e Romance towards the eighth century. Bonamy,[AK] on the
other hand, is of opinion, that soon after that conquest, a corruption
of vulgar Latin by the Celtic formed the Romance, which he takes to be
the language always meant by authors when they speak of the _Lingua
Romana_ used in Gaul. The author of the Celtic Dictionary[AL] tells us,
that the Romance is derived from the _Latin_, the _Celtic_, which he
more frequently calls Gallic, and the _Teutonic_; in admitting of which
latter he deviates from most other authors,[AM] who deny that the
Teutonic had any share in the composition of the Romance, since the
Franks found it already established when they entered Gaul, and were
long before they could prevail upon their new subjects to adopt any part
of their own mother tongue, which however appears to have been
afterwards instrumental in the formation of the modern French.
Duclos,[AN] guided, I imagine, by du Cange,[AO] whose opinion appears to
be the most sober and best authenticated, maintains that the vulgar
Latin was undoubtedly the foundation of the Romance; but that much of
the Celtic gradually insinuated itself in spite of the policy of the
Romans, who never failed to use all their endeavours in order to
establish their language wherever they spread their arms.

Among this variety of conjectures and acute controversies, I find it
however agreed on all hands, that the vocabulary of the Roman, and the
idiom of the Celtic, have chiefly contributed to the formation of the
Gallic, Romance, which is sufficient to prove that it partakes of a
common origin with that of the Grisons.

There are incontestable proofs that this language was once universal all
over France; and that this, and not immediately the Latin, has been the
parent of the Provencal, and afterwards of the modern French, the
Italian, and the Spanish. The oath taken by Lewis the Germanic, in the
year 842, in confirmation of an alliance between him and Charles the
Bald his brother, is a decisive proof of the general use of the Romance
by the whole French nation at that time, and of their little knowledge
of the Teutonic, which being the native tongue of Lewis, would certainly
have been used by him, in this oath, had it been understood by the
French to whom he addressed himself. But Nithardus,[AP] a contemporary
writer and near relation to the contracting parties, informs us, that
Lewis took the oath in the Romance language, in order that it might be
understood