The Carthusians, who had heard of Petrarch, renowned as the finest spirit of the age, were flattered by his showing a strong interest in their condition; and though he passed but a day and a night with them, they parted so mutually well pleased, that he promised, on taking leave, to send them a treatise on the happiness of the life which they led.

And he kept his word; for, immediately upon his return to Vaucluse, he commenced his essay "_De Otio Religioso_--On the Leisure of the Religious," and he finished it in a few weeks.

The object of this work is to show the sweets and advantages of their retired state, compared with the agitations of life in the world.
From these monkish reveries Petrarch was awakened by an astounding public event, namely, the elevation of Cola di Rienzo to the tribuneship of Rome.

At the news of this revolution, Petrarch was animated with as much enthusiasm as if he had been himself engaged in the enterprise.
Under the first impulse of his feelings, he sent an epistolary congratulation and advice to Rienzo and the Roman people.

This letter breathes a strongly republican spirit.