The New York Herald Newspaper, August 7, 1874, Page 3

" | } i % 4 | ; a ‘} ‘ a | 3 4 | 1 yen A Herald Commissioner’s Views of the Land of Snow. THE ORIGINAL REPUBLIC OF THE NORTH, What a Woman’s Whim Brought Around | a Thousand Years Ago. DESCRIPTION OF THE ARCTIC ISLAND « How the Descendants of the Vikings Have Become Degenerated, ‘A PEEP INTO NORSE HISTORY. ABERDEEN, Scotland, July 21, 1874. On my arrival in London I decided upon char- .* tering a vessel especially for the trip to the mil- aennial celebration of the Icelandic Republic, and I found placed at my disposal by Mr. Aitken, Manager of the London ana Kdinburgh Steamehip Company, the fine, stanch steamer Albion, of 300 tons register, Oaptain Abraham Howling, master, ‘an act of courtesy which was duly acknowledged by the HERALD commissioner. There were many people in the British capital at the time eager to join in the Icelandic celebration, and when it be- came known that I had a steamer ready to start for the land of snow, applications for passage poured fn thick and fast. Mr. Cyrus W. Field, who ‘ will represent the New York Chamber of Com- Merce on the occasion, ana myself selected the following gentlemen from the host of candidates:— Hon. W. Gladstone, M. P. (son of the ex-Premier) ; Mr. Bayard Taylor, Mr. Murat Halstead, Dr, 8, Kneeland, of the Boston Institute of Technology; Mr. Lawrence Hutton, Mr. T. G, Appleton, of Bos- ‘ton; Mr. H. G. Haliburton and Eirikr Magnusson, an Icelander of efniment talents, now Assistant Librarian at the Cambriage University Library and ‘ranslator of severat Icelandic songs. ‘The number of persons seeking information and desiring passage passes all reasonable belief. As , Boon as it became rumored that the HERALD com- missioner had such a scheme in contemplation, Jetters poured in from all quarters. No doubt many were influenced by the HERALD’s well known Uberality, and others might perhaps have thought that Mr. Field was overfowing with pounds, shillings and pence; but at the least calculation Qity applications were made to accompany the expedition “In any capacity.” One was practised in climbing mountains, another in scaling glaciers and another had descended into the craters of | ny number of volcanoes. No one presented | himself who had been shot up to the moon after the fashion of Poe’s wonderful nor did there come an appiicant from any friend of Jules Verne who had gone tar Jokull, Buta number did come who wanted fo be paid for their invaluable services, and a ‘umber more who would regard their services as | an equivalent for bed and board, One applicant mast have been all ready provided with a stuffed eagle, for he spread himself largely on the Icelan- v | ‘fic republic, and offered promptly to write or, if needs be, deliver a speech off hand to the Iceland- ra in any known tongue with which he was familiar on the superior glories of republican insti- | tations. It is possible one or two members of our party May fali at the last moment; but here we are to fendezvous, and we sail hence for the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, to-morrow afternoon. Nearly pil are here already, and the balance of the party gre expected in the morning. Edinburgh yesterday at eight o'clock P. M., and arrived here in ten hours, arate of speed which speaks well for her qualities. It is likely that we will make short halts at the Orkney, Shetland and Faroe islands on the way, and will reach the capt- ‘tal about the 28th, the distance not being apove | 00 miles. THE KING OF DENMARK, CHRISTIAN IX., 4s to open the millennial ceremonies in person by, in a formal manner, granting @ new constitution | wo the island, August 1. The Danish government je very reticent on the proposed constitution, but Jam given to understand that practically it frees the Kcelanders from the Danish supremacy and gives them absolute control over their own affairs as they had in the beginning. A WOMAN'S WHIM LEADS TO A REPUBLIC. Iceland was originally a iree republic, having een founded by those unhappy subjects of Harold Haarlager (the tair haired), King of Norway, who in the year 872 consolidated his kingdom, an event which was duly celebrated with great solemnitics ‘two years ago. This, like the Iceland celebration of the present year, was calied the thousandth anniversary, but what a difference! A more de- termined tyrant than Haroid never lived. Yet at the bottom of everything good or evil In this world there is usually tound a wo- an. Good we must believe it to be more com- ‘monly than evil, of course, but exactly how it ‘workea in this particular case we can hardly say, for the tyranny of Harold begot the Republic of ’ Aceland, gave nim a queen, and gave the Norwe- | gians in 1872 achance to celebrate their millen- pial (though why they should glorify the event, wince they have become subject to Sweden, one ean hardly see). The case was a simple one. This fair-haired Harold, whom every woman loved for . that very hair and his well known valor, and who loved only one of them and this one he desired to “make his quéen, took a moat wise course in his fove-making, if not m hts kingeraft. Being re- minded by this proud object of his idolatry that he was not @ king in fact, but only the chief of a momber of small kings or jaris, and that if sbe ‘wedded at all she would wed :nothing less than a ‘whole King, he vowed that he would NEVER ALLOW HI8 HAIR TO BE CUT ‘muti! there was no part of a king wanting to » him. And he kept his word, for he conquered every little king or jarl who set bimself up to say hhe had any rights of his own, and, having won | ‘the famous battle of Hafens Fiord, he at once cut of his tair hair, married his wife, and drove num- ‘Ders of the best people of Norway to seek refuge ‘gn some place “where men had nothing to tear | trom the oppression of kings and tyrants.” This Place was Iceland. The poor conquered jaris,* ‘with their followers, fied to the sea, and, embark- ing tm their undecked boats, songht the rocky isiand which they bad never seen, but of which they nad al!’ heard. Forit bad been familiar