They thought that it would be politic to send an ambassador to Charles, in order to justify themselves before him, or rather to penetrate into his designs, and no person seemed to be more fit for this commission than Petrarch.

Our poet had no great desire to journey into the north, but a charge so agreeable and flattering made him overlook the fatigue of travelling.

He wrote thus to Simonides on the day before his departure:--"They are sending me to the north, at the time when I am sighing for solitude and repose.

But man was made for toil: the charge imposed on me does not displease me, and I shall be recompensed for my fatigue if I succeed in the object of my mission.

The Lord of Liguria sends me to treat with the Emperor.