Of the Abbe de S A D E. 147 



falling into the Rhone, do not mark out Avignon as the point 

 of junction, but rather mark the boundary of one fide of a 

 diftricl: termed the Venaiffin, which comprehends the country 

 for feveral miles adjacent to Avignon ; and therefore, the de- 

 fcription is equally indicative of Vauclufe and of Cabrieres i as it 

 is of Avignon. 



But this paffage, fuppofing it genuine, will find its be ft ex- 

 planation by a fimilar one, which occurs in the 10th of the 

 poet's Latin eclogues, entitled Laurea occidens ; in which he 

 bewails the death of his miflrefs under his favourite allufion of 

 a Laurel : 



Fuit aha remotis, 



Silva locis qua fe diverjis montibus acli 

 Sorga nitens Rhodano, pallensque Ruentia mifcent. 

 Hie mihi, quofueram Tufco tranjlatus ab Arno, 

 Sic bominum res fata rot ant, fuit aridulum rus, 



Dum colui indigne, atque operi fuccejit egejlas. 



Verum inter fcopulos nodofaque robora quercus, 

 Creverat ad ripamfluvii pulcberrima Laurus : 



Hue rapior. . - - 



Has ego delicias et opes, hcec regna putavi. — 



" In a remote quarter of that country where the Sorga and Du- 

 " ranee unite their flreams, was a thick foreft, where, after I 

 " was removed from the Tufcan vale of Arno, I pofTelTed a little 

 " barren country feat,— Here, amidft the rocks and thickets of 

 " oak, near the borders of the flream, grew a moft beautiful 

 " Laurel. This favourite object engrofTed all my care. In this 

 " fpot was my kingdom, and here I found my fupreme delight."' 

 Nothing certainly can more accurately picture the fcenery of 

 Vauclufe and its vicinity, where the poet feigns his beautiful 

 Laurel to have fprung, amidft the rocks and thickets. 



In 



