petrarch has undoubtedly exercised on our poetry from
the time of Chaucer downwards.
The plan of the present volume has been to select from all the known
versions those most distinguished for fidelity and rhythm. Of the more
favourite poems, as many as three or four are occasionally given; while
of others, and those by no means few, it has been difficult to find even
one. Indeed, many must have remained entirely unrepresented but for
the spirited efforts of Major Macgregor, who has recently translated
nearly the whole, and that with great closeness both as to matter and
form. To this gentleman we have to return our especial thanks for his
liberal permission to make free use of his labours.
Among the translators will be found Chaucer, Spenser, Sir Thomas
Wyatt, Anna Hume, Sir John Harington, Basil Kennett, Anne
Bannerman, Drummond of Hawthornden, R. Molesworth, Hugh Boyd,

Lord Woodhouselee, the Rev. Francis Wrangham, the Rev. Dr. Nott,
Dr. Morehead, Lady Dacre, Lord Charlemont, Capel Lofft, John Penn,
Charlotte Smith, Mrs. Wrottesley, Miss Wollaston, J.H. Merivale, the
Rev. W. Shepherd, and Leigh Hunt, besides many anonymous.
The order of arrangement is that adopted by Marsand and other recent
editors; but to prevent any difficulty in identification, the Italian first
lines have been given throughout, and repeated in an alphabetical
index.
The Life of Petrarch prefixed is a condensation of the poet Campbell's
two octavo volumes, and includes all the material part of that work.
York Street, Covent Garden,
June 28, 1869.
LIST OF PLATES.
PAGE
0. PORTRAIT OF PETRARCH to face title.
0. VIEW OF NAPLES xliv
0. VIEW OF NICE li
0. COAST OF GENOA lxvi
0. BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE lxxviii
0. VICENZA lxxxiii
0. MILAN CATHEDRAL cvi
0. LIBRARY OF ST. MARK'S, VENICE cxv
0. FERRARA. THE OLD DUCAL PALACE cxxiii
0. PORTRAIT OF LAURA 1
0. VIEW OF ROME--ST. PETER'S IN THE DISTANCE 66
0. SOLITUDES OF VAUCLUSE (where Petrarch wrote most of his
Sonnets) 105
0. GENOA AND THE APENNINES 124
0. AVIGNON (where Laura resided) 189
0. SELVA PIANA (where Petrarch received the news of Laura's death)
232
0. PETRARCH'S HOUSE AT ARQUA (where he wrote his Triumphs)
322

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF PETRARCH'S LIFE.
A.D. PAGE
1304. Born at Arezzo, the 20th of July. ix
1305. Is taken to Incisa at the age of seven months, where
he remains seven years. x
1312. Is removed to Pisa, where he remains seven months. x
1313. Accompanies his parents to Avignon. xi
1315. Goes to live at Carpentras. xi
1319. Is sent to Montpelier. xi
1323. Is removed to Bologna. xii
1326. Returns to Avignon--loses his parents--contracts a
friendship with James Colonna. xiii
1327. Falls in love with Laura. xvii
1330. Goes to Lombes with James Colonna--forms acquaintance
with Socrates and Lælius--and returns to Avignon to live in the house
of Cardinal Colonna. xviii
1331. Travels to Paris--travels through Flanders and Brabant,
and visits a part of Germany. xxiv
1333. His first journey to Rome--his long navigation as
far as the coast of England--his return to Avignon. xxxiii
1337. Birth of his son John--he retires to Vaucluse. xxxv

1339. Commences writing his epic poem, "Africa." xxxviii
1340. Receives an invitation from Rome to come and be
crowned as Laureate--and another invitation, to
the same effect, from
Paris. xlii
1341. Goes to Naples, and thence to Rome, where