of the Abbe ck S A D E. 133 



haps be thought to border a little on impiety. Divine Provi- 

 dence, he obferves, has thought fit to difplay its wonders, by 

 choofing its moll illuftrious inftruments, either from a fervile 

 condition, or from a low and obfcure place of origin. Of this 

 he gives for examples, the mean occupations of the Apoflles, 

 the obfcurity of the birth-place of our Saviour, who, difdaining 

 imperial Rome, chofe an inconfiderable town of Judsa for the 

 place of his nativity ; and laftly, the humble origin of the 

 matchlefs Laura, that refplendent fun of beauty, who rofe 

 upon the world from a fmall obfcure village : 



Ed or di picciol borgo un fol ri' ha data, 

 7al, che natura e '/ luogoji ringrazia; 

 Onde si bella donna al mondo nacqiie. Son. 4.-Part. 1. 



The fituation of this picciol borgo, or fmall village, is-likewife 

 diftincflly pointed out. It was in the neighbourhood of the 

 hills that rife above the fountain of Vauclufe, the fpring of the 

 Sorga. The poet fends a prefent to a friend, of two birds which 

 he had caught, and he accompanies the gift with a fonnet, in 

 which the birds are fuppofed thus to addrefs the perfon to whom 

 they are fent : 



A pie de' colli, ove la bella vejla 

 Prefe delle terrene membra pria 

 La donna, che colui cV a te ne ^nvia, 

 Spejfo dalfonno lagrimando dejla ; ' 



Liber e in pace pajfavam, &c. Son. 8. Part. i. 



" At the foot of thofe hills where that fair nymph was born, 

 " who oft caufes him who fends this prefent to pafs the fleeplefs 

 " night in tears, we once enjoyed the fweets of liberty," &c. 



VOL.V.— P. II. S In 



