^{page 123 note *} Vols. xv. and xvii.

^{page 124 note *} Of this work of the Abbé de Sade, Mrs Dobson has given a very amusing epitome, in her Life of Petrarch, 2 vols. 8vo.

^{page 126 note *} To this gentleman Velutello has given the name and title of Henri Chiabau, Lord of Cabrieres. This, however, is founded on too slender an authority to entitle it to credit. It is, in fact, only a conjecture of Velutello himself, who was at pains to search the baptismal register of the parish in which Vaucluse is situate; and, finding that a child of the name of Laura was registered as being born to Henri Chiabau, Lord of Cabrieres, on the 4th of June 1314, he thence concluded, there being no other registration of that name which could possibly apply to the object of his research, that this, for certain, was the mistress of Petrarch.

^{page 127 note *} Translated.

“Laura, illustrious by the virtues she possessed, and celebrated during many years by my verses, appeared to my eyes, for the first time, on the 6th day of April, in the year 1327, at Avignon, in the church of St Claire, at 6 o'clock, in the morning. I was then in my early youth. In the same town, on the same day, and at the same hour, in the year 1348, this light, this fun withdrew from the world. I was then at Verona, ignorant of the calamity that had befallen me. A letter I received from my Ludovico, on the 19th of the following month, brought me the cruel information. Her body, so beautiful, so pure, was deposited, on the day of her death, after vespers, in the church of the Cordeliers. Her soul, as Seneca has said of Africanus, I am confident, returned to heaven, from whence it came. For the purpose of often dwelling on the sad remembrance of so severe a loss, I have written these particulars in a book that comes frequently under my inspection. I have thus prepared for myself a pleasure mingled with pain. My loss, ever present to my memory, will teach me, that there is no longer any thing in this life which can afford me delight: That it is now time that I should renounce Babylon, since the chain which bound me to it with so tender an attachment, is broken. Nor will this, with the assistance of Almighty God, be difficult. My mind, turning to the past, will set before me all the superfluous cares that have engaged me; all the deceitful hopes that I have entertained; and the unexpected and afflicting consequences of all my projects.”

^{page 128 note *} Probably Maurice Sceve, a French poet, cotemporary with Clement Marot, of whose composition there are some pieces in the 4to edition of the works of Marot, published at the Hague, 1731, by the Abbé Langlet du Fresnoy, (under the fictitious name of the Chevalier Gordon de Percel).

^{page 130 note *} The sonnet is here given exactly, as to orthography and punctuation, from the copy which the Abbé de Sade says he took from the original.

Thus almost literally translated :

Here now repose those chaste, those blest remains

Of that most gentle spirit, sole in earth !

Harsh monumental stone, that here consin'st

True honour, same and beauty, all o'erthrown !

Death has destroy'd that Laurel green, and torn

Its tender roots; and all the noble meed

Of my long warfare, passing (if aright

My melancholy reckoning holds) four lustres.

O happy plant! Avignon's favour'd soil

Has seen thee spring and die;—and here with thee

Thy poet's pen, and muse, and genius lies.

O lovely, beauteous limbs! O fire divine,

That even in death hast power to melt the soul!

Heaven be thy portion, peace with God on high !

^{page 132 note *} Epist. lib. fine tit. Ep. 16.

^{page 138 note *} The note on the Virgil, when contracted with many passages of the poet's writings, exhibits likewise other intrisic evidences of forgery. This note bears positive testimony, that Petrarch saw Laura for the first time at matin-prayers in the church of St Claire at Avignon. But, from many passages of the poet's writings, it appears, that his first interview with Laura was in a solitary walk in the fields. Thus, in the 8th Ballata, Part. I. (Nova angeletta):

Nova angeletta sovra l' ale accorta

Scese dal cielo in su la fresca riva,

Là 'nd io passava sol per mio destino :

Poi che senza compagna e senza scorta

Mi vide; un laccio che di seta ordiva

Tese fra l' erba, ond' è verde 'l cammino :

Allor fui preso. —

So, likewise, sonnet 157. Part. I. :

Una candida cerva sopra l'erba

Verde, m' apparve con duo corna d'oro,

Fra due riviere a l'ombra d'un alloro.

