i62 EXAMINATION of an HISTORICAL HYPOTHESIS 



while me was unmarried, as they prove, that he had formerly 

 feen her while me wore no ornaments on her head, but appeared 

 with her hair loofe, unbraided, and quite unadorned, as the 

 Abbe fuppofes to have been the fafhion of the young unmarried 

 women. Thus, in the i62d fonnet, above quoted, the poet 

 fays : " The ferenity of the air, and the return of fpnng, bring 

 " to my remembrance the time when I firft felt the power of 

 " love ; when I firft beheld that beautiful countenance, and faw 

 " thofe golden locks loofely waving in the wind, which are now 

 " braided and adorned with pearls and jewels *." And fo like- 

 wife, in the 69th fonnet, P. 1. defcribing the time when he firft 

 faw Laura, he fays : " Thofe golden treffes were then loofely 

 " fcattered by the wind, which twifted them into a thoufand 

 " beautiful ringlets :" 



Erano i capei d'oro aV aura fparji y 

 Che '« mille dolce nodi gli avvolgea. 



If, therefore, as the Abbe de Sade maintains, this braiding and 

 adorning of the hair marked the diflinction between the mar- 

 ried and unmarried women in the age of Petrarch, he muft 

 admit, on the evidence of thofe paffages where her headdrefs is 

 fo defcribed, that, at the time when the poet was at firft ac- 

 quainted 



* L' aura ferena, chefra verdi fronde 

 Mormorando aferir nel volto viemme 

 Fammi rifovvenir, tjuand ' Amor diemme 

 Le prime piaghe, si dolce e profonde ; 



E 'I bel vifo veder, cb' altri m'afconde 

 Che fdegno e gelofia celato tiemme ; 

 E le chiovie hor awoke in perle e'n gemme, 

 Alhora fciolte, e fovra or terfe bionde : 



Le quali ella fpargea si dolcemente, 

 E raccoglica con si leggiadri mo -: 

 Che ripenfando ancor trema la mtnte.-— 



