of the Abbe de S A D E. 1 77 



ra<5ter who was prefent ? Is it to be conceived, that the hufband 

 of this lady, ftrongly imprefled with the feehngs of jealoufy on 

 the fcore of this ardent attachment, as this author himfelf re- 

 prefents him to have been, and who, in all probability mufl 

 himfelf have witnefTed the incident here recorded, fliould have 

 filently and tamely fubmitted to this grofs affront ? Is it poffible 

 to figure, that the whole affembly ihould have crowned with 

 their approbation this glaring indignity and violation of deco- 

 rum I 



/^to. Would this jealous hufband have not only patiently 

 witnefled the mutual expreflions of this ardent paffion for the 

 fpace of twenty-one years, that his wife was alive ; but have com- 

 plaifantly permitted her gallant, or a friend under his charadler, 

 to embalm the memory of his miflrefs by a rapturous love-ele- 

 gy, to be inclofed in her cofEn ; the lad infult which the ho- 

 nour of a hufband could fuftain ? Yet this, we mufl believe, if 

 we adopt the hypothefis of the Abbe de Sade : For, if the flory 

 of the leaden cafketTias any truth in it at all, (and its fuppofed 

 truth is the main prop of that hypothefis), this elegy or fonnet 

 mufl: have been written, either by Petrarch himfelf, or by a 

 friend afTuming his characflerix Aft'vCl 



5*0. An amour of this kind, with a married woman, the mo- 

 ther of a numerous family, under whatever colours this reve- 

 rend author, in the laxity of the morals of his country may 

 choofe to palliate and difguife it, was in itfelf an offence both a- 

 gain ft religion and morality, and muft have been viewed by the 

 poet himfelf in a criminal light. But the general morals of Pe- 

 TRARCH were exemplary, his virtue was even of a rigid caft; 

 and, if at any time he was overpowered by the weaknefs of hu- 

 manity, his mind, naturally of an ingenuous frame, fuffered thfe 

 keeneft contrition, and prompted to an ample atonement, by a 

 fincere avowal of his fault. In this light, however^^ he never 



confiders 



