136 EXAMINATION of an HISTORICAL HrPOTHESIS 



" ever in tears. Widowed are thofe green fields,— and turbid 



" is that ftream, — and void and cold the neft in which (he 

 " lay." 



Many paffages of the poet's writings likewife very clearly in- 

 dicate that Laura died in the fame place where fhe was born, and 

 where fhe had paffed the greateft part of her life. 



Thus, in the 53d fonnet of the 2d Part : 



E quejlo '/ nido in che la mi a Feniee 

 Mife V aurate e le purpuree penne ; 

 Che f otto lefue ali il mio cor tenne. — 



E me lafciato hai qui mifero e folo, 

 Tal, che pien di duol fempre al loco torno 

 Che per te confecrato onoro e colo. 



Veggendo cC colli of cur a notte intorno 

 Onde prendejli al ciel V ultimo volo. — 



" Here is the neft in which my Phcenix lay, and couched her 

 " golden and empurpled wings ; — and here fhe left me miferable 

 " and alone. Thus, for ever a prey to grief, I turn me to that 

 ** dear fpot of earth which fhe has confecrated, and which, on 

 " that account, I venerate and honour : I view thofe hills, now 

 11 dark and defolate, from whence fhe winged her flight to 

 " heaven." 



So, likewife, in that beautiful fonnet on his return to Vau- 

 clufe, Valle, che de* lamenti mie'i fe' plena, &c. he gives the moft 

 explicit intimation, that the grave of Laura was in that very 

 place, and amidft the fame fcenes where he fo often had enjoyed 

 the happinefs of her focietyj 



VaUe, 



