the Romanfh Language. j - ^ 
gine, that the affinity the Lingua Franca bears to the 
French and Italian is intirely to be derived from the Ro- 
mance, which was once commonly ufed in the ports of 
the Levant. The heroic atchievements and gallantry of 
the Knights ot the Crois alio gave rife to the fwarm of 
tabulous narratives ; which, though not an invention of 
tliofe da} s, wcie \ct, fioin the name ox the language in 
which they were written, ever after diffinguiffied by the 
appellation of Romances (pK 
I fhall now conclude this letter by obferving, that far 
from prefuming that the Romance hath been preferved fo 
near its primitive Rate only in the country of the Gri- 
l'ons, there is great reafon to fuppofe that it Rill exiRs in 
feveral other remote and unfrequented parts. When 
fontanini informs us a) that the ancient Romance is 
now fpoken in the country of the Grifons, he adds, that 
it is alio the common dialect of the F riulefe, and of fbme 
diRricRs in Savoy bordering upon the Dauphine. And 
RIVET (r) ferioully undertakes to prove, that the Patois of 
feveial paiis ot the Limoufin, Quercy, and Auvergne 
(which in fadt agrees Angularly with the Romanjb of the 
Grifons) is the very Romance of eight centuries ago. 
Neither do I doubt but what fome inquifitive traveller 
might Rill meet with manifeR traces of it in many parts 
of the Pyrenaeans and other mountainous regions of 
Spain, wheie the Moors and other invaders have never 
penetrated. I have the honour to be, See. 
(p) huet, Orig. des Rom. p. 126. ed. 1678. 
(qj P. 43, 44. (?) Hift. Litt. de la Fr. torn, vii p. 22, 
X 2 
A P- 