And yet more clearly, in the 3d of his Latin eclogues :

Daphne, ego te solam deserto in littore primùm

Aspexi ; dubius hominemne Deamne viderem.

The evidence arising from these passages, that Petrarch's first interview with his mistress was not in a church, but in the fields, is thus controverted by the Abbé de Sade. “Je suis persuadé que ces allégories qui présentent des images riantes de la campagne doivent être entendues des déhors d'Avignon, ou des charmes du printemps, qui est la faison dans laquelle Petrarque vit Laure pour la première fois. Convenoit-il qu'il parlât de l'église de S^te Claire en rapellant la première époque de son amour? Un poëte qui parle de ces choses-là, est bien-aise d'égayer la scene; il n'ira pas la placer dans une église : et sur une chose si peu importante en elle-même, il ne doit pas s'assujettir à la vérité historique; il se permet toutes les fictions qui peuvent rendre ses vers agréables.” (Notes, vol. i. p. 57.). If this mode of reasoning is to be admitted, it is equally effectual against those passages which the Abbé has brought in support of his own hypothesis, as those which militate against it; and tends, indeed, to invalidate the whole evidence brought from the poems of Petrarch in proof of any part of his history.

^{page 141 note *} We do not recollect any passage of the writings of Petrarch which marks that Laura was of small stature : nor is it easy to conceive how the medal, representing only a single figure, could accurately determine the size or stature of the person represented.

^{page 142 note *} “Sacellum, in quo illud (sepulchrum) videtur, obscurum est. Sinistra ingressus habet altare muro adstructum, ante quod, sub grandi faxo, fine omni ornatu et inscriptione, Laura cubat.” Phil. Thomasini, Petr. Rediviv. p. 111.

^{page 143 note *} In nobil sangue vita humile e queta, Son. 180. Part. I.

Non la conobbe il mondo mentre l'hebbe :

Conobbil' io ch' a pianger quì rimasi. Son. 67. Part. 2.

With what propriety or consistence with truth could the poet have thus expressed himself of Laura de Noves, the wife of a person of high rank, and who had passed the whole of her life in all the gaiety and splendour of the court of Avignon? Still less would the pious Petrarch have borrowed a Scripture expression, addressed to the Saviour of the world, (St John's Gospel, chap. xvii. v. 25.) and applied it, falsely too, to the object of an adulterous passion.

^{page 144 note *} “Les Princes, non contents d'envoyer des Ambassadeurs au Pape dans les moindres occasions, ne dédaignoient pas d'aller souvent en personne à Avignon, traiter avec lui des grands interêts de leurs états. Le Roi de Mayorque et le Dauphin de Viennois y avoient même des demeures fixes—Le palais du Roi de Naples étoit où l'on voit à-présent le monastère de S^te Ursule, qu'on appelle les Royales, parcequ'elles habitent le palais d'un Roi. Un grand concours d'étrangers dans une ville, y entraine nécessairement la licence et la débauche,” &c. Mem. de Pet. tom. i. p. 68.

^{page 145 note *} Of the very great populousness of this city at that time, we may form a general idea from a remarkable and melancholy proof. The pestilence which ravaged Italy and the south of France in the year 1348, and of which Boccacio has given, in the introduction to his Decamerone, a most eloquent and impressive description, cut off, in the space of three months, a hundred and twenty thousand of the inhabitants of A vignon. Hist. Pistol. Mem. de Petr. tom. ii. p. 456.

^{page 145 note †} See suprà, p. 132.

