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PETRARCH.

PART I.

POEMS DURING THE LIFE OF LAURA.

SONNET.

TWAS that dim day* the Sun's relenting rays,
In pity of a God, their splendour veil'd,
When with firm chains all unaware assail'd,
Thy glances bound me, too intent to gaze.
No risk I dreaded from the treacherous ways

The day is recorded as being April 6th, 1327. This concetto is imitated at the opening of Milton's fine ode on Christmas day, and by no means rendered less of a concetto.

Of Love, bright fair, and arms that oft prevail'd,
Till, unsuspecting victim, I bewail'd,

Too late, the common doom, with vain amaze.
Love found me a disarm'd and helpless foe,
Swift at my heart directing, through these eyes,
The shaft, that opes their sluices sad for life.
Nor was it valiant, sure, by mean surprise
My feeble and unguarded power to o'erthrow,
Yet from thy front retire, prepared for strife.

SONNET

TO STEPHEN COLONNA THE ELDER.

O GLORIOUS Column,* by whose strength are

stay'd

Our ardent hopes, and Latium's name divine; That from thy path, and Conduct's certain line, Jove's rage ne'er daunted, nor his storms dismay'd;

Alluding to the Italian word Colonna.

No palace, theatre or porch's shade,*

But in their stead, a fir, a beech, a pine,

O'er the green turf, and heights, whose charms

adjoin,

And mounting, or descending, poets aid,

From earth to heaven here lift the ravish'd mind:

And the sweet nightingale, in thickest grove
That pours each eve her ditty, and complains,
O'ercomes the heart with thoughts of saddest love.
Only Joy's measure is by thee confined,
My friend, whom envious Destiny detains.

Petrarch, when this nobleman was at Avignon, had eagerly made inquiries of him, to which this alludes, concerning the remains of ancient magnificence at Rome, which his patriotism made so interesting to him.

SONNET*

ON PLANTING A LAUREL, NEAR A RIVULET,

IN HONOUR OF LAURA, IN A SPOT WHICH

SHE FREQUENTED.

IF yet thou glow'st, Apollo, with that fire
Which once in Thessaly thy breast inflamed,
And, for the bright-hair'd beauty's charms so famed,
Hast not, at length, forgotten thy desire;
From the cold frosts, and wint'ry winds, whose ire
Is, when thou hidest thy majesty, proclaim'd,
Protect the sacred plant, with reverence named,
By which I too, ensnared, to love aspire.
And, for that amorous hope which sooth'd of old
Thy pain, and made thy life less sadly pass,

The resemblance, in their names, of the laurel tree and his mistress, had so struck the imagination of Petrarch, that, in his poems, Daphne, Laura, and the laurel, become synonymous terms.

From this unhealthy moisture purge the air.
Soon with what wonder shall we both behold
Her circling arms, extended o'er the grass,
And gaily shading our much-honour'd fair!

BALLAD.

I SEE the obtrusive veil (be it confess'd!)
Alike in sunshine and in shade,

Obdurate fair one, carefully display'd,

Prove, thou well know'st, the secrets of my breast. Ere yet the oppressive passion was reveal'd,

That daily dooms me to Affliction's load,

Relenting Pity soften'd in thy look;

But, when thy power my agitation shew'd
Those locks admired were suddenly conceal'd,

And glances interrupted from me took
Relief, whose absence I can badly brook,
Thus am I govern'd by a veil,

That from me, whether cold or heat assail,

Hides the bright eyes that have so often bless'd.

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