12 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1776. 



of this country, since the establishment of the Tuscans and Romans, the lan- 

 guage now spoken could never have suffered any considerable alteration from ex- 

 traneous mixtures of modern languages. And to those who may object, that 

 languages, like all other human institutions will, 'though left to themselves, be 

 inevitably affected by the common revolutions of time, it maybe observed, that 

 a language, in which no books are written, but which is only spoken by a people 

 chiefly devoted to arms and agriculture, and consequently not cultivated by the 

 criticisms of men of taste and learning, is by no means exposed to the vicissi- 

 tudes of those that are polished by refined nations ; and that, however para- 

 doxical it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that the degeneracy of a language 

 is more frequently to be attributed to an extravagant refinement, than to the 

 neglect of an illiterate people, unless indeed external causes interfere. May we 

 not hence conclude, that as the Romansh has never been used in any regular 

 composition in writing, till the l6th century, nor affected by any foreign inva- 

 sion or intimate connection, it is not likely to have received any material change 

 before the period of its being written .'' And we have the authority of the books 

 since printed to prove that it is at present the identical language that was spoken 

 200 years ago. These arguments will receive additional weight from the proofs 

 hereafter given of the great affinity there is between the language as it is now 

 spoken, and the Romance that was used in France Q centuries ago. 



When we further consider the facts above briefly related, the wonder will 

 cease, that in a cluster of mountains, situated in the centre of Europe, a dis- 

 tinct language (not a dialect or jargon of those spoken by the contiguous nations, 

 as hath been generally imagined) should have maintained itself through a series 

 of ages, in spite of the many revolutions which frequently changed the whole 

 face of the adjacent countries. And indeed, so obstinately tenacious are these 

 people of their independence, laws, customs, and consequently of their very 

 language, that, as hath been already observed, their form of government, espe- 

 cially in judicial matters, still bears evident marks of the ancient Tuscan consti- 

 tution ; and that, though they be frequently exposed to inconveniences from their 

 stubbornness in this respect, they have not yet been prevailed on to adopt the 

 Gregorian reformation of the calendar. 



As to the nature of this language, it may now be advanced, with some degree 

 of confidence, that the Cialover owes its origin to a mixture of the Tuscan and 

 of the dialect of the Celtic spoken by the Lepontii ; and that the introduction 

 of the vulgar Roman affected it in some degree, but particularly gave rise to the 

 Ladin ; the vocabulary of which has a great affinity with that of the Latin 

 tongue. But these assertions rest merely on historical evidence ; for as to the 

 Cialover, all that it may have retained of the Tuscan or Roman, is so much dis- 

 figured by an uncouth pronunciation, and a vague orthography, that all ctymo- 