to the Northmen of that period many years. THE NORSE PIRATES. A wonderful people were those old Northmen, ‘They went everywhere, All the ships of all their fleets might have been stowed away in the Great Kastern, but they swarmed over the ocean, which ‘they playfully termed “The Pirate’s Field,” like bees in & clover field. They cruised about with their little boats in the Baltic, among the islands of Denmark and Sweden, and throngh the narrow fords of Norway, and won the title of Vikings, or men of the inlets and secret places. A Sea-king ‘Was a very different thing from a Viking, for while @ Sea-King was a king in’ reality, a Viking was nothing but a pirate, the one taking his name from his Janded right and Tule, the others trom the vicks where they bid themselves, As we all know, the Vikings, with Sea-kings oiten at pheir head, stole out into the sea.and sailed far wide, They founded on the vanks.ot the Seine the Duketom of Normandy and made a fool of the hero, | The vessel left | moor King of Franea They hothered everyvody NEW YORK HERALD, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1874.~WITH SUPPLEMENT. along tne shores of the Mediterranean until they had planted themselves back again whence they had been driven by Pompey the Great on the bor- ders of the Black Sea. ‘The unready Ethelred had them always buzzing about him, and THEY WERE EV8R CRUISING ABOUT in the seas which wast the shores of England, Scotland, Ireland, the Hecrides, the Orkneys, the Shetiands, and finally the Faroe Islands, from which, still im search of plonder, it was an easy matter to pull away to the westward for a couple of daysin search of further adventures, and dis- covered what we now call Iceland. They found, however, nothing there but some books and bells and croziers which had been left there by ® band of Irish-monks, who had gone there no doubt to do penance, and who at once, when they saw the Northmen, took themselves off as fast as possible, either to America, as some | people suppose, or home again to Ireland, as 1s quite as likely, upon discovering themselves still within reach of the merciless pirates, who re- spected no more a Christian priest than a French king. Exactly who was the first of the Norse pirates to discover Iceland historians are not agreed, nor does It much matter whether they ever do or not, any more than it Matters whether Wellington said “Up, guards, and at them!” or whether Columbus was the first, last and only discoverer of America, It is enough for those who are not historians to re- member that the English won Waterloo and that Spanish enterprise opened a New World, and in like manner it is sufficient for us to know, as ® mere curiosity of history, that sometime in the ninth century the Northmen got to Iceland; that in 983 they got to Greenland, and that in 1001 they gathered grapes on the mainland of what has by a singular treak of fortune come to be called America, These old sea rovers called it Vineland, because they found grapes and made wine and grew merry there; and but for the savages they found they might have founded Boston and calied it Skraellingsbolm, ICELAND A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, If, however, there may be doubt as to who was the first Northman who discovered Iceland, there can be no doubt that one Gardar landed there in A. D., 860, He sailed all the way around it, and having gone home and told wonderful stories about it, the island came to be known as Gardarsholm, jost as by the stories told by one Ameri- cus Vespucius of a land he had seen, which caused the people to talk of bim more even than of Columbus, who was mot a story teller at all, and from talking about this wonderful land of Americus they got 1¢ finally converted into America, Aster Gardar came Fioki, who named it Snowland, and then the flood of unhappy, homeless, houseless Norwegians, who, fleeing from the wrath of their triumphant king, came to seek on this volcanic island of the Arctio Sea a peaceful home. Is it surprising that they should at once have founded a Republic? It-wasa most natural result of the ateady, hard fight they nad made for their independence. We cannot too much admire the spirit by which they were ani- mated, They were equals in misfortune, how Much soever they may before have differed in rank. They formed a community at and in the neighborhood of the present capital, Reykjavik, and at once proceeded to form for themselves @ system of government, This was in 874; on the 2a day of August, according to some accounts; on the 5th, according to others; just one thousand years ago. It is this event which is to ne cele- brated, in the presence, as they say, of the King of Denmark and the people who may gather there, not alone from the various districts of the island, but from Europe and America, FREE INSTITUTIONS AMONG THE ICEBERGS, Although Iceland has long ago ceased to be an | actual Republic, sue has preserved the forms of re- down into the bowels of the earth through Skap- | publican government as in the beginning. For | upwards of three centuries she preserved these forms inviolate. There was an annual meeting of the people; the popular selection of a representa- tive council, or Althing; the selection from their number of a chief ruler, or rather adviser, of the law, called Lagmann, or law man, as we might say, and the enactment of such decrees as might seem needful forthe time. The session of the Althing lasted about one week, and took place on the great lava plain of Thingvalla. In course of time, mainly owing to the negligence of the people in looking after their liberties—an event certain to happen in republics of long stand- ing—the King of Norway, in the tbirteeath cen- tury, assumed @ certain control of Iceland ad- ministration. province of Norway, and when the crowns of Nor- way and Denmark became at length united by the marriage of the representative branches of the two rival houses, and Norway became to Denmark | what Scotland subsequently became to England, Iceland became a Danisn province; and although Norway has since, through