164 EXAMINATION of an HISTORICAL HTPOTHESIS 



which applies to the hair, is evidently characteriftic of the ut- 

 moft fimplicity of female decoration, and therefore lends no aid 

 to the Abbe's laboured argument. The latter part defcribes 

 only the colour of the garments of Laura, and might apply 

 equally to a fine lady, and to a country maiden who wore a 

 crimfon cloak with a blue border. As to fonnet 158. which is 

 quoted as proving that Laura wore garments embroidered with 

 gold and pearls, our author has fallen into a very grofs miftake, 

 in giving a literal meaning to what is entirely figurative. The 

 poet is there fpeaking, not of the drefs or garments, but of the 

 perfonal qualifications and mining accomplilhments of his mif- 

 trefs. 



Vedi quant'' arte dora, <?' mperla e* nnoflra 

 U habito eletto. — 



This paflage Castelvetro thus properly interprets: " Abito 

 " in quefto luogo fignifica corpo, che e come abito e veflimen- 

 " to al' anima, il quale e ornato di maravigliofe bellezze e ma- 

 " niere, che egli fignifica, dicendo, che l'arte lo 'ndora e 'mperla, 

 " e' jinoftra, come si farebbe una vefte." And fuch is the 

 interpretation which all the commentators have put on this 

 paflage. 



3?/<?, In fonnet 162. *, the poet complains, that jealoufy had 

 deprived him of the fight of Laura ; and in fonnet 185. f the 

 female companions of Laura make the fame complaint : but in 

 neither of the paiTages alluded to is there the fmalleft hint that 

 the jealoufy of a hufband was here meant. Unlefs, therefore, 

 the author of the Memoir es fhall fhew, that there can be no jea- 

 loufy except in the bread of a perfon who is married, his argu- 

 ment concludes nothing. The word gelofia, in Italian, is no 

 more lim ited in its fignification than theEnglifh word jealoufy ; 



both 



* Laura fir ena. • t Liete, e penfofe. 



