Of the Abbe de SADE. 151 



tainty of thefe facts, " that this Laura, the wife of Hugh de 

 u Sade, was born, died, and was buried at Avignon." If, 

 therefore, it is equally demonftrable that the Laura of Pe- 

 trarch was neither born, died, nor was buried at Avignon, it 

 is plain fhe was a different perfon from Laura de Noves. ' 

 The evidence of thefe latter facts we have already feen. It is 

 clear, pofitive, and unambiguous. It might, therefore, be fuf~ 

 ficient to red: the matter here without farther argument ; for an 

 hypothefis mull fall of itfelf, when the main props on which it 

 is built are demolifhed. But I am tempted to go a great deal 

 farther : and, allowing that the queflion as to the place of 

 Laura's birth and death were ftill a matter of doubt ; nay, even 

 admitting, for the fake of argument, that the Laura of Pe- 

 trarch had, according to the tradition current at Avignon, 

 been connected, in fome way or another, with the houfe of 

 Sade, and on that account had been interred in the burial-place 

 of that family ; fuppofing, in fhort, the authenticity both of the 

 note on Virgil, and the whole ftory of the grave, the medal and 

 the parchment ; I mail now proceed to fhew, and, as I truft, to 

 prove to abfolute conviction, that this Laura,. connected as we 

 fhall fuppofe her with the houfe of Sade, and buried in their 

 family-vault, was never- married. 



And here, I mud pre vioufly remark, that the report which,, 

 it is allowed, was current at Avignon, that Laura belonged to 

 the family of Sade, was not that fhe was conned ed by marriage 

 with that family, but that me was herfelf a defcendant of that 

 houfe. The opinion that fhe was connected with it by marriage, 

 was never entertained by any one of the family, till it found its 

 origin in the whimfical vanity of this author of the < Memoir es, 

 the Abbe de Sade, who has laboured, in this voluminous work,, 

 to convince the world, that he himfelf is actually fprung from 

 the body of the illuftrious Laura. That fhe was a daughter of 

 the houfe of Sade, had been a tradition, though, as we have 



U2 feen, 