war, become merged with Sweden, the island remains still a part of Denmark, and in some measure, governed by laws general and local, subject to the Danish crown. The island has been and etill is a possession of no inconsiderable value. Its trade is quite lively jn summer. The waters which surround it abound tn codfish, the lakes and rivers in salmon, which are caught and cured. Enormous quantities of wool are exported, amounting some years to a million and @ half of pounds. The eider down of commerce principally comes from there; and, latterly, large quantities of sulphur have been ex- ported, and at the capital many trades and indus- tries have been introduced which are likely to prove profitable to the people. An Island Cut up by Inlets—A Nest of Volcanoes and a Population of Royal | Descent—Learning and Talent in a Desert Waste—The Cross Vanquishes the Hammer of Thor—The King and His One Policeman and the Self-Sacri- | ficing Patriot—A People Attached to | Fatherland. ABERDEEN, Scotland, July 22, 1874, The island of Iceland Iles between latitude 63 deg. 25 min. atid 66 deg. 30 min. north, and no Part of it is, therefore, more than two miles beyond the Arctic circle. West of Greenwich it stretches from longitude 13 deg. 38 min. to 24 deg. 40 min.; | or, to simply convert degrees and minutes into English statute miles, it is, from its extreme east to its extreme west point, 306 miles long, while from north to south it 18 188 miles broad. It 1s, however, the most irregular of all islands. Its deep, narrow inlets, or fiords, cut it up into a se- ries of peninsulas, and, notwithstanding that its length and breadth are greater than Ireland, its actual area scarcely exceeds 30,000 square miles: At one point itis only four miles and a half wide, Physically considered, it is one of the most re- markable islands in the worid. It 1s nothing but @ nest of volcanoes. It has no strati- fled rock of any kind, and is a simple mass of once molten matter that had bubbled up out of the sea, and after cooling off had taken on an Arctic snow cap as if for protection, Nothing can possibly exceed the rugged grandeur of its scenery. The clefts in the enormons beds of once fluid lava are of the most picturesque and startling description. Its rivers are formed from the melting: snows of the moun- tains and are very numerous and beautiful. Their waterlalls seem to keep the air inone continuous hum of dashing spray. The whole interior is but one vast desert waste, for the most part so ele- vated above the sea that the snows never melt. Surrounding this desert, where volcanic fires from. time to time burst forth in the midst of boundless frost, there is a belt of land overlooking the sea on which grows in places @ vegetation of consider- able luxuriance. Formerly there were other trees, bat the climate has grown colder and the trees have diminished into mere bushes. Flower- ing plants are, however, abundant, and there ig Plenty of grassfor herds of cattle and focks ot sheep, and A POPULATION OF FROM SIXTY TO SEVENTY THOU- SAND find a comfortable subsistence, partly from their pastoral life, partly trom fishing, which, especially on the north side of the island, is abundant and profitable. As for the interior parts o1 the island, there have been there eighty-six volcanic erup- tions—some of them the most wonderfal known in any part of the world—since the island was first inhabited. Of these twenty-six have been from Hecla, which is at al) times crossed by fissures Soon afterward Iceland became a | from which stone and sulphurous vapors are emitted. The last eruption of Hecla was in 1845-46, The most destructive of all was that of Skaptar 4okull, in 1793, when not only vast streams of lava desolated the adjacent country, but whole farms Were buried in ashes, clouds of which were wafted by the winds a far away as the Shetland Islands, It seems surprising that such an island snould be peopled; but the truth is, the inhabitants Seem fond of their honors, and cannot be persuaded to quit them. The last proof of this is found in the fact that very few of them emigrate to other countries, The isiand itself has a peculiarly in- teresting history in connection with the achieve- ments of the old Nortnmen who found them a refuge from the tyranny of Harold Haarfager, King of Norway, who, having conquered the minor kings, or Jaris, of Norway, forced them tnto banisn- ment or submission, the former of which alter- natives many of them accepted, preferring freedom in an island bristling with volcanoes to their Dative homes with tyranny and oppression. The first settlers in iceland were, therefore, the best people in all Norseland. Many of them were actual kings. Abandoning their warlike habits they became peaceiul and cultivated learning. In time they became the most learned people of the north of Europe, and the distinction they then acquired has not yet been lost, although the people have clearly degenerated. Instead of the vigorous, hard-headed, hard-fisted sons of Vikings and Sea-kings that they were in olden times, they are now rather @ puny, indolent race, without think- ing much of improvement or of energy. They have, indeed, become diminutive in stature and dwaried 1n intellect since the days of Eric with the Red Hand, who discovered Greenland, and of Snorro, who wrote the Edda, THEY CARE LITTLE FOR LUXURIES, since they seek for nothing beyond what nature Yields. “Having food and raiment, let us be there- with content.” Yet, for all their peaceful disposi- tion, they once had @ religious war. Their repub- lican government was founded in 874, under the old religion of Odin, who tanght that “to ride a horse and cast @ spear and bend a bow” was the chief end and aim of man. Christianity was intro- duced, and the cross: took the place of the gods Thor and Odin in the year 1900, but there was no particular hostility manifested until the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth ‘century. Then, a8 .was the custom elsewhere, Cath- olics and Protestants killed each other promiscuously and in all possible ways. The Pro- testants