133 EXAMINATION of ati HISTORICAL HTPOTHESIS 



where Galatea was buried ; which Fulgida does in thefc 

 words : 



Carpe iter, qua nodojis hnpexa capijlris 

 CoUa houm, crebrasquc canum fub limine parvo 

 Videris excubias, gilvosque ad claujlra molqffos : 

 Hie locus tua damna tegit ; jamque afpice contra, 

 H)c Galktek Jita ejl. 



" Take your way yonder, where you will fee the oxen yoked 



" by the neck, and the watch-dogs guarding the entry of a fmall 



" houfe. That hides from your fight what you are in fearch 



" of; for on the other fide of it is the burial-place of Gala- 



" TEA," &C. 



It is evident that the paffages above quoted from, the writings 

 of the poet himfelf, afcertaining both the place of Laura's birth 

 and of her burial to have been in the country, in fome fmall vil- 

 lage or villa in the neighbourhood of the hills, and of the fource of 

 tlie Sorga, ftand in diredl contradidion to the manufcript note 

 on Virgil*, and to the fonnet faid to have been found in the 



grave 



* The note on Virgil, when contrafted with many paffages of the poet's wri- 

 tings, exhibits likewife other intrinfic evidences of forgery. This note bears pofitive 

 teftimony, that Petrarch faw Laura for the firlt time at matin-prayers in the 

 church of St Claire at Avignon. But, from many paffages of the poet's writings, 

 it appears, that his firft interview with Laura was in a folitary walk in the fields. 

 Thus, in the Sth Ballata, Part. ). (Nova angehtta): 



Nova angehtta favra I' ale accoria 

 Scefe dal cielo in fu lafrtfca riva. 

 La 'ltd io paffavafolper mio dejiino • , 

 Poi che fen%a campagna e fenza fcorta 

 Mi vide ; un laccic che di feta ordiva 

 T'efefra /' erba, ond' e verde 'I cammino i 

 Atlorfui piefo. —— 



So, 



