THE LAST LAY OF PETRARCH'S CAT.
In the year 1820 I saw the following Latin verse inscribed under the skeleton of a cat in one of the rooms of Petrarch's favourite villa at Arqua, near Padua. If you choose to print them, with or without the accompanying English version, they are at your service:—
Etruscus gemino vates ardebat amore:
Maximus ignis ego; Laura secundus erat.
Quid rides? divinæ illam si gratia formæ,
Me dignam eximio fecit amante fides.
Si numeros geniumque sacris dedit illa libellis
Causa ego ne sævis muribus esca forent.
Arcebam sacro vivens à limine mures,
Ne domini exitio scripta diserta forent;