u 



u 



Of the Abbe de SAD E. 157 



" vergine, donzella, appellations always applied to unmarried 

 " women, and which found £0 peculiarly graceful in both lan- 

 ** guages. 



" 2do, In fonnets 10. 162. &c. the poet fpeaks of the drefs 

 of Laura, of the garlands ihe wore on her head, of the jewels 

 and pearls with which {he braided her hair ; and, in fonnets 

 151. and 158., he mentions the magnificence of her garments. 

 ** Now, in the age of Petrarch, the young unmarried women 

 " wore neither garlands, nor pearls, nor jewels ; they were 

 '* drefled in a very fimple manner, and appeared very little in 

 " public. 



" 3/z'o, In fonnets 162. and 185. Petrarch complains, that 

 " jealoufy often deprived him of the pleafure of feeing Laura. 

 " Some commentators have indeed fuppofed this to be meant 

 * of the jealoufy of her parents, watchful over the honour of 

 " their daughter : but this is a forced and unnatural conflruc- 

 " tion ; for the term jealoufy, gelo/ia, has never been applied to 

 " the watchful care of parents for the honour of their children. 



" 4?o, Petrarch, with the intention of celebrating the vic- 

 " tory which Laura had gained over love, compofed, after her 

 " death, a poem, entitled The Triumph of Chaftity, Trionfo 

 " della Cajlita. If Laura had been a virgin, it is clear that he 

 u would have entitled his poem Trionfo della Virginita. In this 

 " poem, too, he would have given Laura virgins for her at- 

 " tendants, and not married women. Now, thofe who follow 

 " Laura to the Temple of Chaftity, are Lucretia, Penelope, 

 " Judith, Dido, the Greek Hippo, Hersilia, &c. all married 

 " women. The fingle exception is a Veftal Virgin." 



These, the author of the Me moires acknowledges, ' after all, 

 amount to nothing more than ftrong conjectures. Now fol- 

 lows, fays he, fomething more conclufive. 



" 5/0, Petrarch, in one of his dialogues with St Augustine, 



" in fpeaking of Laura, fays, that her body was exhaufted by 



Vol. V.— P. II. X frequent 



