152 Mr. planta’s Account of 
-6 
How little progrefs it had yet made towards the modem 
French ; and how great an affinity it ftill bore with the 
prelent Romanfh of the Grifons, will appear from the 
annexed tranflation of the firff paragraph of thele laws 
into the latter tongue (O. 
If we may credit du ganger who grounds his affer- 
tion upon various inftruments of the kings of Scotland 
during the twelfth century, the Romance had alio pene- 
trated into that kingdom before that period. 
The lame corruption, or coalefcence, which gave rife 
to the Gallic Romance, and to that of the Grifons, mult 
allb have produced in Italy a language, if not perfectly 
limilar, at lead greatly approaching to thofe two idioms. 
Nor did it want its Northern nations to contribute what 
the two other branches derived from that fourcer^. But 
be the origin what it will, certain it is, that a jargon very 
different from either the Latin or the Italian was fpoken 
in Italy from the time of the irruptions of the barbarians 
to the luccefsful labours of dante and petrarca; that 
this jargon was ufually called the vulgar idiom ; but that 
speroni f/;, the father of Italian literature, and others, fre- 
quently call it the common Italian Romance. And if fon- 
tanini’s UJ authorities be fufficient, it appears that even 
the Gallic Romance, by the refidence of the Papal Court 
(c) Append. N° II. 
(d) Proef. Gloff. n. xxi. 
( e ) fontanini, p. 4. 
(f) speron. Dial, paffira. — Conf. menage, Orig. della Ling. Ital. voce 
ROMANZA. 
lg ) FONT. p. 17. 
at 
