to the relief of the Portuguese fufferers. It bears, however, no difgraceful marks of hafte. Our chief regret is, that it is fuffered to be fo long out of print, and that they who did not feize the first opportunity cannot now obtain it, except by purchafing the Edinburgh Annual Regifter for 1809. It is formed to go through feveral editions, and doubtless will do fo, when the author fhall indulge the public with the new impreffions which they want. Since the above was written, however, we have feen an octavo edition advertised. ART. XIII. An Hiftorical and Critical Effay on the Life and Characler of Petrarch. With a Tranflation of a few of his Sonnets. Illuftrated with Portraits and Engravings. Crown 8vo. 269 pp. 10s. 6d. Murray. 1810. AMONG the works, almoft innumerable, which have been produced, on the character and fortunes of Petrarch, the most famous, and in many refpects the best, is the Memoirs towards a life of him, written in French by the Abbè de Sade, and extended to three large volumes in quarto. From that work our countrywoman, Mrs. Dobfon, took her agreeable "Life of Petrarch," which has obtained the popularity it deserved. But the Abbè de Sade, from the vain defire of proving himself defcended from the famous mistress of Petrarch, has wretchedly degraded the characters both of Petrarch and Laura, and has maintained, that she was a married woman, the wife of Hugh de Sade, of Avignon, and the mother of feveral children, among whom is the direct anceftor of the Abbè himfelf*. The generous object of this elegant work of Lord Woodhoufelee (whom we mention to do him honour, though his modefty has concealed his name), is to refore the fair fame of thofe illuftrious perfonages, by a complete refutation of the Abbè's pofition; which he performs in the moft mafterly and fatisfactory manner, and his book, befides its other merits, will be read with that delight, which belongs more particularly to the defence and justification of injured innocence. After a concife but very pleasing sketch of the life of Petrarch, the author ftates the different opinions refpecting the family of Laura, and concluding with that of de Sade, proceeds to fhow, that it cannot poffibly be maintained on any Mrs. Dobfon has adopted this opinion. rational rational grounds, that the documents on which it is founded are demonftrably fpurious, the collateral proofs distorted and unfair, while a complete refutation of it, may very clearly be deduced from the writings of the poet himfelf. Nothing but the ftrange laxity of French manners could furely have led a learned Abbè to fuppofe that he should derive honour by proving himself defcended from a woman, who, according to him, was, for the chief part of her life, the object and the encourager of an adulterous paffion; when, at the fame time, there is reafon to fuppofe that he was fprung from the houfe of de Sade, though the lived and died unmarried. The part of this elegant work which is employed in refuting the arguments of the Abbè cannot, of courfe, be abridged; nor can a fpecimen be taken from it without breaking the chain of reafoning; but the negative proofs drawn from the works of Petrarch, are at once more pleafing, and more easily apprehended. From these we fhall lay a fpecimen before our readers. "Imo, Petrarch has compofed 318 fonnets, 59 canzoni or fongs, and 6 trionfi; a large volume of poetry, entirely on the fubject of his paffion for Laura; not to mention a variety of paffages in his profe works, where that favourite topic is occa fionally treated, and even difcuffed at very great length. In the whole of thefe works, there is not to be found a fingle paffage, which intimates that Laura was a married woman. Is it to be conceived that the poet, who has exhaufted language itself in faying every thing poffible of his miftrefs; who mentions not only her looks, her drefs, her geftures, her converfations; but her companions, her favourite walks, and her domeftic occupations, would have omitted fuch capital facts, as her being married, and the mother of many children; married too, as the author of the Mémoires afferts, to a man who was jealous of her, and who used her with harshness and unkindness on Petrarch's account? "2dd, Would this harsh and jealous husband have permitted this avowed admirer of his wife, this importunate gallant, who followed her as her shadow wherever she went, and attended her in town and in the country, to fee her daily; and converfe with her alone, to write to her, to make affignations with her, and to fend her prefents as tokens of his attachment? Yet, that Petrarch enjoyed all these liberties, is evident from numberless paffages of his works. That the poet and his mistress were wont even to walk together in the public gardens, is evident from the incident alluded to in the 208th fonnet, Du rofe frefche: A friend, who met them together in a garden, taking them both by the hand, presented each with a rofe, declaring, at the fame time, that the fun never fhone on a truer pair of lovers. "Non vede un fimil' par d'amanti il fole,* E ftringendo ambedue, volgeafi attorno. Son. 208. "And that their paffion was the common difcourse of the public, appears from many paffages, where the poet dwells on that circumftance as a matter of regret : 3tid, Petrarch, in the zooth fonnet, (Real natura), records the following remarkable anecdote. At a brilliant affembly and feftival, given on occafion of the arrival of a foreign prince at Avignon, Laura was prefent, along with the most distinguished ladies of the place. This prince, whom the poet celebrates as a most amiable and accomplished character, curious to fee a lady of whom the compofitions of Petrarch had given him fo high an idea, eagerly fought her out amidst the crowd, and foon difco. vered her by her fuperior beauty and the gracefulness of her demeanour. Approaching her with an air of gentleness united with dignity, and making a fign to the ladies who furrounded her to ftand a little apart, he took her by the hand, and (after the fashion of his country) faluted her, by kiffing her forehead and her eyes: a mark of regard, fays the poet, which was approved by all the ladies who were prefent, but which he himself beheld with envy. The commentators are not agreed as to the prince of whom this anecdote is recorded. M. de la Bastie is of opinion that it was Robert, King of Naples, who is known to have diftinguished Petrarch by many marks of friendship and beneficence, and whom the poet has, in various parts