138 EXAMINATION of an HISTORICAL HTPOTHESIS 



where Galatea was buried j which Fulgtda does in thefc 

 wards : 



Carpe iter, qua nodojls vnpexa caplftris 

 Colin bourn, crebrasquc canum fub limine parvo 

 Videris excubias, gilvosque ad clauftra moloffbs : 

 Hie locus tua damna tegit ; jamque afpice contra, 

 Hie GALATEAjita eft. 



*' Take your way yonder, where you will fee the oxen yoked 



" by the neck, and the watch-dogs guarding the entry of a fmall 



" houfe. That hides from your fight what you are in fearch 



" of; for on the other fide of it is the burial-place of Gala- 



" TEA," &C. 



It is evident that the paffages above quoted from the writings 

 of the poet himfelf, afcertaining both the place of L a u r a's birth 

 and of her burial to have been in the country, in fome fmall vil- 

 lage or villa in the neighbourhood of the hills, and of the fource of 

 the Sorga, ftand in direct contradiction to the manufcript note 

 on Virgil *, and to the fonnet faid to have been found in the 



grave 



* The note on Virgil, when contrafted with many paffages of the poet's wri- 

 tings, exhibits likewife other intrinfic evidences of forgery. This note bears pofitive 

 teftimony, that Petrarch faw Laura for the firft time at matin-prajers in the 

 church of St Claire at Avignon. But, from many paffages of the poet's writings, 

 it appears, that his firft interview with Laura was in a folitary walk in the fields. 

 Thus, in the 8th Balluta, Part. J. (Nova angehtta): 



Nova angehtta fovra V ale accorta 

 Scefe dal cielo in fit lafrefca riva, 

 La ' nd io paffava fol per mio dejlino .". 

 Poi che ferrza compagna e fenza fcorta 

 Mi vide ; un Iaccic che di feta or diva 

 "lefefra I ' erba, and ' e verde V cammino : 

 Allorfui prefo. ■■ 



So, 



