Petrarch, in his letter to Boccaccio, in the month of September, says that he had got the fever; and he was still so feeble that he was obliged to employ the hand of a stranger in writing to him.  He indites as follows:—­“I have had the fever for forty days.  It weakened me so much that I could not go to my church, though it is near my house, without being carried.  I feel as if my health would never be restored.  My constitution seems to be entirely worn out.”  In another letter to the Cardinal Cabassole, who informed him of the Pope’s wish to see him, he says:  “His Holiness does me more honour than I deserve.  It is to you that I owe this obligation.  Return a thousand thanks to the holy father in your own name and in mine.”  The Pope was so anxious to see Petrarch that he wrote to him with his own hand, reproaching him for refusing his invitation.  Our poet, after returning a second apology, passed the winter in making preparations for this journey; but before setting out he thought proper to make his will.  It was written with his own hand at Padua.

In his testament he forbids weeping for his death, justly remarking that tears do no good to the dead, and may do harm to the living.  He asks only prayers and alms to the poor who will pray for him.  “As for my burial,” he says, “let it be made as my friends think fit.  What signifies it to me where my body is laid?” He then makes some bequests in favour of the religious orders; and he founds an anniversary in his own church of Padua, which is still celebrated every year on the 9th of July.

Then come his legacies to his friends.  He bequeathes to the Lord of Padua his picture of the Virgin, painted by Giotto; “the beauty of which,” he says, “is little known to the ignorant, though the masters of art will never look upon it without admiration.”

To Donato di Prato Vecchio, master of grammar at Venice, he leaves all the money that he had lent him.  He bequeathes the horses he may have at his death to Bonzanello di Vigoncia and Lombardo da Serigo, two friends of his, citizens of Padua, wishing them to draw lots for the choice of the horses.  He avows being indebted to Lombardo da Serigo 134 golden ducats, advanced for the expenses of his house.  He also bequeathes to the same person a goblet of silver gilt (undoubtedly the same which the Emperor Charles had sent him in 1362).  He leaves to John Abucheta, warden of his church, his great breviary, which he bought at Venice for 100 francs, on condition that, after his death, this breviary shall remain in the sacristy for the use of the future priests of the church.  To John Boccaccio he bequeathes 50 gold florins of Florence, to buy him a winter-habit for his studies at night.  “I am ashamed,” he adds, “to leave so small a sum to so great a man;” but he entreats his friends in general to impute the smallness of their legacies to that of his fortune.  To Tomaso Bambasi, of Ferrara, he makes a present of his good lute, that he may make use of it in singing the praises of God.  To Giovanni Dandi, physician of Padua, he leaves 50 ducats of gold, to buy a gold ring, which he may wear in remembrance of him.