1-8 EXAMIN.ITION of nn HISTORICAL nrPOTllESIS 



" mam quidem ejus, ut de Africano ait Seneca, in coelum 

 " undc erat rediilFe mlhi perfuadco. Hoc autem ad accrbam rci 

 " memoriam, amara qixadam dulcedine fcribere vifum efl, hoc 

 *' potifTmium loco qui fscpe fub oculis mcis redit ; ut cogitem 

 " nihil elle debere quod amplius mihi placeat in hac vita, et 

 ■" eflraclo majori laqueo, tcmpus efla de Babylone fugiendi, 

 " crebra horuni infpetTiione, ac fugaciilimx scatis a;ftimatione 

 " commoneat. Quod prscvia Dei gratia facile erit, practeriti 

 "" temporis curas fupervacuas, fpes inanes, et incApedatos exitus 

 ." acriter et viriliter cogjtanti." 



The evidence of this note, fuppofmg it authentic, pofitively 

 fixes the burial-place of Petrarch's Laura to have been in 

 the church of the Fratres Miiiores, or Cordeliers, at Avignon. 

 At the diftance of near two hundred years from the death of 

 Laura, [anno I533,) a Florentine gentleman, of the name of 

 Manelli, being at that time at Avignon, amufed himfelf in 

 making refearches into every particular relative to the hiftory 

 of Petrarch and of Laura ; and, witli the aid of two others, 

 Maurice de Seves * and a M. Bontemps, who were infliga- 



ted 



liavc tluis prepared for myftflf a pleafure mingled with pain. My lofs, ever preftiu 

 to iiij' memory, will teach me, that there is no longer any thing in this life whicli 

 can afford me delight : That it is now time that I fliould renounce Babylon, fince the 

 cliain wliich bound me to it with fo tender an attachment, is broken. Nor will 

 this, with the alTiftance of Almighty GoD, be difficult. My mind, turning to the 

 pad, will fet before me all the fiiperfluous cares that have engaged me ; all the de- 

 ceitful hopes that I have entertained j ami the une'xpefted and afflifting confequences 

 of ali my projefls." 



* Probably Maurice Sceve, a French poet.^cotemporary v;iih Clement 

 Marot, of whofe compofition there are fome pieces in the 4to edition of the works 

 of Marot, publifhed at the Hague, 1731, by the Abbe Langlet du Fresvoy. 

 (under the fiftitious name of the Chevalier GoRDoK de Percel). 



