Stephano Colonna the younger had brought with him to Avignon his son Agapito, who was destined for the church, that he might be educated under the eyes of the Cardinal and the Bishop, who were his uncles.  These two prelates joined with their father in entreating Petrarch to undertake the superintendence of Agapito’s studies.  Our poet, avaricious of his time, and jealous of his independence, was at first reluctant to undertake the charge; but, from his attachment to the family, at last accepted it.  De Sade tells us that Petrarch was not successful in the young man’s education; and, from a natural partiality for the hero of his biography, lays the blame on his pupil.  At the same time he acknowledges that a man with poetry in his head and love in his heart was not the most proper mentor in the world for a youth who was to be educated for the church.  At this time, Petrarch’s passion for Laura continued to haunt his peace with incessant violence.  She had received him at first with good-humour and affability; but it was only while he set strict bounds to the expression of his attachment.  He had not, however, sufficient self-command to comply with these terms.  His constant assiduities, his eyes continually riveted upon her, and the wildness of his looks, convinced her of his inordinate attachment; her virtue took alarm; she retired whenever he approached her, and even covered her face with a veil whilst he was present, nor would she condescend to the slightest action or look that might seem to countenance his passion.

Petrarch complains of these severities in many of his melancholy sonnets.  Meanwhile, if fame could have been a balm to love, he might have been happy.  His reputation as a poet was increasing, and his compositions were read with universal approbation.

The next interesting event in our poet’s life was a larger course of travels, which he took through the north of France, through Flanders, Brabant, and a part of Germany, subsequently to his tour in Languedoc.  Petrarch mentions that he undertook this journey about the twenty-fifth year of his age.  He was prompted to travel not only by his curiosity to observe men and manners, by his desire of seeing monuments of antiquity, and his hopes of discovering the MSS. of ancient authors, but also, we may believe, by his wish, if it were possible, to escape from himself, and to forget Laura.

From Paris Petrarch wrote as follows to Cardinal Colonna.  “I have visited Paris, the capital of the whole kingdom of France.  I entered it in the same state of mind that was felt by Apuleias when he visited Hypata, a city of Thessaly, celebrated for its magic, of which such wonderful things were related, looking again and again at every object, in solicitous suspense, to know whether all that he had heard of the far-famed place was true or false.  Here I pass a great deal of time in observation, and, as the day is too short for my curiosity, I add the night.  At last, it seems to me that, by long exploring, I have enabled myself to distinguish between the true and the false in what is related about Paris.  But, as the subject would be too tedious for this occasion, I shall defer entering fully into particulars till I can do so viva voce.  My impatience, however, impels me to sketch for you briefly a general idea of this so celebrated city, and of the character of its inhabitants.