in the end triumphed, and the prevailing Teligion has since that been the State religion of Denmark. Even now the Catholic mission at Reykjavik does not flourish, because places of public worship are prohibited unless they are of the estabiished religion. FREEDOM ONCE MORE, It was in 1261 that the sovereignty of the repub- Nc was passed over to Hakon, then King of Nor- way. It was done through Marbury, and never since has Iceland been entirely free until now, when King Christian IX. gives the people a free constitution, The Norwegian crown being an- nexed to that of Denmark by the Calmor union, Ice- land became Danish and was much fleeced by the Crown up to 1776, ‘fhe trade with English mer- chants was, however, during parts of this period quite extensive. They brought clothing and bread and took away dried fish. In later days the island has not been without certain political convulsions. A pirate named Gtpin stole all their money in 1898, and one Jorgensen set up a rebellion there against the established authority of the King and his one policeman, captured the island, issued proclamations, and did not desist in his rebellious purposes until a British man-ol-war came and carried him off. He figures largely in modern Icelandic history as a patriot of tue first water. He would free Iceland of the Danish Crown and proclaim himself Protector of Iceland and Com- mander-in-chief by sea and land, even assuming the power to “make wars and conclude peace with foreign potentates” until a fair constitution ‘was establisned by the people. Fortunately, per- haps, for this same people, this self-sacrificing dictator (dictators are usually of that complexion) did not succeed in his designs, for now they would have a free conatitution without any fighting and without any dictator. Now already tney have free trade, which is working as well as 1t ought to do, and if they are not growing absolutely rich under its operation they are at least happy and envy nobody else. Ihave seen no Icelander who ever cared to leave his own country, nor one who having left it did not wish as soon as possibie to go back. Celebration of Iceland’s Millennial in Ithaca, N. Y. Irwaca, August 6, 1874. Iceland’s millennial was celebrated here last | evening at the residence of Professor D. W. Fiske, | on University Hill. At eight o’clock the national | airs of Iceland and America were played upon the untversity chimes, followed by other tunes appropriate to the occasion, among them “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains,” &c, Some re- marks on the history of Iceland were then made by Professor Fiske, and the evening closed with a fine display of fireworks. | Among those present were the families of Presi- | dent White and several professors and a number of distinguished strangers from abroad. CREEDMOOR. The First Battalion, N. G., at the Butts Yesterday. The First battalion, Third brigade, First division, of the National Guard State New York, Colonel Webster commanding, proceeded yesterday to Creedmoor for rifle practice. Alter burning the regulation number of rounds— five scoring and two sighting shote—and taking a short interval of rest, the men who had qualified went back to the 500 yards range to finish the day’s | practice, There were 130 oMcers, non-commis- stoned officers and rank and file before the targets, of whom twenty-six went back to the second range. | The statement given beiow shows the distribution | Of the men among the several companies that were present:— ae’ Field and staff Farts, Company A. Company B. Company O. Company Company | Company Ht TOtals..eveess.ssseeees . The aggregate scores of the tweive best shots sum up to 251 points. AS the day was a very fine one forshvooting perhaps the regimental score ought to have been somewhat higher, but it must | be recollected that only 130 men were out. There are many 01d soldiers in ihe battalion, and One brave officer the glory of displaying an armless sleeve to attest his presence on the ficid of honor in defence of the Union, SCORE OF THE FIRST BATTALION. “y Ranges, Bl omwuwec: Names, Yards. Scores, Total, Private Zettler, Co, H....... fe PPPS Shs | Private Sackett, Co. G...... $533 Sls Captain Ostman, Co. B isi ils Private Gearan, Co. @. $08 4 le Private Shaofen, Co. B...... 3033 Cle Private Scott, Co. A. Heit) Sergeant Toeiiner, . 3 o scus}2t Captain Spencer, Co, A..... fat Sergeant Smith, Oo, H...... 19 Sergeant Humteman, Co. A. {5 19 Drummer Austin, Co. H.,.. B Private Peiter, Co. B.......+ 18 Sorgeant Perrel, Co. A..... " Captain McShane, Co. B.... 17 Drum Major Goodrich, QecwcunmmcoecccenmouoNeESuohNuecuc euuSiistSmtetsS tm nets eecetoe” BSBSSESEESERSESSEUSESSEECEDEEESEESEREREEEEELECEEELER PEPER EreTer LT LT CVEVULPEETECUIVELrerenery { j } i i j j Fifer Quinn, Go, A... { 16 Private B. Zetaler, Co. H.... }16 , Private MeConnin, Co. A. {16 Private Everson, Oo. A...... $15 Private Brush, Co. B.. {15 Private Reuhland, Co. C. fis Sergeant Hoffman, Co. H... {1s Sergeant Kelly, Co. @ {1s Private Clemens, Co. © $13 Caprain Walton, Co. G fia Private Worth, Co A jn |_Rrlvate Pletsch, Co. 0 {u THE POET PETRARG Celebration of the Five Hundredth Anni- versary of His Death. THE CITY OF THE POPES. Memorable and _ Festive Scenes at Avignon. THE BEAUTIFUL LAURA OF NOVES. AVIGNON, July 24, 1874. For three days the ancient city of Avignon has been in full holiday trim, celebrating the five hun- dreth anniversary of the poet Petrarch’s death. It seemsa queer thing that people should take an occasion for soiemnly rejoicing on the day when &@ much admircd man died, but then, pernaps, half the merry makers are ignorant that Petrarch is dead, while the other half have but a contused idea as to whether he existed and when. The fact is the five hundredth anniversary of Petrarch’s virth fell in 1804, and @ great fegtival was held in that year, but the delicate state of political relations between France and Italy lately suggested to the prudent mind of Duke Decazes that a feast bring- ing Italians and Frenchmen together might do good at this juncture, and hence