LANGUAGES. 



invasions of Gaul, had at length established themselves in the territory which 

 they had conquered. The men of letters, the ecclesiastics, and the patricians 

 still spoke Latin, but of a very mongrel and sometimes unintelligible kind. 

 Only those who had studied in the academies of Lyons, Vienne, Narboime, 

 and Aquitainc were familiar with the principles of the language, and were 

 able to write it without making any gross faults of grammar (Fig. ^ 



Fig. 295. Ihe Institution of Languages. Fac-simile of a Wood Engraving of the " Margarita 

 Philosophica Nova," Argiutoratum, J. Gruninger, 1512, in quarto. In the Arsenal Library, 

 Paris. 



But the general language used was the lingua Romana, and in this vulgar 

 tongue were written works of prose probably works of poetry as well which 

 have not survived to our day. 



The Franks had such a great respect for the Roman institutions that, far 



