MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



447 



This was also the cause why, un- 

 der the Longobards, the numerous 

 alterations in the language of the 

 people continued analogous to the 

 rules of the Latin Grammar, till at 

 last the copious intermixture of 

 Franconian idioms and words pro- 

 duced a total alteration in the lan- 

 guage. If we compare the French 

 and Italian manner of declining and 

 conjugating with the radical words 

 of both languages: it clearly ap- 

 pears that the Italian was almost 

 totally formed after the rules of the 

 French language. 



This grand alteration, which was 

 occasioned by the Franconians, may 

 therefore be considered as the se- 

 cond epocha of the Italian lan- 

 guage. 



The Latin language became now 

 very little known among the com- 

 mon people, or even among the 

 clergy. However numerous the 

 Latin schools founded by the king 

 Lotharius might be, all his endea- 

 vours to restore the language to its 

 pristine purity proved ineffectual. 

 The language of the people had al- 

 ready deviated too much from the 

 genuine Latin tongue. The prin- 

 ciples of religion, and the laws, 

 propounded to the people in the 

 Latin language, were unintelligible 

 to them ; and this seems to be one 

 of the principal causes of the licen- 

 tiousness by which all ranks, the 

 clergy not excepted, distinguished 

 themselves in the tenth century. 

 The mercantile intercourse of Pisa, 

 Genoa, Venice and Amalfi, with the 

 other Italian towns, rendered their 

 respective dialects intelligible all 

 over Italy, and gradually produced 

 an universal language of trade. 



The formation of this new lan- 

 guage was greatly facilitated by 

 the civil wars which, after the death 



of Charles the Corpulent, convulsed 

 all Italy. The cities eager to shake 

 off the yoke of foreign emperors, 

 united themselves first with one and 

 then with another party, as it best 

 suited their individualinterest. The 

 campaigns which were jointly un- 

 dertaken by different cities, the al- 

 liances which they at different times 

 formed among themselves, and the 

 conquests made by them, gradually 

 consolidated the peculiar dialects of 

 the cities into an universal language. 

 The armies being composed of na- 

 tives from all parts of Italy, every 

 individual was compelled by neces- 

 sity to make use of those words and 

 expressions in which he agreed 

 with others, and to refrain from 

 using his provincialisms, which were 

 unintelligible to natives of other 

 parts of Italy, with whom he was 

 connected, and thus accustomed 

 himself to select such expressions as 

 enabled others to comprehend the 

 ideas whicb he wished to convey. 

 In this language were the armies 

 commanded by unlettered generals, 

 alliances and concordates between 

 citizens and towns concluded, and 

 the constitutions of the new repub- 

 lics framed by illiterate legislators. 

 Thus arose, in the tenth and ele- 

 venth centuries, from the combina- 

 tion of the dialects of the Italian na- 

 tions, an universal language, differ- 

 ent from that of the ancient Ro- 

 mans, which, indeed, possessed al- 

 ready the collective copiousness of 

 the present Italian language, but in 

 all its component parts was still so 

 uncouth, that no man of learning 

 ventured to make use of it in his 

 writings. The chronicles, histo- 

 ries, and other literary works of that 

 epocha continued to be composed in 

 Latin, which also was made use of 

 in all important public documents ; 