^{page 149 note *} Il cantar nuovo, e 'l pianger de gli augelli

In su'l dì sanno risentir le valli,

E 'l mormorar de' liquidi cristalli

Giù per lucidi freschi rivi e snelli.—

Così mi sveglio a salutar l' aurora,

E 'l fol, ch' è feco; e più l' altro, ond' io sui

Ne prim' anni abbagliato, e seno ancora:

I' gli ho veduti alcun giorno ambedui

Levarsi insieme, e 'n un punto e 'n un bora

Quel far le stelle, e questo sparir lui. Son. 183. Part. I

^{page 149 note †} See suprà, p. 138.

^{page 154 note *} Our author has even termed this amour, use passion bonnête, (an honourable passion). Thus, in speaking of Avignon, he says : “Une ville, qui; fait gloire de l'avoir élevé dans son sein, et d'avoir été le théatre d'une pssion bonnête, qui lui a inspiré de si beaux vers.” Mém. de Pet. tom. i. p. 29. And the same expression occurs, tom. i. p. III. where the Abbé proposes this passion of the poet for the wife of another man, “as a model for all tender and virtuous hearts.”

^{page 156 note *} In a small pamphlet, entitled “An Essay on the Life and Character of Petrarch,” written by the author of these Remarks, and printed in 1784, a brief summary is given of the Abbé de Sade's arguments proving Laura to be a married woman, to which the answers are in substance much the same with what the reader will find here, though they are now given in a more ample form, and strengthened by additional matter of proof from the writings of Petrarch.

^{page 161 note *} “Quod nulla domina, seu mulier, cujuscunque conditionis existat, exceptis dominabus de parentela domini nostræ Papæ, et uxorum ac filiarum dominorum Mareschalli et Vicarii, et exceptis etiam dominabus baronissis et majoribus in civitate habitantibus, nunc et in futurum ausa sit portare in aliqua ranba seu veste, aliquem reversum de subtus nec de supra, neque in martis variorum, erminiorum, seu quarumcunque aliarum pellium, seu rerum, five de auro, de argento, nec de serico.” Præconisationes anni 1372.—Mém de Pet. tom. 2. p. 92.

^{page 161 note †} E lassar le ghirlande, e i verdi panni.—

^{page 161 note ‡} E le chiome bor avvolte in perle, e'n gemme Alhora sciolte, &c.

^{page 162 note *} L' aura serena, che fra verdi fronde

Mormorando a ferir nel volto viemme

Fammi risovvenir, quand' Amor diemme

Le prime piaghe, sì dolce e profonde;

E l' bel viso veder, ch' altri m'asconde

Che sdegno e gelosia celato tiemme;

E le chiome hor avvolte in perle e'n gemms,

Alhora sciolte, e sovra or serse bionde :

Le quali ella spargea sì dolcemente,

E raccogliea con sì leggiadri modi,

Che ripensando ancor trema la mente,—

Quefta Fenice de l'aurta piuma

Al suo bel collo candido, gentile

Forma senz' arte un sì caro monile

Cb' ogni cor addolcisce, e 'l mio consuma :

Forma un diadema natural.—

Porpurca vesta d'un ceruleo lembo

Sparso di rose i belli homeri vela;

Novo habito, e bellezza unica e fola.

Fama nell'odorato, e ricco grembo

D' Arabi monti lei ripone e cela;

Che per lo nostro ciel sì altera vola.

^{page 163 note †} Sonnets 152. and 159. of the Venice edition, 1756.

^{page 164 note *} L'aura serena.

^{page 164 note †} Liete, e pensose.

^{page 165 note *} On this passage Castelvetro thus remarks: “Si potrebbe intendere di Laura che, sdegnata col Petrarca, gli nascondesse il viso : O, perche fosse innamorata di se steffa, avesse gelosia che il Petrarca la vedesse:

Se forse ogni suo gioia

Nel suo bel viso è solo,

E di tull' altro è schiva. Canz. 13.

Ma meglio è d'intendere de' parenti,

Doglìose per sua dolce campagnia

La qual ne toglie invidia e gelosia.— Son. 185.”

