A bishop of Brescia, (St. Gaudentius) of the same era, mentions the word brodium for broth, a word solely Italian.-Serm. 2do, ad Neophyt.*

St. Cæsarius, bishop of Arles, employs the word balationes, ballare, for balls, dancing, &c.†

In St. Gregory we find the word caballus used for equus almost constantly, together with other words of rustic origin, replacing the more polite terms of the preceding ages.

Fabretti, (in Muratori,) has published a curious passage, extracted from the manuscript work of Urbicius, a Greek author of the fifth century, containing the forms employed in command by the centurions and tribunes. They are in Latin, though writen in Greek characters, and run as follows:

"Silentio mandata complete-Non vos turbatis-Ordinem servate-Bandum sequite-Nemo dimittat bandum et inimicos seque."

Here we discover the construction, and even the phraseology, of modern Italian, complete, seguite-Bandum, (Bandiera)-Non vi turbate, segue, &c.

In litanies sung publicly in Rome in the seventh century, we

+ Sixth century.

* Fifth century.

find Redemtor mundi tu lo adjuva; thus illum first resumed its original form illom, and then became lo, as illorum by the same process, loro; thus also in the eighth century ibi was transformed into ivi, ubi into ove, prope into presso, &c. Qui and iste into quiste, questa, questo, &c. and frequently into sto, sta, &c.

From this period indeed the alteration of the language seems to have proceeded with more rapidity, and popular phrases bordering upon the modern dialect appear in every deed and instrument, as in a manuscript of Lucca*, "Una torre d'auro fabricata ;" and in another of 730, “Uno capite tenente in terra Chisoni & in alium capite tenente in terra Ciulloni; de uno latere corre via publica & de alium latere est terrula Pisinuli plus minus modiorum dua, & staffilo."

Again, in a deed of the year 816, we find," Avent in longo pertigas quatordice in transverso, de uno capo pedes dece, de alio nove in traverso de uno capo duas pedis cinque

de alio capo."

..de

I alluded above to the oath which follows, it is well known, and shews what corruptions Latin had undergone beyond the Alps in the ninth century.

"Pro Deo amur, & pro Christian poblo, & nostro comun salvamento dist de in avant in quant Deus savir & podir me

An. 753.

donat, si salvareio cist meon fradre karlo, & in adiudha, & in cadhuna cosa, si cum om per dreit son fradre salvardist in o, quid il mi altre si fazet. Et ab Ludher plaid nunquam prindrai, qui meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in damno sit."*

In Italian this form would run as follows:

"Per amore di dio, e per bene del popolo Christiano, e per comune salvezza, da questo di' in avanti, in quanto Dio mi dara sapere e potere, cosi salvero questo mio Fratello Carlo, e gli sarò in aiuto, e in qualunque cosa, come uomo per deritto dee salvare il suo Fratello in quello che un altro farebbe a me; ne con Lottario farò mai accordo alcuno che di mio volere torni in danno di questo mio Fratello Carlo."

Of nearly the same era are the following curious letters which are translations of the papal rescripts to the Emir of Palermo, on the purchase of certain captives, and may be considered both as specimens of the vulgar Latin of the age, and as instances of the benevolence and the active charity of the Popes.

"Lu Papa de Roma Marinu servus di omni servi di lu maniu Deu te saluta

La tua dominakzione me invii la responsio quantus vorrai denari

*This is the first specimen on record of the Provincial, Provenzal, or Romance language.

omni kaput de illa gens

per

de lu plus prestu; ki si farai ak kosa tantu bona, lu maniu Deu ti dat vita longa, omnia plena di benediksioni, &c. li tres di lu mensi di April oktocento oktanta dui, di lu usu di li kristiani.

This epistle was written or rather translated from one written by Pope Marinus in the year 882. The subsequent letter is of the same Pope.

"Abeo kapitatu la tua littera signata kum la giurnata dilli quindisi dílu mense di Aprili oktocento octanta tre. Abeo lectu in ipsa ki lu Mulai ti a datu lu permissu di vindirmi omne illi sklavi ego volo la quali kosa mi a dato una konsolazione Mania.

In 1029 we meet with words and phrases perfectly Italian, as, "In loco et finibus ubi dicitur civitate vetera. loco qui dicitur a le grotte."

prope

The first regular inscription in the modern language is of the following century, viz. 1135; it was engraved on the front of the cathedral of Ferrara, and is as follows:

Il mille cento tremptacinque nato

Fo questo tempio a Zorzi consecrato

Fo Nicolao Scolptore,

E Glielmo fo l'auctore.

There is however a considerable difference between these halfformed rhymes and the highly polished strains of Petrarca. In

the space that intervened between the date of the inscription of Ferrara, and the birth of that poet, taste began to revive, information became more general, and men of learning and genius applied themselves to the cultivation of the vulgar tongue. Latin, which still continued then as now the language of the Church, of the schools, and of formal discussion and public correspondence, furnished both the rules, and the materials of amelioration; and to infuse as much of its genius and spirit into the new language as the nature of the latter would permit, seems to have been the grand object of these first masters of modern Italian. Among them Brunetto Latini, a Florentine, seems to have been the principal, and to him his countrymen are supposed to be indebted for the pre-eminence which they then acquired, and have ever since enjoyed in the new dialect, which from them assumed the name of Tuscan. Dante, Petrarca, and Boccacio completed the work which Brunetto and his associates had commenced, and under their direction the Italian language assumed the graces and the embellishments that raise it above all known languages, and distinguish it alike in prose or verse, in composition or con

In this form of beauty and perfection the new language had recovered so much of the parent idiom, that not the same words only, but even the same phrases are equally appropriate in both, and hymns have been written which may be called indis