The partizans of that court, it is true, accuse him of prejudice and exaggeration.

He painted, as they allege, the popes and cardinals in the gloomiest colouring.

His letters contain the blackest catalogue of crimes that ever disgraced humanity.
Petrarch was twenty-two years of age when he settled at Avignon, a scene of licentiousness and profligacy.

The luxury of the cardinals, and the pomp and riches of the papal court, were displayed in an extravagant profusion of feasts and ceremonies, which attracted to Avignon women of all ranks, among whom intrigue and gallantry were generally countenanced.

Petrarch was by nature of a warm temperament, with vivid and susceptible passions, and strongly attached to the fair sex.