^{page 165 note †} We learn from his familiar letters, that his passion for Laura had not restrained him from the indulgence of a meaner amour, with a woman of low manners and of a disagreeable temper; a passion, of course, in which the heart had no share; and that, in consequence of this connection, which was even of some years duration, and was a source to him of much disquiet, he had a natural son and daughter; of the former of whom we find frequent mention made in the course of those letters.

^{page 167 note *} I am well aware of the doubt that has been entertained by certain grave and learned authors, with regard to the virginity of the Muses. As to Calliope, indeed, the matter was past a doubt; for her amour with Œagrus, king of Thesslaly, was proclaimed by the birth of a son, who made sufficient noise in the world, the famous Orpheus; and therefore Buchanan has very guardedly expressed himself, with respect to her, in his epigram:

Calliope longum cœlebs cur vixit in œvum?

Nempè, nibil doti quod numeraret, erat.

For this lady, though a mother, was certainly cœlebs, or unmarried; and this is quite sufficient to refute our author's assertion that the poet had here given Laura an attendance only of married women. As to the other Muses, whatever may have been their failings in private, (and every one of them has suffered from the breath of scandal; fee Menagiana, t. 2.), their state of celibacy is authenticated beyond all question; and I must in conscience believe, that Petrarch had never heard any of those curious and secret anecdotes of the lives of those ladies, which the penetrating research and deep erudition of modern authors has brought to light, otherwise he would not have made them the attendants of his Laura, married or unmarried, to the Temple of Chastity.

^{page 169 note *} “ Certificat De Monfieur Capperonier, Garde de la Bibliotheque du Roi.

“ Je soussigné, Garde de la Bibliotheque du Roi, certifie, que dans le manuscript du Roi, cotté 6502, contenant un ouvrage de Petrarque, intitulé, “De conflictu “ curarum propriarum, ad Augustinum,” fol. 13. cot. I. on lit, et qu'on doit lire : “ Et corpus illud egregium morbis ac crebris partubus exhaustum multum pristini “vigoris amisit;” lesquels mots se trouvent encore dans le manuscript cotté 6728. cod. 19. pag. I. où ils doivent être lus de la même manière. En soi de quoi, j'ai signé le present certificat, en l'hotel de la Bibliotheque du Roi, ce 16 Juin 1762. Capperonier.

It does not appear from this certificate that the two manuscripts mentioned bear any contraction of this word at all; yet these are certainly the manuscripts to which the Abbé de Sade here refers as bearing ptbs. When M. Capperonier, therefore, declares, on lit, et on doit lire, so and so, the expression is as obscure and inaccurate, as the decision is dogmatical and presumptuous.

^{page 173 note *} This hypothesis may certainly be termed a new one; since, although Tassoni, and some of the commentators on the Sonnets of Petrarch have, in their observations on certain passages which the Abbé de Sade produces as proofs of his theory, remarked, that a suspicion might thence arise that Laura was a married woman, none of them have ventured to affirm (as our author) for certain, that she was so. On the contrary, Velutello's conclusion, after confessing the very imperfect information which could be collected relative to the family, state and condition of Laura, is : “ Per cosa certa babbiamo da tenere cb' ella non sosse mai maritata.”—“ We must hold it for a point absolutely certain, that she was never married.”

^{page 174 note *} Son. 41. Perch' io t' habbia. Son. 59. Quando giunse. Canz. 14. Perché quel. Canz. 15. Volgendo gli occhi. Son. 49. Se voi poteste. Canz. 12. Perch' al viso. Canz. 4. Nel dolce tempo. Son. 19. Mille siate. Canz. 8. Si è debile. “Trionf. di Morte, cap. 2. &c. &c. In the 42d sonnet, (Se col cieco desir), Petrarch complains that Laura had failed to keep an appointment that the had made with him, and in which, he had flattered himself, he was to be indulged in freely declaring his passon.

