Of the Abbe de S A D E. 177 



rafter who was prefent ? Is it to be conceived, that the hufband 

 of this lady, ftrongly impreffed with the feelings of jealoufy on 

 the fcore of this ardent attachment, as this author himfelf re- 

 prefents him to have been, and who, in all probability muft 

 himfelf have witnefTed the incident here recorded, fhould have 

 filently and tamely fubmitted to this grofs affront ? Is it poffible 

 to figure, that the whole afTembly mould have crowned with 

 their approbation this glaring indignity and violation of deco- 

 rum I 



4/0. Would this jealous hufband have not only patiently 

 witnefTed the mutual expreflions of this ardent paffion for the 

 fpace of twenty-one years, that his wife was alive ; but have cora- 

 plaifantly permitted her gallant, or a friend under his character, 

 to embalm the memory of his miflrefs by a rapturous love-ele- 

 gy, to be inclofed in her coffin ; the laft infult which the ho- 

 nour of a hufband could fuftain ? Yet this, we muft believe, if 

 we adopt the hypothefis of the Abbe de Sade : For, if the ftory 

 of the leaden cafket has any truth in it at all, (and its fuppofed 

 truth is the main prop of that hypothefis), this elegy or fonnet 

 muft have been written, either by Petrarch himfelf, or by a 

 friend affuming his character. 



5/0. An amour of this kind, with a married woman, the mo- 

 ther of a numerous family, under whatever colours this reve- 

 rend author, in the laxity of the morals of his country may 

 choofe to palliate and difguife it, was in itfelf an offence both a- 

 gainfl religion and morality, and muft have been viewed by the 

 poet himfelf in a criminal light. But the general morals of Pe- 

 trarch were exemplary, his virtue was even of a rigid caft; 

 and, if at any time he was overpowered by the weaknefs of hu- 

 manity, his mind, naturally of an ingenuous frame, fuffered the 

 keeneft contrition, and prompted to an ample atonement, by a 

 fincere avowal of his fault. In this light, however, he never 



confiders 



