VOL. LXVr.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 17 



That the language of the Romans penetrated very early into Spain, appears 

 evidently from a passage in Strabo, who asserts, that the Turditani, inhabiting 

 the banks of the Boetis, now the Guadalquivir, forgot their original tongue, 

 and adopted that of the conquerors. That the Romance was used there in the 

 14th century appears from a correspondence between St. Vincent of Ferrieres 

 and Don Martin, son of Peter the ivth of Arragon ; and that this language 

 must once have been common in that kingdom appears manifestly from the pre- 

 sent name of the Spanish, which is still usually called Romance. 



The universality of the Romance in the French dominions, during the 11th 

 century, also accounts for its introduction in Palestine and many other parts of 

 the Levant by Godfrey de Bouillon, and the multitude of adventurers who en- 

 gaged under him in the Crusade. The assizes or laws of Jerusalem, and those 

 of Cyprus, are standing monuments of the footing that language had obtained 

 in those parts ; and if we may trust a Spanish historian of some reputation, who 

 resided in Greece in the 13th century, the Athenians and the inhabitants of 

 Morea spoke at that time the same language that was used in France. And 

 there is great reason to imagine, that the affinity the Lingua Franca bears to 

 the French and Italian is entirely to be derived from the Romance, which was 

 once commonly used in the ports of the Levant. The heroic atchievements and 

 gallantry of the Knights of the Cross also gave rise to the swarm of fabulous 

 narratives ; which, though not an invention of those days, were yet, from the 

 name of the language in which they were written, ever after distinguished by the 

 appellation of Romances. 



Mr. P. concludes this letter by observing, that far from presuming that the 

 Romance hath been preserved so near its primitive state only in the country of 

 the Grisons, there is great reason to suppose that it still exists in several other 

 remote and unfrequented parts. When Fontanini informs us that the ancient 

 Romance is now spoken in the country of the Grisons, he adds, that it is also 

 the common dialect of the Friulese, and of some districts in Savoy bordering on 

 the Dauphine. And Rivet seriously undertakes to prove, that the Patois of 

 several parts of the Limousin, Quercy, and Auvergne (which in fact agrees sin- 

 gularly with the Romansh of the Grisons) is the very Romance of 8 centuries 

 ago. And no doubt but some inquisitive traveller might still meet with manifest 

 traces of it in many parts of the Pyrenaeans and other mountainous regions of 

 Spain, where the Moors and other invaders have never penetrated. 



VIII. A Supplement lo a Paper, entitled. Observations on the Population of 

 Manchester. Ihj Thomas Percival, M. D., F. R. and J. S. p. 1 60. 



Reprinted in this author's collected works. 



VOL. XIV. D 



