PIETRO DELLA VALLE.
Born 1586.—Died 1652.
Pietro della Valle, who, according to Southey,
is "the most romantic in his adventures of all true
travellers," was descended from an ancient and noble
family, and born at Rome on the 11th of April, 1586.
When his education, which appears to have been
carefully conducted and liberal, was completed, he
addicted himself, with that passionate ardour which
characterized all the actions of his life, to the study
of literature, and particularly poetry; but the effervescence
of his animal spirits requiring some other
vent, he shortly afterward exchanged the closet for
the camp, in the hope that the quarrel between the
pope and the Venetians, and the troubles which ensued
upon the death of Henry IV. of France, would
afford him some opportunity of distinguishing himself.
His expectations being disappointed, however,
he in 1611 embarked on board the Spanish fleet, then
about to make a descent on the coast of Barbary;
but nothing beyond a few skirmishes taking place,
he again beheld his desire of glory frustrated, and
returned to Rome.
Here vexations of another kind awaited him. Relinquishing the services of Fame for that of an earthly mistress, he found himself no less unsuccessful, the lady preferring some illustrious unknown, whose name, like her own, is now overwhelmed with "the husks and formless ruin of oblivion." Pietro, however, severely felt the sting of such a rejection; and in the gloomy meditations which it gave birth to, conceived a plan which, as he foresaw, fulfilled his most ambitious wishes, and attached an imperishable
