<■<. 



123 EXAMINATION of mi HISTORICAL IirpOTlIESIS 



" mam quidem ejus, ut de Africano ait Seneca, in ccelum 

 11 unde erat rediiffe mihi perfuadeo. Hoc autem ad acerbam rci 

 memoriam, amara quadam dulcedine fcribere vifum eft, hoc 

 potifiimum loco qui fame fub oculis mcis redit ; ut co°-item 

 " nihil eile debere quod amplius mihi placent in hac vita, et 

 4e effraclo majori laqueo, tempus effe de Babylone fugiendi, 

 " crebra horum infpeCtione, ac fugacimmae cetatis ajftimatione 

 " commoneat. Quod prscvia Dei gratia facile erit, pra:teriti 

 "" temporis curas fupervacuas, fpes inanes, et inexpe&atos exitus 

 " acriter et viriliter cogitanti." 



The evidence of this note, fuppofing it authentic, pofitively 

 iixes the burial-place of Petrarch's Laura to have been in 

 the church of the Fratres Minores y or Cordeliers, at Avignon. 

 At the diftance of near two hundred years from the death of 

 Laura, [anno 1533,) a Florentine gentleman, of the name of 

 Mane'lli, being at that time at Avignon, amufed himfelf in 

 making refearches into every particular relative to the hiftory 

 of Petrarch and of Laura ; and, with the aid of two others, 

 Maurice de Seves * and a M. Bontemts, who were mitiga- 

 ted 



have thus prepared for myfelf a pleafure mingled with pain. My Iofs, ever prefent 

 to my memory, will teach me, rhat there is no longer any thing in this life which 

 can afford me delight : That it is now time that I mould renounce Babylon, fince the 

 chain which bound me to it with fo tender an attachment, is broken. Nor will 

 this, with the affiftance of Almighty God, be difficult. My mind, turning to the 

 pad, will fet before me all the fuperfluous cares that have engaged me ; all the de- 

 ceitful hopes that I have entertained ; and the unexpected and afflicting confequences 

 of all my projects." 



* Probably Maurice Sceve, a French poet, xotemporary with Clement 

 Marot, of whofe compofition there are fome pieces in the 4to edition of the works 

 of Marot, publifhed at the Hague, 1731, by the Abbe Langlet du Fresnot. 

 (under the fictitious name of the Chevalier Gordon de Percel). 



