of the Abbe de SADE. 139 



grave of the church of the Cordeliers. The queftibn, then, is, 

 To which of the oppofing proofs are we to give our faith ? To 

 this queftion we fliall certainly not long hefitate to give an an- 

 fwer, when we confider, that the one clafs of proofs admits of 

 no fufpicion of fabrication or impofl:u4-e ; while the other is ex- 

 tremely fufpicious, and may be altogether a forgery. It is 

 impoilible to fuppofe, that numberlefs paffages, interfperfed 

 through the works of Petrarch, indicating the place of 

 Laura's birth and death, all naturally conne<5led with the 

 -fubjedl treated ofj though fome furnifhing their evidence not 

 in pofitive terms, but only by inference, ihovild every one of 

 theaji be fabricated j and that 'the forger Ihould have been able 

 uvi"„.Mi;-,!, . . n iiH;: L::.. :---:^ : ■• , to 



'^Si, liktfvvifc, fonneti57.Part. i; : 



Una.cattdidcf cervafopra I'erha 

 Verde, m' apparve con duo corna d'oro, 

 Fra due riviere a I'omhra d'un alloro. 

 '. :i ./.' ':■ . 

 And jet iDore clearly, in the. 3d of his Lati^ eclogues :; 



if) 



■II 



DAPrfNt, ego tefolam deferto in littore primum 

 i\,iii ji',-ni \Afp^i dbhimVp^i^emnt-Deatnne ■isiderem. 

 -(/m crff ?')!' ■ '■■;'' '. i') ';;:;. : 



'f Iieeyi4ence arifiag from thefe paffages, that Petrarch's firft interview with his mii- 



. trefs was not in a church, but in the fields, is thus controverted by the Abbe de Sade. 



Je 'fwb perfnade que ces allegories qni prefentent des images riantes de la campagne 



- doil'ent etre enteddwes des dehors d'Avignon, ou des charmes du printemps, qni eft 



,la,r^fpn da6s4aque)le P£inAR,<ju,E vit Laure pour la jlr^miere fois. Convenoil.il 



qi^'il parlat dft l.'eglife de S" Claire, en rapdlant la prenaierejepoque de fon r^mouK? 



Uh poete qui parle de ces cbofes-la, eft bien-aiTe d'egayer la fcene ; il n'ira pas la 

 ■pflacer'dirts nne eglife : et fur une 'chofe fi peu importante en elle-ro^me, il ne doit 

 jt)asis'»alijeitir 1.1a .V^rjtihifloriqne ; rt fe permet toutes les fiaions qdi petivfeiiit 



rendre fes vers agreables." (Notes, vol. i. p. 57.). If this mode of reafoning 'is t6«e 

 -m"r\*y;1' '^ '5|eq<»aVy^effetlual a^ainft thofe paffa^es which the Abbe has brought in 



lupport of his own hypothefis.'as thofe which militate agaihft it ; and tends, indeed, 

 ' Id ihValMati the whole 6videncfe brought from the poenas of Petrarch' in proof of 



ahy part of his hiftorjr. 



