Cf the Abbe lie S A D E. 125 



was at laft to attain the end of his wifhes. Such are the ideas 

 that we muft entertain, from the writings of the poet himfelf, 

 of the nature and object of his pafhon ; and fuch has been the 

 uniform and continued belief of the world with regard to it, 

 from his own days to the prefent. At length comes into the 

 field a hardy but moll uncourteous Knight, who, with a fpirit 

 very oppofite to that of the heroes of chivalry, blafis at once the 

 fair fame of the virtuous Laura, and the hitherto unfuliied 

 honour of her lover ; and, proudly throwing down his gauntlet 

 of defiance, maintains, that Laura was a married woman, the 

 mother of a numerous family; that Petrarch, with all his 

 profeffions of a pure and honourable flame, had no other end 

 in his unexampled afliduity of purfuit, than what every liber- 

 tine propofes to himfelf in the pofTeffion of a miitrefs ; and that 

 the lovely Laura, though never actually unfaithful to her hus- 

 band's bed, was fenfible to the paflion of h.er CiciJbeo y highly 

 gratified by his purfuit, and, while me fufFered on his account 

 much reuraint and feverity from a jealous hufband, continued 

 to give him every mark of regard which, without a direct 

 breach of her matrimonial vow, fhe could bellow upon him. 

 Such is the hypothecs of the author of the Memoir es pour la Vie 

 de Petrarque, on the fubject of the loves of Petrarch and of 

 Laura ; and the eftablifhment of this hypothefis, fo injurious 

 to the honour of both, is, in fact, the main fcope of that rnoft 

 elaborate work. 



The principle of fympathy is a noble part of the conftitution 

 of the human mind ; and is, perhaps, the bans of all the focial 

 affections. In forming our opinions of the characters and con- 

 duel of other men, we involuntarily place ourfelves in their 

 fituation, and we judge of them as we fhould wifh to be judged 

 ourfelves in fimilar circumftances. Hence, in every doubtful cafe, 

 where the conduct of another is found to admit of oppofite con- 

 ftructions, a candid mind will ever give its decifion on the fide of 



Vol. V.— P. IL R virtue 



