154 EXAMINATION of an HISTORICAL HrPO THESIS 



who, while joined in wedlock to a refpeftable hufband, and the 

 mother of eleven children, continued, for above twenty years, 

 to put in pra<5tice every artifice of a finifhed coquette, to enfnare 

 the afFedlions, and keep alive the paflions, of a gallant, whofe 

 attachment, from the celebrity of his name, was flattering to 

 her vanity. ij Ivi cjvi,*i.:ri,!jiq;i/ ifljbicj '.lii tijul/i 



I MUST indeed acknowledge, that thefe notions are'di'awn 

 from a fyftem of morals, with which the Abbe de Sade and 

 inoft of his countrymen are but very little acquainted. I know 

 that, in the opinion of moft Frenchmen, a handfome married 

 woman derogates not in the flighteft degree from the rules either 

 of virtue or of ftridl propriety, while fhe amufes herfelf with 

 the gallant attentions of all the young men of her acquaintance ; 

 and the mod intimate reciprocatioa of tender fentiments, while 

 it is pnly an affair of the heart, is termed urie belle pajfion *, This 

 is precifely what the Abbe de Sade fuppofes to have been the 

 connexion of Petrarch and of Laura. Petrarch befieged 

 her with ardent and importunate folicitations, which had for 

 their obje<5l the ordinary rewards of a lover. She never adlually 

 dilhonoured her hufband's bed ; but flie made no fcruple to 

 avow to her lover that her heart was fenfible to his flame; 

 though. at times flie found it neceffary to feign a rigour and 

 coldnefs of demeanour in order the better to keep alive the ar- 

 dour of his paflion. " Par ce petit manege," fays the Abb^, 

 " cette alternative de faveurs et de rigueurs bien menagee, une 

 ** femme tendre et fage amufe, pendant vingt et vin ans, le plus 

 '' grand poete de fon liecle, fans faire la moindre breche a fon. 



" honneur." 



• Our author has even termed this amour, vne paffi^n hofuiele, (fin hooQurabie 

 paffion). Thus, in ,fpe«king«£ Avignon, he feys :.",U«e ville, qui fait gloircde 

 I'avoir eleve dans fon Cein, et d'avoir ete le theatre d'uncpn^on honnete, qui luia in- 

 fpire de fi beaux vers." 'Mem. de Pet. torn. i. p. 39. And the fame expreffion 

 occurs, torn. i. p. 1 1 1. where the Abhepropofes this paffion of the poet for the wife, 

 of another man, " as a model for all tender and virtuous hearts." 



