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The lovely eyes, now in supernal sphere Bright with the light whence life and safety rain, Leaving mine mendicant and mourning here, Flashed with new mood they seemed to entertain, Saying to these: Take comfort, friends most dear, Not here but elsewhere shall we meet again.

Mestica, the most critical of Petrarch’s editors, seems to think that he wrote no more on Laura in her lifetime after the great spiritual change which he supposes him to have undergone in 1343, when he wrote his dialogue with St. Augustine. We see but slight evidence of any such metamorphosis.

The second book of theCanzoniere, comprising the pieces composed after the death of Laura, resembles the first in their comparative inferiority at the beginning, after a fine introductory sonnet. Either Petrarch’s grief had paralysed his powers, or he had not fully realised his loss, or he had not yet hit upon the fitting tone. In a short time, however, he regains his true self, and the second part is generally deemed to excel the first, as pathos excels passion. It is not that the artist is more consummate, but the capabilities of his instrument are greater. The poems generally fall into two groups—laments for Laura’s loss, or consolation derived from the realisation of her presence on earth or in heaven. An example of each must be given: