Of the Abbi de SAD E. 163 



quainted with Laura, and became enamoured of her, as flie 

 wore her hair in loofe ringlets, fhe was unmarried ; a circum- 

 ftance deflru(5tive of his whole hypolhefis : for Laura de 

 NovES was married to Hugh de Sade, as the Abbe has ihewn 

 from his own family documents, in 1325 ; and Petrarch faw 

 his Laura for the firft time in 1327, I iliall leave the Abbe 

 to extricate himlelf from this dilemma the beft way he can : 

 for my part I fee no poffible means of an efcape. 



But the author of the Memaires has, on the fubject of the 

 drefs of Laura, either wilfully perverted, or moll palpably 

 mifunderftood, his authorities. He has quoted fonnets 151. and 

 158. t in proof of that richnefs of apparel, which he argues to be 

 charaifleriftical of her being a married woman. The firft of 

 thefe fonnets is a comparifon of the poet's miftrefs to the fabled 

 pbanix, which is thus defcribed by Pliny : " Auri fulgore 

 " circa colla, caetera purpureus, coeruleam rofeis caudam pennis 

 '* diflinguentibus." Nat, Hijl. lib. 10. c. 2. — So Petrarch^ in 

 this fonnet, defcribes his beautiful Phoenix ; her lovely hair 

 artlefsly floating in ringlets about her neck, and thus forming a 

 natural necklace of gold j her fiioulders covered with a purple 

 garment bordered with azure * ; thus, In every point refembling 

 the famed Arabian bird. The former part of this defcription, 



which 



• ^iffiu Fenice de I 'aureUa piuma 

 jiifuo M cMo Candida, gentile 

 Forma fen%' arte un ti cnfo vfjnih 

 C/y ogni cor addolcifce, e 'I mio confuma : 



Forma un diadema natural. 



Purpurea vejta dun ceruleo lemho 

 Spnrfo di rofe i belli homtri vela ; 

 Noiio habit 0, e belkxza unica e fola. 



Fama aeU'odorato, e ricco grcmbo 

 jQ' Arahi monti lei ripone e cela ; 

 Cl/e per lo noflro cicl jr altera vola, 



t Sonnets 132. and 159. of the Venice editicn, 1756. 



