Of the Abbe de SADE. l^kVlY 185 



'' with thy image, who enjoyedft a thoufand times thofe de- 

 " Hghts, which O that I but could once tafte *." 



These pafTages leave iio room for the fuppofition of that re- 

 fined and Platonic affe(5\ion, which it is pretended a virtuous 

 young man may, without blame, indulge for the wife of ano- 

 ther. I enter not into the queftion, how far even a theory of this 

 kind is reconcileable to ftricfl morality, or whether that fpecies 

 of continued attention, that marked efleem and preference, 

 which at leaft muft be rewarded by a correfponding fympathy 

 and regard for the perfon who expreffes them, is materially lefs 

 injxirious to the facred bond of conjugal affedlion, than a plan 

 of fedudtion purfued from its ordinary motives. A moralifl 

 might perhaps decide, that where the efFecfl of both is the fame, 

 the alienation of the affecflions of a wife ; the garb of virtue and 

 of decency, alTumed by the former, is only a higher aggravation 

 of its criminality. But the difcuflion of this queftion is fuper- 

 fluous, where the fuppofition of a Platonic love cannot, as we 

 have feen, be admitted. 



%vd. Lajily, As the love of Petrarch for Laura was an 

 honourable and virtuous paflion, fo the works of the poet afford 

 fufficient evidence, that he ardently defired to be united to 

 Laura in marriage, and was even in the near profpedl of that 

 happinefs : 



Amor con quanta sforzo oggi mi vinci ! 

 Efe not! cb^ al dejio crefce la fpeme ; 

 ■ I' cadrei morto, ove piu viver bramo. Son. 64. 



Gid 



* It is amuling to obferve, how even this paflTage has been {trained to admit of 

 an interpretation fuited to that Platonic aflFeftion which fome of his comnientator^ 

 have wiflied to afcribe to the poet. The pleafures, fay they, which PETRAR'ctf 

 here expreffed his defire of enjoying, were thofe which would arife on finding the 

 pidture of L/iURA endowed, like Pigmalion's ivory image, with fpeech and under- 

 fianding. But they own, at the fame time, that, as Pigmalion's enjoyments are 

 generally believed to have been lefs refined, the poet has chofen an unlucky allufion ; 

 and that the obvious fenfe of the pafTage is rien mows que Platontque. 



