6i 



" Plas me el Cavalier Frances 



" £ la donna Catalana 



" E I'ouvrar Gerioes 



" E la danza Trevifana , 



" E Ion cantar Provenzales , 



" Las man e cara d'Angles 



" E Ion donzel de Tofcana." 



Thefe lines, fays VoltaFre, are the lad example of the Romance lan- 

 guage, free from the Teutonic afperity : as fuch, they are here tran- 

 fcribed. He obferves further, they are a precious monument of the 

 language at this period, and more valuable, fays he, with his ufual 

 raillery, than all thofe ruins of the middle age, fo greedily fought after 

 by men of more curiofity than tafte. The hiftorian then gives us fome 

 proven9al rhimes of the year iioo, which for their Jargon, as he calis 

 it, are here tranfcribed, as well as for a fpecimen of the proven9aI 

 rhime. 



" C^ue non volia maudir ne jura, ne mentir, 

 " N'occir, ne avontrar, ne preure de altrui, 

 " Ne s' avengear deli fuo enemi, 

 " Loz difon qu'er Vaudes et los fefon morlr." 



The provengal language, adds the hiftorian, continues the very fame 

 now. Its poetry of courfe, and its rhimes can have fuffered but little 

 change. His fhort obfervation on the Italian as a language is fubjoined, 

 becaufe it is of fome authority, and applies to the matter before us. 

 Under the direftion of Petrarch, fays he, the Italian acquired that 

 force and elegance, which have rather improved than declined. It affumed 

 its prefent form about the clofe of the thirteenth century, in the reign 

 of the good King Roger, father to the unfortunate Joan. This is the 

 fubftance of what he fays : but befide Petrarch, the authority of other 

 great men, who at once preceded Petrarch and were his cotemporaries, 

 muft have had great influence on the Italian poetry. In the middle of 

 this century we have Brunetti and his pupil Dante ; and, contrary to 

 the ftatement of Voltaire, Petrarch did not flourilli till the fourteenth 



century, 



