Italian is intirely to be derived from the Romance, which was once
commonly used in the ports of the Levant. The heroic atchievements and
gallantry of the knights of the cross also gave rise to the swarm of
fabulous narratives; which, though not an invention of those days, were
yet, from the name of the language in which they were written, ever
after distinguished by the appellation of _Romances_.[BK]

I shall now conclude this letter by observing, that far from presuming
that the Romance has been preserved so near its primitive state only in
the country of the Grisons, there is great reason to suppose that it
still exists in several other remote and unfrequented parts. When
Fontanini informs us[BL] that the ancient Romance is now spoken in the
country of the Grisons, he adds, that it is also the common dialect of
the Friulese, and of some districts in Savoy bordering upon Dauphine.
And Rivet[BM] seriously undertakes to prove, that the Patois of several
parts of the Limousin, Quercy, and Auvergne (which in fact agrees
singularly with the _Romansh_ of the Grisons) is the very Romance of
eight centuries ago. Neither do I doubt, but what some inquisitive
traveller might still meet with manifest traces of it in many parts of
the Pyrenaeans and other mountainous regions of Spain, where the Moors
and other invaders have never penetrated.

I have the honour to be, &c.

* * * * *

# No. I. Oath of Lewis the Germanic. #

1. Latin from which the Romances are derived.
2. Gallic Romance in which the oath was taken.
3. French of the twelfth century.
4. Romansh of Engadine, called Ladin.
5. Romansh of both dialects.

1. Pro Dei amore, et pro Christiano populo, et nostro
2. _Pro Deu amur, et pro Christian poblo, et nostro_
3. Por Deu amor, et por Christian people, et nostre
4. _Per amur da Dieu, et per il Christian poevel, et noss_
5. Pro l'amur da Deus, et pro il Christian pobel, et nost

1. communi salvamento, de ista die in abante, in quan-
2. _commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant_
3. commun salvament, de ste di en avant, en quant
4. _commun salvament, da quist di in avant, in quant_
5. commun salvament, d'ist di en avant, in quant

1.tum Deus sapere et posse mihi donat, sic salvabo ego
2. _Deus savir et podir me dunat, si salvarai io_
3. Deu saveir et poir me donne, si salvarai je
4. _Dieu savair et podair m'duna, shi salvaro ei_
5. Deus savir et podir m'