DANTE-PETRARCH FRANCESCO. 15 hosts of them are to be found in his hell. He distributes rewards and punishments as the fruits of virtue and vice. His standard is that of his times; elevated, however, by his personal genius and character to a level far above it. PETRARCH (OR PETRARCA) FRANCESCO- Petrarch, born of Florentine parents, at Arezzo, is regarded as the scholarly ornament of the fourteenth century. He was intended by his father for the legal profession, to which, however, he had no tendency. He said, "I could not deprave my mind by such a system of chicanery as the present forms of law exhibit." He devoted himself to the study of the classics and practical philosophy. Cicero and Virgil were his delight. In 1326, after his father's death, he became an ecclesiastic. He did his utmost to induce Clement VI. to endeavour to unite the Guelphs and Ghibelines. He cultivated poetry not less than philosophy and history. When young, he sang the charms of his idol, the beautiful Laura; when old, he blushed at verses that acquired for him the reputation of prince of love poets. Many of his poems are still regarded as the most perfect masterpieces of lyric poetry. His learning, his handsome appearance, his thorough goodness of heart and affable manners, made him universally respected and beloved. He was neither an iconoclast nor a devotee. He said, "I love truth, and not sects. I am sometimes a peripatetic, a stoic, or an academician, and often none of them, but always a christian. To philosophize is to love wisdom; and the true wisdom is Jesus Christ. Let us read the historians, the poets, the philosophers, but let us have in our hearts the gospel of Jesus Christ, in which alone is perfect wisdom and perfect happiness." The invitation sent by him from his retreat in the country to one of his friends shows the sentiments and character of the man; and when read between the lines gives an excellent picture of the times.-"Here is no tyrant to intimidate, no proud citizen to insult, no wicked tongue to calumniate, neither quarrels, clamours, law-suits, nor the din of war. We are strangers to avarice, ambition, and envy; and have no great lord to whom court must be paid. Everything breathes joy, freedom, and simplicity. Our lot is neither that of poverty nor riches, but a sweet, modest, and sober rusticity. The inhabitants are innocent, tractable, and unacquainted with arms. Our chief is good, affable, and a lover of honest folk. The air is healthy, the winds soft, the country open, the springs pure, and the river full of fish. We have shady woods, cool grottos, green enamelled pastures, and hills sacred to Bacchus and Minerva. As to what respects the mere body, no one takes less trouble about it than myself. But I can tell you in one word, that everything that liveth upon the earth, or that moveth in the waters, is here as in a terrestrial Paradise, to speak in the language of the divines; or as in the fields of Elysium, to speak in that of the poets. A voluptuary in search of the greatest dainties could be easily accommodated in this neighbourhood." As a restorer of ancient literature he ranks among the foremost. BOCCACCIO GIOVANNI-1313-1375. Boccaccio, the illegitimate son of a Florentine merchant whose family originally came from Certaldo, a village in Tuscany, and by reason of which he gave himself the appellation da Certaldo, was intended by his father for commerce. The paternal efforts to fit him for business proved abortive. When a mere child Boccaccio discovered a decided fondness for poetry. When a young man, instead of attend ing to his commercial pursuits, he associated himself with several learned men of Florence who had been drawn to Naples, where he then was, by King Robert, a great patron of the arts. One of those learned men was Petrarch. Among his other acquaintances was a natural daughter of the King, who, charmed with his lively and cheerful disposition, his soft and pleasing address, became enamoured of him. For her gratification he composed many pieces, both in prose and verse, in which he often pays homage to her under the name of Fiammetta. After a residence of two years with his father at Florence, he returned to Naples, where he was graciously received by Queen Joanna. It is thought that it was no less to gratify the young queen than his Fiammetta that he wrote his Decameron, which raised him to the rank of the first Italian prose writer. His Decameron contains a collection of a hundred tales, partly borrowed from the Provençal poets. In this book he painted, as it were, on one vast canvas, men of all ranks, character, and ages, together with incidents of every