Laura lived and died unmarried, are strictly conclu→ sive; the memoirs of Petrarch, written by de Sade, being little more than a romance.-" Petrarch," his lordship observes, "composed 318 sonnets, 59 can. zoni or songs, and 6 trionfi; a large volume of poetry, entirely on the subject of his passion for Laura; not to mention a variety of passages in his prose works, where that favourite topic is occasionally treated and even discussed at very great length.—In the whole of these works, there is not to be found a single passage, which intimates, that Laura was a married woman.—Is it to be conceived, that the poet who has exhausted language itself in saying every thing possible of his mistress; who mentions not only her looks, her dress, her gestures, her conversations, but her companions, her favourite walks, and her domestic occupations, would have omitted such capital. facts, as her being married, and the mother of many children; married too, as the author of the memoirs asserts, to a man, who was jealous of her, and who used her with harshness and unkindness on Petrarch's account?"-Laura died in 1348, and was buried at Avignon. Her grave was opened by Francis the First of France. A small box was found, containing a medal, and a few verses, written by Petrarch.-On the medal were impressed the figure of a woman; on the reverse the letters M. L. M. J. signifying Madona Laura morta jace.— The elegant and enthusiastic monarch returned every thing into the tomb, and wrote an epitaph in honour of her memory.— NOTE 18, PAGE 62. "This island," says the bishop in a letter to Mr. Pope, (dated October 22, 1717, N. S.) "contains within the compass of eighteen miles, a wonderful variety of hills, vales, ragged rocks, fruitful plains, and barren mountains, all thrown together in romantic confusion.-The air is, in the hottest season, constantly refreshed by cool breezes from the sea.-The vales produce excellent wheat, and Indian corn, but are mostly covered with vineyards, intermixed with fruit-trees.-Besides the common kinds, as cherries, apricots, peaches, &c. they produce oranges, limes, almonds, pomegranates, figs, water melons, and many other fruits, unknown to our climates, which lie every where open to the passenger. -The hills are the greater part covered to the top with vines, some with thickets of myrtle and lentiscus. The fields on the northern side are divided by hedgerows of myrtle.-Several fountains and rivulets add to the beauty of this landscape, which is likewise set off by the variety of some barren spots, and naked rocks. But that, which crowns the scene, is a large mountain, rising out of the middle of the island, (once a terrible volcano, by the ancients called Mons Epomeus;) its lower parts are adorned with vines and other fruits, the middle affords pasture to flocks of goats and sheep, and the top is a sandy pointed rock, from which you have the finest prospect in the world, surveying at one view, besides several pleasant islands, lying at your feet, a tract of Italy about three hundred miles in length, from the promontory of Antium to the cape of Palinurus.-The greater part of which hath been sung by Homer and Virgil, as making a considerable part of the travels and adventures of their two heroes.-The islands Caprea, Prochyta, and Parthenope, together with Cajeta, Cumæ, Monte Miseno, the inhabitants of Circe, the Syrens, and the Lestrigones, the bay of Naples, the promontory of Minerva, and the whole Campagnia Felice, make but a part of this noble landscape; which would demand an imagination as warm, and numbers as flowing as your own to des scribe it.". NOTE 19, PAGE 62. "I have been just taking a solitary walk," says this admirable woman in a letter to her sister, "and entertaining myself with all the innocent pleasures, that verdant shades, painted flowers, fragrant breezes, and warbling birds can yield.-If I could communicate my pleasure by description, I would call the muses to assist me; but I am afraid it would be insipid to you, that are but moderately fond of the country. Yet I am sure you would relish any pleasure, that heightened your devotion; and what can more effectually raise it, than viewing the beauties of nature? I have been pulling a thousand flowers in pieces, to view their elegance and variety, and have a thousand times with rapture repeated Milton's lines: These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Thus wondrous fair! thyself how wondrous then!. They indeed behold the great original; but it is not denied me to trace his footsteps in the flowery fields, and hear some faint echoes of his voice in the harmony of birds, or meet his gentle whispers in the softness of the evening breezes; yet this only raises my impatience to be admitted to the blissful vision of uncreated beauty."-Let. XIV. p. 198. NOTE 20, PAGE 66. "Nature there unfolded to the eyes of the de lighted youth," says M. Shobert, "those charms, which are concealed in cities, or which are at least rarely observed by their dissipated inhabitants.There his senses drank copious draughts of that pleasure, which the enjoyment of a pure air, the serene sky, the meads, the streams, the verdure of the fields, and the dark shades of the forest, impart to every virtuous mind. There his heart, susceptible of every soft impression, conceived the first ideas of that imaginary world, which he soon afterwards peopled with the amiable offspring of his magic fancy."-The effect of landscape, when viewed from the top of an eminence, on the mind and heart, is by no one delineated with such truth, delicacy, and simplicity as by Gessner. The style and sentiments assimilate, in a high degree, with the simplicity of scriptural poetry.See Idylls. Aristus. NOTE 21, PAGE 69. The bishop and Dr. Beattie, who possessed a kindred spirit, had a strong regard for each other: and, while residing at Hunton, the latter honoured Dr. Porteus with a visit." I wish,” said Dr. Beattie in a letter to Sir William Forbes, "I wish I had time and capacity to give you a description of this |