the present com- memoration whichI have come to AVIGNON to witness. The old city of the Popes ts one worth visiting by Americans, for it affords them a aight not to be found in their own country, viz., @ town which centuries ago possessed over 80,000 in- habitants, but now ts reduced to 36,000. There are plenty of cities in America which have risen in less than half a century from 0 inhabitants to 60,000 and more; but one must come to old Europe to see towns which sink from first class rank to second and {rom second to third, like business men in difficulties or old ladies who have lost their ad- mirerg. Avignon has fallen from.the same grand estate as Venice, Pisa, Genoa, Ghent and York, cities which our forefathers reverenced and whose names glowed generation after generation in the pages of nistory. It 18 still a handsome town, Seated on an emimence on tho left bank of the Rhone and surrounded by lofty wails bristling with machicolated battlements and watch towers, ‘These walls were built by Pope Clement VI., for, as above sald, Avignon was for sixty-five years THE RESIDENCE OF THE POPES, It was Clement V., a Frenchman, who, in 1805, transported the Papal See from Rome to Avignon, being impelled so to do by the troubled condition of the Pontifical States, the inhabitants whereof impolhtely and firmly refused to pay taxes, Clem- ent had no absolute right to appropriate Avignon, but he based his claim on a deed of sale made by Joanna of Naples, who stipulated in exchange for 80,000 crowns of gold. Considering that Princess Joanna was but eleven years old when abe was moved to sign this imstrament, any modern tribu- nal of justice would have looked on the same with the eye of mistrust, and the more so as the Papal | Court, after giving the matter much pious thought, resolved to keep the city without paying the 80,000 | crowns of gold. This sum 1s owing to this aay with compound interest, and I have my fears that it will never be reim- bursed. However, the Popes lived fatly and serenely in the city which they had cleverly acquired and we may ali write down in our note books that to Clement V. succeeded John XXIL, 1316-84; Benedict XII., 1334-42; Clement VI., 1342-52; Innocent VI., 1352-62; Urban V., 1362-70; and Gregory XI, Curing whose reign the See was restored to Rome andthe “Babylonish captivity” of the Papacy brought happily to an end, After this, | however, three self-called Popes, Clement VII., Benedict XIIL and Clement VIII. held court in Avignon from 1378 to 1424, put the faithfal regard these as spurious Pontiffs, after the manner “of Simon Magus and Dositheus the Samaritan. At the death of the pseudo Clement VIII., the schism terminated and Avignon became the second city of the Papacy. It was seized during a few months by Louis XIV, in revenge for an insult offered to his ambassador at Rome, and Louis XV. occupiea it tem years ior & similar reason; but it was not finally annexed to France till 1701. All these items are good | to lay down a8 @ preface; and now one can add that to poets, writers and all enthusiasts of that grain Avignon derives less lustre from having | been the home of the Popes than from the fact that Petrarch resided during most of his life in its neighbornood. But who was vetrarch, and what | magic is there in the man’s name to draw | filty thousand strangers, five hundred years | after his death, to tne haunts which he | loved? The hotel where I write these lines is packed from floor to basement. In the | streets husky men, crop-haired boys and dark- | eyed, wide-mouthed little girls from Vaucluse are selling portraits of Petrarch, medals stamped with his features, cheap reprints of his sonaets and relics in the shape of pebbles and bits of rock, which itis tenderly and unreasonably hoped his { sandalled feet may have touched. Once again, ‘who is the man about whom such fuss is made? | Well, here is an epitome of his life and adventures, FRANCESCO PETRARCH ‘was born at Arezzo in 1305 of a rich but honest father, who soon after begetting a son was exiled from Italy along with Dante, on account of his political opinions, He came and settled at Avig- non, and when his son Francis had reached the age ol twelve sent him.to study law at the Univer- sity of Montpellier, But law had no attractions for young Francis, and no sooner had he become an orphan—which lamentable event occurred when he was eighteen—than he gave himself up wholly to poetry. One may be allowed to specu- late on the sort of life which Petrarch would have lived had nis affectionate father survived to thwart him in his tastes on the pretext of looking after his interests. One can Jancy some very hot scenes between Petrarch senior and Petrarch junior, the latter with some sonnets peeping out of nis hose, the former brandishing a law book written in very choice Italian. As paternal autnor- ity was strong in those days—in fact, as it was then held that man who had brought a son into the world had the indisputable right to heap misery on him forever aiter, Petrarch senior might have locked up young Francis in the local Jail, and,have come to wag the law book at him every now and then through the bars, until at length, grown spiritiess by confinement, | Petrarch junior would have been brought to terms, But Providence interfered with the scheme, and Petrarch senior must have closed his eyes with the conviction that his son would tarn out @ thorougn good-for-nanght, now. that he would have no father’s hand to guide him. Young Francis, on the contrary, soon became a very illustrious man. He wore scarlet stockings, reaching up to his thighs; @ shirt paffing out at the waist; a jacket with wide sleeves, slashed with velvet at the elbows, and a flat cap, witha feather in it, He was so good looking that tne town girly turned round to gaze after him 3 they trooped to the wells with their stone pitchers on their heads; but he, regardiess, would sally out to the river banks outstde the city, and there, tab- Jets in hana, Pore upon the brook that bubbles by. In such manner—that is, writing light son- hets, fall of the