T.42 Mr. planta’s Account of 
illiterate people, unlefs indeed external caufes interfere. 
t 
May we not hence conclude, that as the Romanlh has 
never been ufed in any regular compofition in writing 
till the flxteenth century, nor affedted by any foreign in- 
valion or intimate connexion, it is not likely to have re- 
ceived any material change before the period of its being 
written? And we have the authority of the books iince 
printed to prove, that it is at prefent the identical lan- 
guage that was fpoken two hundred years ago. Thefe 
arguments will receive additional weight from the proofs 
I fli all hereafter give of the great affinity there is between 
the language as it is now fpoken, and the Romance that 
was ufed in France nine centuries ago. 
When we further confider the fadts I have above briefly 
related, the wonder will ceafe, that in a duller of moun- 
tains, fltuated in the center of Europe, a dillindl language 
(not a dialedlor jargon of thofe fpoken by the contiguous 
nations, as hath been generally imagined) fhould have 
maintained itfelf through a feries of ages, in fpite of the 
many revolutions which frequently changed the whole 
face of the adjacent countries. And indeed, fo obllinately 
tenacious are thefe people of their independency, laws, 
culloms, and confequently of their very language, that, 
as hath been already obferved, their form of government, 
efpecially in judicial matters, Hill bears evident marks of 
the ancient Tufean conllitution ; and that, although they 
be frequently expofed to inconveniences from their llub- 
bornnefs in this refpedt, they have not yet been prevailed 
upon to adopt the Gregorian reformation of the calendar. 
As 