^{page 175 note *} Real natura, angelico intelletto,

Chiar' alma, pronta vista, occhio cerviero,

Provvidenza veloce, alto pensiero,

E veramente degno di quel petto;

Sendo di donne un bel numero eletto

Per adornar il dì sesto ed altero,

Subito scorse il buon giudicio intero

Fra tanti, e sì bei volti il più perfetto;

L' altre maggior di tempo, o di fortuna

Trarsi in disparte commandò con mano,

E caramente accolse a sè quell' una:

Gli occhi, e la fronte con sembiante umano

Bacciolle sì, che rallegrò ciascuna :

Me empiè d' invidia l' atto dolce e strano.

^{page 179 note *} S' honesto amor può meritar mercede:

E se pietà anchor può quant' ella suole,

Mercede havrò; che più chiara che 'l sole,

A madonna ed al mondo è la mia sede.

Già di me paventosa, hor sa, nol crede,

Che quello stesso, ch' or per me si vuole,

Sempre si volse; e s' ella udia parole,

O vedea 'l volto, hor l' animo, e 'l cor vede.

Ond' i' spero che 'n sin al ciel si doglia

Di miei tanti sospiri; e cost mostra

Tornando a me sì piena di pietate:

E spero ch' al por giù di quesia spoglia

Venga per me con quella gente nostra

Vera amica di Cristo, e d' honestate.

^{page 180 note *} Donna, che lieta col principio nostro

Ti stai come tua vita alma richiede

Assisa in alta e gloriosa sede.—

O delle donne altero e raro mostro,

Hor nel volto di lui che tutto vede,

Vedi 'l mio amore, e quella pura sede.—

E senti, che ver te il mio core in terra

Tal su, qual hora in cielo.—

Dunque per ammendar la lunga guerra,

Per cui dal mondo a te sola mi volsi,

Prega, ch' io venga tosto a star con voi.

^{page 180 note †} Sol' un consorto a le mie pene aspetto.

Ch' ella che vede tutti i miei pensieri

M' impetre gratia ch' i' possa esser seco.

^{page 181 note *} O selice quel di, che del terreno

Carcere uscendo, lasci rotta e sparta,

Questa mia grave, e srale, e mortal gonna.—

E da sì solte tenebre mi parta,

Voltando tanto su nel bel sereno,

Ch' io veggia il mio Signore, e la mia Donna.

^{page 181 note †} Vergine umana, e nemica d' orgoglio,

Del commune principio amor t' induca;

Miserere d' un cor contrito umìle;

Che se poca mortal terra caduca

Amar con sì mirabil sede soglio,

Che dovrò sar di te cosa gentile;—

^{page 183 note *} Mémoires pour la Vie de Petrarque, vol. i. note 21.

^{page 184 note *} Con lei soss' io da che si parte il sole!

E non ci vedess' altri, che le stelle,

Sol una notte; e mai non fosse l' alba,

E non si transformasse in verde selva

Per uscirmi di braccio.—Canz. 3. Aqualunque, &c.

^{page 184 note †} Deh hor soss' io con vago de la Luna

Addormentato in qualcbe verdi boschi

E questa ch' anzi vespro a me sa sera

Con essa, e con amor in quella piaggià

Sola venisse a stars' ivi una notte!

E' l di sì stesse, e 'l sol sempre ne l' onde! Sest. 7. Part I. Non ha, &c.

^{page 184 note ‡} Pigmalion, quanto lodar ti dei

Dell' imagine tua, se mille volte

N' avesti quel ch'io sol una vorrei.

^{page 185 note *} It is amusing to observe, how even this passage has been strained to admit of an interpretation suited to that Platonic affection which some of his commentators have wished to ascribe to the poet. The pleasures, say they, which Petrarch here expressed his desire of enjoying, were those which would arise on finding the picture of Laura endowed, like Pigmalion's ivory image, with speech and understanding. But they own, at the same time, that, as Pigmalion's enjoyments are generally believed to have been less refined, the poet has chosen an unlucky allusion; and that the obvious sense of the passage is rien moins que Platonique.