wayward fire of youth; dreaming dreams of love and ambition too great for this Door world ever to realize—nhe passed four years, till one summer morning, in the year 1227, as he waa passing the doors of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Dominis. he saw the woman whose image never afterwards faded from bis heart, THE BEAUTIFUL LAURA OF NOVES. Petrarch was then twenty-two and Laura twenty, but she was already married to Andibert de Noves, & grim seigneur, whose ordinary clothing was case tron. The portraits of her show a sedate lady, with tranquil eyes, waving raven hair, dimpling cheeks, but lips frm set as marble. It was these too grim ina that occasioned such wretchedness to poor -__ Petrarch. They were dutiful lips, that had sworn to love, honor and obey the grim Aucibert in the tron clothes, and with chaste peremptoriness they sent young Petrarch about his business, In vain did he break out into verse and sigh, in vain did his passion rage and bubble—the beautiful Laura Was the prototype of Goethe's Charlotte, who dis- Played such inflexibility to Werther; and nad Pe- trarch chosen to make away with himsel! as Werther did, there is no reason to doubt that Laura would have evinced the equanimity which Thackeray bas commemorated— Charlotte, when she saw bis body, Borne before her on « shutter, Like a well conducted person Went ou cutting bread and butter. Petrarch did not kill himself, but finding that Laura had a heart of adamant, he became A MONK, and started on a walking tour through France and the Netherlands trying, unsuccesstully to forget his sorrows. On his return he settled down in a little house at Vaucluse, near Avignon, and began to exhale his imperishable love, which travel seemed rather to have mereased than diminished, in verses, which soon earned him European celebrity. History does not tellus what were the feelings of Audibert of Noves whilo his wife's name waa being sung to the four winds of heaven bya@ shaven-headed friar, but perhaps he had cause to he satisfied with Laura’s fidelity, for that Jady presented him regularly every tweive months with a pledge of her affection, till the number of these olive branches reached eleven. In the meantime the afflicted Petrarch did not make such @bad thing out of his unrequited Idve, Benedict | XIL, delighted by his sonnets and odes (canzoni) gave him several hirings yielding rich revenues. King Robert of Naples conferred on him the title of Court Almoner; the Duke of Parma summoned him to his Duchy, and received him like a prince, inviting him to take up his permanent residence in the palace; and in 1341 a solemn embassy was sent to Petrarch tobeg that he would cometo Rome and receive the golden crown awarded to the FIRST PORT OF THE TIME, Admiration for good verses must have been a much more abiding sentiment then than it is in these degenerate days, for Petrarch’s journey to Rome and his progress to the Capitol was like the triumphal march of a conqueror, The greatest nobles of Italy walked bareheaded behind the chariot on which he sat enthroned ; virginsstrewed flowers in his path; priests tossed incense to him nd gave him the Church’s blessing, and, as if all this were not enougn, a casket of jewels worth about $500,000 of nrodern money was laid at his feet as the homage of the Italian people. But Petrarch’s honors did notend here, Taking ad- vantage of his presence in the sacred city. the Romans deputed him to be their ambassador to Clement VI., with the view of begging that distant Pope to return to Rome, they promising to pay taxes thenceforth’ like true men. Petrarch ac- cepted the mission, but did not succeed tn per- suading His Holiness that his refractory subjects were to be relied on. The Pope, however, seeing Petrarch in so popular a way, instantly appointed nim legate and sent bim on a little negotiation of his own, which consisted in urging the rights of the Papal See to the Regency of Naples. In this affair the poet was suceessiul, and in consequence @ demand for bim arose among all the other princes who wanted delicate business settled for them with punctuality and despatch. Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Milan, employed the poet to in- tercede with the Emperor Charles IV. that peace might be concluded with Italy; Visconti, Duke of Milan, commissioned him to reconcile the Repub- lics of Venice and Genoa, and when this had been done sent him to congratulate Jobn II. of France, on his release from captivity in England, John and his court ladies tried every blandishment to retain Petrarch in Paris, but the poet was anxious to get back to his seclusion of Vaucluse, and he was not tempted even by the handsome offers of the city of Florence, which bestowed on him the mghts of citizenship, which Petrarch senior had forfeited by bis extle, and furthermore tendered to him the rectorship of the Tuscan University. Soon after this Petrarch declined the more glorious 1 honor of A CARDINAL'S HAT, with an archbishopric, and it was about this time. when human dignitaries could do no more in the way of recompensing him, that Petrarch heard of the death of Laura de Noves, who had succumbed to the plague at Avignon. Some say—and they are Frenchmen—that, several years before dying, Laura had rewarded her illustrious adorer for bis constancy, and that the Seigneur Audibert, in the iron clothes, had been obliged to put a smiling face on the matter. The French guides to the Fontaine de Vaucluse show you to this day an em- bowered spot where they declare that the mother ofeleven children met the monk, and listened, with blushing face and heaving breast, to the son- nets which hundreds of dukes and duchesses and princes and princesses had heard before her, won- dering at the good fortune of the woman who could mspire such strains; and the guides add that 1t was in returning from one of these tender appointments that Mme. Laura caught the cold which led to the plague of which she died. But one must always beware of Frenchmen expound- ing history. Enough that at = Laura’s death Petrarch’s flame burst forth