of the Jbbe de S A D E. i^ 



man of barbarous difpofitions, mean and fordid propenfities, and 

 whofe grofs ignorance dlfgraced the high ftation which he oc- 

 cupied. The anecdote is mentioned by SQUARZAFicar ; as it 

 is hkewife by one of the oldeft editors of the poems of Pe- 

 trarch, in the preface to the Venice edition 1473: though 

 the latter author erroneoufly names the Pope Urban V. who 

 did not afcend the papal chair till fome years after the death 

 of Laura. This uncertainty with regard to the perfon is not, 

 however, fufficient to difcredit the fadl itfelf, that the Pope, 

 whoever he was, might, from favour to Petrarch, have ear- 

 neftly defired to fee him united to the objeifl of his paflion. 



The clerical chara6ler of Petrarch ought not to be confider- 

 ed as affording any objedlion to the fuppofition, that he ardent- 

 ly wifhed to be united to Laura in marriage. Though enjoy- 

 ing ecclefiaftical preferments, he had never accepted of any 

 charge which conferred a care of fouls. He had frequently been 

 folicited with earneftnefs to accept of a biiliopric ; but conftantly 

 refufed it, either from a fenfe of his own demei'its, when weigh- 

 ed againft the qualities he thought requifite for that facred cha- 

 radler, or, more probably, (as he himfelf indeed hints), from a de- 

 fire to preferve his liberty, and follow, without reftraint, thatcourfe 

 of life which he found moft congenial to his tafte. It is pro- 

 bable, therefore, that his views with refped to Laura had their 

 influence on this determination ; fince he was thus at liberty, 

 merely by the facrifice of fome flender pecuniary emoluments, to 

 change his condition at any time he might think proper. Ex- 

 amples of this kind were at that time extremely common ; and 

 the ftory above related, if true, is a proof that the Sovereign 

 Pontiffs were -even in ufe to difpenfe with the refignation of be- 

 nefices to their particular favourites in thofe circtimftances. 



But, whatever weight we may be inclined to give to this 

 anecdote, it is, on the whole, fufficient to our purpofe, if while, 

 on the one hand, we have fhewn that there is not the fmalleft 



folidity 