kind, the most extravagant and comical, as well as the most touching and tragic. This book raised the Italian language to a degree of excellence never before attained. He wrote the life of Dante, several historical works in Latin, the first modern work which, in a collected form, presents the mythology scattered throughout the writings of the ancients, and numerous minor works. At his own expense he brought Leontius Pilatus, a learned Greek of Thessalonica, from Venice to Florence, and maintained him in his house for three years to instruct him in Greek, in which he became well versed. With his assistance he translated Homer into Latin. Boccaccio was the first to introduce copies of the Iliad and Odyssey from Greece into modern Italy. He used all his influence to induce his con temporaries to learn Greek, and to substitute the study of the ancients for that of the scholastic philosophy. The reputation he attained was such as twice to procure his being sent on B important missions to Pope Urban V., and to secure for him the flattering office of first of the professors appointed by the Florentines to do honour to the memory of the Dante their fathers had persecuted, and whose poems, by reason of the changes in the language, were rapidly becoming more and more obscure. He survived Petrarch, his mentor and the dearest of his friends, but little more than a year. He died at Certaldo, where he had a small estate, December 21, 1375. WICKLIFFE, WICLEF, OR DE WYCLIFFE, JOHN— 1324-1384. Wickliffe, often called the "Morning Star of the Reformation," was born about the year 1324, in the parish of Wycliffe, in Yorkshire, whence he derived his name. He studied at Oxford, first at Queen's College, and afterwards at Merton. He was appointed Master of Balliol College in 1361, took his degree of D.D. in 1372, and in 1374 the king gave him the valuable rectory of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. had various other appointments. He His first attack upon the authority of the Pope was made in 1356, in his treatise entitled "The last age of the Church.” When Edward III. and his parliament resolved to discontinue the homage and tribute exacted by the Pope from King John, and a monk came forward as the advocate of the Church, Wickliffe wrote a reply that secured to him the royal favour and the patronage of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. In his writings he charged the Pope with simony, covetousness, ambition, and tyranny, and styled him anti-Christ. He was denounced as a heretic at the instance of Gregory XI. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London cited him to appear at St. Paul's. He went, accompanied and supported by the Duke of Lancaster, the Earl Marshal, and a numerous concourse of people. An altercation took place between the nobles and the bishops; the meeting was dis solved amidst a general tumult. He was then summoned to Lambeth Palace. He went, the populace flocked in crowds to protect him; he was dismissed without judgment being passed upon him. Edward III. died, as did also Gregory VII. During the struggle between Urban VI. and Clement VII., Wickliffe further attacked the pretension of the Church, and advanced some peculiar notions respecting the Eucharist. On this occasion, not being supported by John of Gaunt, he made a confession of error. He was condemned by the synod for: (1) Deviation from the orthodox language respecting the presence of Christ in the sacrament of the altar; (2) for teaching that a pope, bishop, or priest, who is in a state of mortal sin, has no authority over the faithful; (3) for asserting that scripture prohibits ecclesiastics from holding temporal possessions; and (4) for teaching that where contrition is sincere, confession to a priest is useless. Notwithstanding, he was allowed to retire unmolested to his rectory at Lutterworth, where he continued his preaching, studies, and writing, till he was ultimately struck down by palsy. His learning was great, his industry greater. He was a bold and original speculator both in religion and politics. He translated both the Old and the New Testament. Of his numerous writings a portion only have been printed. His manuscripts are to be found in the libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Dublin, the British Museum, and Lambeth Palace. CHAUCER, GEOFFREY-1328-1400. Chaucer was born in London. He studied both at Cambridge and Oxford. When at Cambridge and in his eighteenth "Court of Love," the oldest poem in EngHe studied law, was disgusted with it, and became Yeoman to Edward III., with whom he was soon in year, he wrote his lish now extant. |