into a succession of fanereal odes most touch- ing and grand, and that, soon finding it too painfal to linger near the spot where his sweat- heart was buried, the poet betook himself to Italy. He chose Venice for his residence, made @ gift to the city of his library, containing four thousana volumes, and was in return lodged for the rest of his life free of charge in one of the palaces on the Grand Canal. He died at the age of sixty-nine in the little city of Arqua, near Padua, where he had gone to visit Laura’s eldest son, and bis deatn was mourned in Italy a9 a national calamity. Petrarch, indeed, was essentially an Italian poet. His verses had all the lightness, the fresh delicacy, and yet the flery glow of poets who live under | summer skies, and it may be caid of him ‘His was the lay that lightly floats, And his the murmuring, dying notes, ‘That fall ag soft as snow on the sea And melt in the heart as instantly, Such is the hero in whose memory all the HOTELS AND LODGING HOUSES OF AVIGNON have been crowded to repletion during the last week, and such the man in whose honor the @uthorities of the city have been celebrating a festival at once novel and splendid. The proceed- ings began on Sunday, the 19th, with a pilgrim. age of strangers and natives to the Fountain of Vaucluse, with a banquet in Petrarch’s garden and with @ distribution of prizes to fifty-four local poets, winners of prizes in public competition. ‘The peasantry who live around Avignon—a skinny, tanned, but believing race—imagtmed that all the poets in Europe were going to be present, and it was good to hear them brag proudly, as if Victor Hugo, Tennyson ard Longiellow had come to be crowned by Count Dumain, the busy Mayor of the old Papal city. Not that tne peasants have ever heard of Tennyson or Longfellow, or even of Vic- tor Hugo, but they say with conviction, ‘Tous les poctes de la terre sont ici,” and expect you to con- fide in the statement, Armed with a “delegate's”’ card, which entitlea me to the same privileges of sight-seeing #8 if I were a winning bard, I started on Sunday for the Fountain of Vaucluse, along a dusty road which all my companions—who ignored the formation oi geological strata—were assured that Petrarch must have often trodden. 1 was in one of those long char-A-bancs accommo- dating twenty-four, and with me were pretty girls, from Dax and Arles, with eyes like sloes and lips fall and mpe as Provencal cherries, Bour- geois = young ladies these, who bad been = reiigtousiy brought up in con- vents and had reached that age when innocent maidens take to husband-hunting, which did not prevent them from prattling with feeling approval about Laura’s implacable coldness towards Pet- rarch. vain, and let us hope that 1t was only the very, very curious ones who marvelled wherefore, under such circumstances, all the medals exhibited the monk and the lady side by side, asif they haa been man and wite, There is something rather uncanonical, by the way, in these exposures of a monk in the character of a despairing lover to a married woman, and one cannot altogether won- der that His Grace the Archbishop of Avignon should have hegitated before lending the coun- | frater; Needless to say that the mammas of these | young ladies had carefully inculcated the lesson | that Petrarch had been lett to sigh all his }ife in | tenance of the Church to the celebration. There’ was another inducement to His Grace to hold aloof in the disguieting fact that PETRARCH WAS A REPUBLICAN. Some Avignonnais politicians bavé been raking up some verses in which the poet emphatically lauded Rienzi and his scheme for unifying Italy and keeping the Popes out of Rome; which views, had Petrarch lived in these times, would have made him the fmend of Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi; three celebrities towards whom the Church feels little love. However, the Archbishop of Avignon is not moulded of such stern stu® as Mgr. Dupanioup or Mgr. Pie, of Polctiers, and to Please the French government he reluctantly con- sented to bless Petrarch and tne writers of prize poems inthe latter's honor, Ihave said there were fifty-four prize winners, and all of them pat In an appearance at the fountain near which Pe< trarch’s residence once stood. Tables were spread out on the lawn near the fountain, ana watters im snowy aprons were irisking about heaping up all sorts of cold viands, jeilies and silver capped champagne bottles; but before these things could be discussed it was necessary vw go through 4 ROUND OF SPEECHES, A platform covered with scarlet Nismes carpets had been erected outside the Vaucluse frown Hall, @ stucco house which has been erected within the year, and overlooks the garden. The Prefect of the department, in a black and silver swallow-tail, presided, and was supported by some officials of the Public Edneation Department and by some eminent itaiiius, among ‘hem Signor Nigra, Italian Ambassador In France, and special dete- gate of King Victor Emmanuel. Signor Nigra, who is a poet himself, had been sent with instructions. to be particularly affable to the French, and he discharged bis mission with all the impressiveness which a cluster of diamond stars on his coat and a continual play of smiles on his lips could give | him, Atter the Prefect had prefaced with a lew energetic remarks he introduced Signor Nigra, and His Excellency stepped forward and delivered an entirely literary speech, in which he descanted on the sootning influence of all poetry in general and of Petrarcn’s in partical: He added that Petrarch had ever been his favorite, and wound up by the declaration that France and Italy were twin sisters, tated to march hand in hand at the head of those Latin races, which, as we all know, have civilized the world. Delirious clap- ping of hands and rapping of hats followed this peroration, and then commenced THE DISTRIBUTION OP PRIZES. Holding a list bigh in the alr and gazing at is through a double patr of eyeglasses, an oficial with a tricolored sash and a substantial stomach bawled out the names of the fifty-four poets who had triumphed .out of nineteen huudred candi- | dates—may the supply of French poets never ran | short!