of the Abbe de S A D E. 127 



which is that which chiefly prevails at Avignon, where the poet 

 palled a confiderable part of his Ufe, is founded on the following 

 circumftances. 



In the Ambrofian Library at Milan, there is preferved a ma- 

 nufcript copy of Virgil, which is faid to have been the proper- 

 ty of Petrarch; and on the margins of which are many 

 notes, alleged to be in the handwriting of the poet. One of 

 thefe, which is written on the firfl page of the MS. is in the 

 following words : 



* " Laura, propriis virtutibus illuftris, et meis longiim cele- 

 " brata carminibus, primum oculis meis apparuit, fub primum 

 " adolefcentise mese tempus, anno Domini 1327, die 6. menfis 

 " ApriUs, in Ecclefia Sandlse Clarje Avinioni, hora matutina ; 

 " et in eadem civitate, eodem menfe Aprilis, eodem die fexto, 

 •' eadem hora' prima, anno autem 1348, ab hac luce lux ilia 

 " liibtradla e{l ; cum ego forte tunc Veronse efTem, heu fati mei 

 " nefcius ! rumor autem infelix per literas LuDOvici mei, me 

 " Parmae reperit, anno eodem, menfe Maio, die 1 9. mane. Cor- 

 " pus illud caftiflimum atque pulcherrimum, in loco Fratrum 

 " Minorum repofitum eft, ipfo die mortis, ad vefperam. Ani- 



R 2 " mam 



* Translated. 



" Laura, illuftrious by the virtues ftie poffefled', and celebrated during many 

 years by my verfes, appeared to my eyes, for the ffrft time, on the 6th day of 

 April, in the year 1327, at Avignon, in the church of St Claire, at 6 o'clock in the 

 morning. I was then in my early youth. In the fame town, on the fame day, and 

 at the fame hour, in the year 1348, this light, this fun withdrew from the world. I 

 was then at Verona, ignorant of the calamity that had befallen me. A letter I re- 

 ceived from my LuDovico, on the 19th of the following month, brought me the 

 cruel information. Her body, fo beautiful, fo pure, was depofited, on the day of 

 her death, after vefpers, in the church of the Cordeliers. Her foul, as Seneca has 

 faid of Africanus, I am confident, returned to heaven, from whence it came. For 

 the purpofe of often dwelling on the fad remembrance of fo fevere a lofs, I have 

 written thefe particulars in a book that comes frequently under my infpeftion. I 



havft 



