Of the Abbe de SADE. 185 



5< with thy image, who enjoyedft a thoufand times thofe de- 

 " lights, which O that I but could once tafte *." 



These paffages leave no room for the fuppofition of that re- 

 fined and Platonic affection, which it is pretended a virtuous 

 young man may, without blame, indulge for the wife of ano- 

 ther. I enter not into the queftion, how far even a theory of this 

 kind is reconcileable to ltrict morality, or whether that fpecies 

 of continued attention, that marked eileem and preference, 

 which at lead muft be rewarded by a correfponding fympathy 

 and regard for the perfon who expreffes them, is materially lefs 

 injurious to the facred bond of conjugal affection, than a plan 

 of induction purfued from its ordinary motives. A moraliit 

 might perhaps decide, that where the effect of both is the fame, 

 the alienation of the affections of a wife ; the garb of virtue and 

 of decency, affumed by the former, is only a higher aggravation 

 of its criminality. But the difcufhon of this queftion is fuper- 

 fluous, where the fuppofition of a Platonic love cannot, as we 

 have feen, be admitted. 



Svo. Lajlly, As the love of Petrarch for Laura was an 

 honourable and virtuous paffion, fo the works of the poet afford 

 fufficient evidence, that he ardently defired to be united to 

 Laura in marriage, and was even in the near profpect of that 

 happinefs : 



Amor con quanta sforzo oggi mi vinci ! 

 Efe non ch* al dejio crefce la fpeme-; 

 V cadrei morto, ove piu viver bramo. Son. 64. 



Gia 



* It is amufing to obferve, how even this paflage has been {trained to admit of 

 an interpretation fuited to that Platonic affeclion which fome of his commentators 

 have wiftied to afcribe to the poet. The pleafures, fay they, which Petrarch- 

 here expreffed his defire of enjoying, were thofe which would arife on finding the 

 picture of Laura endowed, like Pigmalion's ivory image, with fpeech and under- 

 ftanding. But they own, at the fame time, that, as Pigmalion's enjoyments are 

 generally believed to have been lefs refined, the poet has chofen an unlucky allufion ; 

 and that the obvious fenfe of the paffage is rim moins que Platonique. 