—and each of the winners as his name was cried stepped up the stepsof the platform to re- ceive his prize. Some were shrivelled out frisky old gentlemen, who ambled sideways across the lawn, like well pleased crabs, but the majority were youpg men whose eyes rolled with @ fine frenzy, and whose lower ex- tremities were clad in white pantaloons. There were also two young ladies; but these, smitten with @ sudden bashiuiness, refased to leave their seats, though the whole assembly stood up to en- courage them by staring hard and indulging in gallant remarks. The prizes were extremely “beautiful, consisting of gold medals, stamped, as usual, with Laura and Petrarch; Sdvres vases, evamelled palm branches and eglantines, capable of being worn as brooches, Every winner on step- ping up, received his prize at the hands of the Prefect; but it Was then nstantly withdrawn from | him as if he were not fit to be trusted with it, anda bald (unctionary, who stood hard by, re- stored the trinket to its box. This was owing to the arrangement that the prizes should not be finally taken possession of until they had been blessed by the Archbishop; but French vystand- ers, who had the national love for cheeriul inter-. pretations, could be heard whispering, “Poets are 8 poor that there is no trusting them with jew- elry lest they should pawn it.” The prize distri- bution was followed by THE BANQUET IN PRTRARCH’S GARDEN, Where covers were laid for three hundred. As there were scarcely chairs enough for the jeasters the Curé of Vaucluse kindly ordered his beadle and clerk to vring out the chairs from the church, ard soon every Man was comiortaply installed, and knives and forks clattered at a rate which proved that the cultivation of postry detracts Itttle from the | appetite. This was all the more satisfactory as most of the poets selt bound to assume a love-iorn expression and to confess that they had suffered Jost the same pangs as Petrarch had endured. For instance, a fat bard near me spoke, between two mouthtuis of ple, of having pined twelve months for a lady, who had aiterwards married a dryealter , becaase he was rich. Fearing my unknown friend would weep if allowed to brood over this dismal recollection I asked him to take a glass of wine, | and he complied by taking two, I was glad to see | they cheered him. The picnic ended at seven, and | we started-for Avignon by train. ‘The laureates were received at the terminus by Count Duman, j the Mayor, and a procession was then formed | round | A BUST OF PETRARCH whtch was carried to the Town Hall of Avignon by Signor Nigra and three other gentlemen, followed by all the poets, who had been luncbDing, including my tat {riend, wio seemed quite consoled by this time. Night was gathering when the procession formed, but a large. military escort who accom- panied the procession were armed with torches, and the effect of the blaze ef these countless lights wae grand, The ancient charches, 8, Walle and towers of Avignon glowed as if on fire; and, as almost every house was illuminated with gas or featoons of colored oil lamps, it would be dificult tou e & Avene more picturesque. It was, in- deed, ytbing to be seen tn Paris, for the surroundings were more imposing. The tow- erin, . CASTLE OF THE POPES, now used as a burracks and standing on an emt- hence, shone magnificen: with the red fire of seven electric batteries, @ colossal statue of Our Lady of Victory, on the highest point of the castle, Was the /ocus on which the rays ot all the batteries converged, and it glittered in conte- quence as ifit had been cut out of a giant ruby. Great excitement prevatied among the joyous pop- ulation, who lined the street pavements in serried rows; for these southern ple are like children and magptes, whom everyti ing that glitters sets ; laughing and chattering. I anf bound to say, how- ever, that some discordant grambles were audible during this night fete, for the municipality of ta et which ts royalist, had seized the oppor- tunity of snubbing the republicans by converting the main street of the city, the je de la Répub- lique, into “RUE DI P Although they. Petrarch as one of their rty the democrats of the locality did uot feel inclined to see him supersede the Republic, and tnere was a slight gnashing of teeth at the un- doubted astuteness with which Count Dumain had accomplished this little move. ime add thi if an ardent royalist, M. Dumain 1s extremely hos- table, and at eleven o'clock ices and other re- dred guests, who iavored nia with wels company ‘ed guests, Who favol elr at the Town Hall. bate -o1p.2 ON THE 19TH AND 20TH the Baht Sa Sétes were continued at Avignon by a pontifical mass and benediction of the prizes, and on the evening of the 19th a grana storieal cavalcade rye enacted. representing Petraron | gommg in triumph to the Capitol, On the 20th there was an Orpheonist tournament, floral games and @ solemn iiterary sitting. But -these cere- | monials require more detailing than can be given | them in the present letter. | Victor Hugo on the Petrarch Celebra- tien. i Victor Hugo, having been invited to the | Petrarch celebration by the ex-editor-in-chief of | tne Democratic du Midi at Avignon, returned » | characteristic reply, thus:— My HONORABLE FELLOW CITIZENS—The noble and e | Send es2 ane3e Based 8 Ss 2 2 g § is 3 = & 3 3 3 = 7 z = 5 3 Es Ey : € ume it hears the “Marseillaise.” The laise” is the voice of the Souths it i the voice of the future, 1 regret not to be in midst of you. Ishould have been proud, in name of all, to have welcomed our brothers, generous I who come to Pet a the country of Voltaire. I a Jemnities afar of. ny Jee Petrarch T atten civilized world. 1 secr mand Paris, wh tarew ¢ ‘ated Petrarch, the Bastile; Rome which crowns which dettrones kings; Rome na- man wneaeyt and Paris which ‘unohains it. embrace : of two mother cities ta the embrace of two ideas. they m thetic, notning more reassuring—| ‘nizing Wu the holy democratic communion,