of his writings, celebrated with the highest eulogy: and this is likewife the opinion of Bembo, Daniel, and others. The Abbé de Sade, on the other hand, has adduced fome ftrong arguments to fhow, that the prince here alluded to was Charles of Luxem. bourg, fon of John, King of Bohemia. The difpute, as to the perfon, is of no confequence; the anecdote must be admitted as true, and it has ever been regarded as highly honourable both for the poet and his mistress. In that light we are affured it was confidered by the ladies who were prefent; and, as it is no part of the female character, to view with complacency an unmerited preference fhown to a rival in beauty or accomplishments, we muft hold this as an unequivocal proof, that they confidered this flattering mark of diftinction as defervedly beftowed, and, of courfe, that they regarded the attachment of Petrarch and of Laura as an honourable and virtuous flame. Now, let it be fup pofed, with the Abbé de Sade, that this lady, thus highly diftinguished as the object of the poet's paffion, had been the wife of a man of rank and character, the mother of a family, is it poffible to believe that this foreign prince, who is defcribed as a paragon in every courtly accomplishment, fhould have thus openly braved every law of decency and of propriety, and, in a full affembly (met to do him honour) have infulted, not only the hufband of this lady, but every woman of honour, or of virtuous character, 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 himself reprefents him to have been, and who, in all probability, muft himself have witneffed the incident here recorded, fhould have filently and tamely fubmitted to this grofs affront? Is it poffible to figure, that the whole affembly fhould have crowned with their approbation this glaring indignity and violation of decorum ? "410, Would this jealous hufband have not only patiently witneffed the mutual expreffions of this ardent paffion for the space of twenty-one years, that his wife was alive, but have com. plaifantly permitted her gallant, or a friend under his character, to embalm the memory of his miftrefs by a rapturous loveelegy, to be inclofed in her coffin; the laft infult which the honour of a husband could fuftain ? Yet this, we must believe, if we adopt the hypothefis of the Abbé de Sade: For, if the story of the leaden calket 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 himself, or by a friend affuming his character. "5to, An amour of this kind, with a married woman, the mother of a numerous family, under whatever colours, this reve rend author, in the laxity of the morals of his country, may choose to palliate and disguise it, was in itfelf an offence both againft religion and morality, and muft have been viewed by the poet himself in a criminal light. But the general morals of Petrarch were exemplary, his virtue was even of a rigid cast ; and, if at any time he was overpowered by the weakness of hu manity, his mind, naturally of an ingenuous frame, fuffered the keenest contrition, and prompted to an ample atonement, by a fincere avowal of his fault. In this light, however, he never confiders his paffion for Laura. On the contrary, it appears to have been his glory and pride, and to have exalted him equally in his own esteem and in that of others." P. 181. From one part of the French Abbè's argument, it should appear that Laura was not married when Petrarch firit admired her, but afterwards gave her hand to Hugh de Sade. Here, perhaps, our valuable author does not prefs his adverfary fo much as he might. For what reafonable perfon can can poffibly conceive that in writing near 400 compofitions on the fubject of his love, Petrarch fhould never mention nor allude to the trifling circumftance of her giving her hand to another man, her dangers in child-bed, nor any thing else relative to her marriage, though he dwells on the moft minute particulars of her life in other refpects? In the following paffage, however, he urges another argument with great force, and moral beauty of fentiment. "One fhould have naturally imagined, that this gentleman, fo proud of his ancestry, might have remained content with that por tion of renown which appears to have fatisfied his forefathers, the attributing to their houfe, the honour of having produced this illuftrious lady. And indeed it is not eafy to conceive how, in any juft balance of moral eftimation, the one fpecies of adfcititious merit fhould outweigh the other. On the contrary, a rigid mu ralift would infallibly decide, that,more real honour accrued to a family from having produced the pure, the chafte, the coy, the maiden Laura, the model of female dignity and propriety, the object of an ardent, but virtuous affection to the most illuf. trious character of the age; than from having acquired by marriage, a connection with a lady, who, whatever were her perfonal charms, had no title to the praise of exalted virtue, or of true female dignity; who, while joined in wedlock to a refpectable husband, and the mother of eleven children, continued for above twenty years, to put in practice every artifice of a finished coquette, to enfnare the affection, and keep alive the paffions, of a gallant, whofe attachment, from the celebrity of his name, was flattering to her vanity. "I must indeed acknowledge, that thefe notions are drawn from a fyftem of morals with which the Abbé de Sade and most of his countrymen are but very little acquainted. I know that, in the opinion of moft Frenchmen, a handfome married woman derogates not in the flightest degree from the rules either of virtue or of ftrict propriety, while the amufes herself with the gallant attentions of all the young men of her acquaintance; and the most intimate reciprocation of tender fentiments, while it is only an affair of the heart, is termed une belle paffion. This is precifely what the Abbé de Sade fuppofes to have been the connection of Petrarch and Laura. Petrarch befieged her with ardent and importunate folicitations, which had for their object the ordinary rewards of a lover. She never actually dishonoured her husband's bed; but she made no fcruple to avow to her lover that her heart was fenfible to his flame; though at times fhe found it neceffary to feign a rigour and coldness of demeanour, in order the better to keep alive the ardour of his paffion. Par ce petit manege,' fays the Abbé, cette alternative de faveurs et de rigueurs bien menagée, une femme tendre et fage amufe, pendant vingt et un |