Of the Abbe de $ A D E. 163 



quainted with Laura, and became enamoured of her, as fhe 

 wore her hair in loofe ringlets, fhe was unmarried ; a circum- 

 flance deftruclive of his whole hypothefis : for Laura de 

 Noves was married to Hugh de Sade, as the Abbe has ihewn 

 from his own family documents, in 1325 ; and Petrarch faw 

 his Laura for the nrft time in 1327. I mall leave the Abbe 

 to extricate himielf from this dilemma the bed way he can : 

 for my part I fee no pollible means of an efcape. 



But the author of the Memaires has, on the fubjecl: of the 

 drefs of Laura, either wilfully perverted, or moil palpably 

 mifunderflood, his authorities. He has quoted fonnets 151. and 

 158. f in proof of that richnefs of apparel, which he argues to be 

 characleriftical of her being a married woman. The firft of 

 thefe fonnets is a comparifon of the poet's miflrefs to the fabled 

 phoenix , which is thus defcribed by Pliny : " Auri fulgore 

 " circa colla, castera purpureus, cceruleam rofeis caudam pennis 

 *' diftinguentibus." Nat* Hift. lib. 10. c. 2. — So Petrarch, in 

 this fonnet, defcribes his beautiful Phoenix ; her lovely hair 

 artlefsly floating in ringlets about her neck, and thus forming a 

 natural necklace of gold ; her moulders covered with a purple 

 garment bordered with azure * ; thus, in every point refembling 

 the famed Arabian bird. The former part of this defcription, 



which 



* ^J'ifi 1 ' F emce d e I 'aurata pjuma 

 Al Juo ixl collo ccmdido, gentile 

 Forma Jenz' arte an si car'o monile 

 Ch' ogni cor addolcifce % e 7 mio confuma : 



Forma tin diadema natural. 



Purpurea vejla d'un ceruleo lembo 

 Sparjb di rofe i belli bomeri vela ; 

 Novo habtto, e bellezssa unica e fold. 



Fama ncll 'odorato, e ricco grcmbo 

 D' Arabi monti lei ripone e cela ; 

 Che per lo nojlro del sz altera vola. 



-f- Sonnets 152. and 159. of the Venice edition, 1756, 



