448 A N N U A L R E G I S T E R, 1800. 



not because no writings at all were 

 composed in the universal languages, 

 but merely because it was custo- 

 mary to employ notaries and law- 

 yers in the framing of legal deeds 

 and documents. As for the rest, 

 the common language was used in 

 all oral and written private trans- 

 actions. 



It was reserved for the literati, 

 especially the poets, to have the 

 merit of refining the common lan- 

 guage of the people. It is, how- 

 ever, difficult to ascertain the exact 

 period when the first attempts of 

 this nature were made. It is com- 

 monly believed that the first essays 

 were attempted towards the close 

 of the twelfth century. As a proof 

 of this assertion, the following pas- 

 sage in Dante's works is quoted : 

 " jE non e molto numero d'anni pas- 

 sati, eke apparirono questi poeti 

 volgari . . . e se volemo gnardare 

 in lingua d'oco (in lingua proven- 

 zalej e in lingua di si C lingua vol- 

 gare) noi non troviamo cose dette 

 anzi it presetite tempo centocinquanf, 

 anni." Dante having wrote this in 

 the year 1295, his opinion is clearly, 

 that previous to the year 1 1 4.5, not 

 a single poem had been written either 

 in the Provenzal or in the Italian 

 language. But as for the Proven- 

 zal rhymes, Dante commits here a 

 manifest error ; as it is certain that 

 William IX. count of Poitiers com- 

 posed already in the eleventh cen- 

 tury poems in Provenzal rhymes. 

 And as Dante had no knowledge of 

 these ancient rhymes, it may fairly 

 be supposed that Italian rhymes of 

 a more ancient date, of which he 

 knew not any thing, may have been 

 extant or lost. I must, however, 

 observe, that he denies not abso- 

 lutely that no rhymes were written 

 prior to that period, maintaining 



only that none of an anterior data 

 could be found. 



Dante and Petrarca agree, how- 

 ever, in affirming that the Sicilian 

 poets (amongst whom those of the 

 continent opposite the island are in- 

 cluded) had been the first who 

 rhymed in the common language, 

 and by their example animated the 

 other Italians to do the same in their 

 respective dialects. If that really 

 was the case, this may, as the au- 

 thors of the literary historj'of France 

 are of opinion, have been done al- 

 ready in the eleventh century, 

 when the Normans introduced this 

 taste from France. Thus much is 

 certain, that, when Frederick II. 

 in the twelfth century, came, while 

 yet a boy, to Palermo, he met with 

 poets who induced him by their 

 example and persuasions to rhyme 

 in the common language. Dante 

 relates, that Frederick and his suc- 

 cessor Manfredi, by their liberality, 

 had drawn to their court the learn- 

 ed from all parts of Italy ; and that 

 the latter by their writings had 

 occasioned all other literary works, 

 even those composed in the com- 

 mon language, to be called Sici- 

 lian compositions — and that the 

 custom of rhyming in the common 

 language had spread from Sicily 

 to Apulia, Tuscany, the Marc of 

 Ancona, Romagna,L ombardy, and 

 Treviso. 



Many years elapsed before the 

 Italian language was completely 

 formed in all parts of Italy. As 

 late as in the middle of the thir- 

 teenth century, a Milanese poet ex- 

 pressed himself in the subsequent 

 uncouth verses : 



Como Deo a facto To monda, 

 E como de terre (o lo homo formo^ 

 Cum el descende de eel in terra 

 In la vergene regal polzella, 



