liveliness of the speaker, helped to model each dialect of the Romance into its peculiar form. Yet never were the Latin words swamped by Teutonisms, or so altered or mutilated as to be undistinguishable. It is an easy tour-de-force, even now, to compose an Italian Sonnet or a Spanish Ode, in which every word should be purely Latin. All the languages thus developed Predomi- continued true to their source. Some yet exist the Latin with scarcely any variation from their earliest in all the age, such as the common dialect of the Sardinian Dialects. peasantry. Others, more favoured, have expanded nance of character Neo-Latin Geographical diffusion of the Neo lects. into richness, harmony, power. Science, art, and literature have only brought them nearer to their original parentage: the building has been enlarged with materials from the native quarry, and each addition has strengthened the pristine character. The mutations distinguishing the Neo-Romane dialects from the ancient speech of Latium have Latin Dia- been gradual and unintermitted, never concealing their identity. They have allied themselves to Rome's recollections, her poets, her historians, her laws. Vast as was the dominion of the Imperial Mother, they have exceeded that dominion. No longer bounded by the Ocean, they spread over the globe; and in Europe, Asia, and the New World an hundred million of those who profess the Christian faith, speak the languages derived from Rome. ap the rating in fluence and power of the Langue modern French oil, the basis of the as language. tivation of § 12. The first amongst these dialects which Prepondebecame the language of literature, obtained an intellectual authority still retained by her, proaching to an oecumenical Empire. It is language, concerning us most and nearest, Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans, or Englishmen, the language of our ancient jurisprudence and laws, the Romance, which, somewhat mistakenly called by the name of Norman, produced the French of the present age. Long before the Con- Early culqueror landed at Hastings, his language, the the French language of his fathers, the language of Roman by the Normandy, had prevailed in the Anglo-Saxon Saxons. Court; so early that when Louis d'Outremer returned from England to ascend the Carlovingian throne, he could speak none other than that idiom furnishing the epithet indicating his fortunes. And the constant intercourse between Anglo-Saxon England and Normandy fostered the strange speech; the language of fashion, the language conciliating affections, introducing ideas, and clearing the way for the new dynasty. language Anglo of the Ro French. Greeks and Romans marvelled at the strange The charm and uncouth symbolical representation of the mane Gaulish Hercules, the Hercules Ogmius, the god of Eloquence, a decrepit old man, conquering without bodily strength, and leading the multitude by the chains of gold and silver fastened to their ears. The French have realized that symbol-without exertion, without effort, but 937. War-cry raised in French by the Germans. simply by the witchery of persuasion, the Langue d'Oil became pre-eminent over all her compeers, she won the love of the world, she well deserved it.The German Ritterschaft of Otho the Great raised the war-cry in French, and the historians add, that they knew the language well. -"Son," is the address of the Norwegian Sage, 1200-1300. who unfolds in his Speculum Regale the whole cultivated course of education and learning fitting the Merin Norway. chant for his trade, the Priest for his ministry, the King for his duties; "learn Latin, learn French, for that is the widest speech of all.” French Adopted by Bru tini as the The Tesoro of Brunetto Latini, almost idennetto La- tical with the Speculum Regale in design, and most popu- not very dissimilar in matter, was the wonder for Litera of the author's contemporaries, and his chiefest lar vehicle ture. pride. Amidst the torments of the scorching plain, Dante hears the plaintive voice of his teacher still yearning after his earthly vanity: "Sieti racommandato il mio Tesoro Nel quale io vivo ancora-e più non chieggio." But it was not in his own sweet volgare that Brunetto wrote the book of which the recollection touched his disembodied spirit-the ruling passion stronger than death-but in the dialect of the Trouveur, the most pleasureful to the reader, and affording the greatest means of circulation through its popularity. The brisk, active, industrious habits of the French aided this diffusion. Amongst the Tartar hordes and in the of the d'Oil in Greece, encampment of Kublai Khan, the traveller was Diffusion surprized by the artificer or the trader greeting Langue him in the language of the Capetian capital. The Tartary, Crusades spread the Langue d'Oil throughout the Syria. East; and Athens conversed with the fluency of Paris. of the d'Oil upon literature æval Eu The poetic literature of mediæval Europe Influence received its most forcible and distinguishing Langue impress from the Langue d'Oil, the language of the poetic Heraldry, the language of the Tournament, the of medilanguage of the Geste, the language of Chivalry. rope. The ancient and barbarous songs which delighted Charlemagne are forgotten: the traditions of Arthur might, in their pristine speech have still floated amongst the Cymric lineages; but without the aid of the Trouveur, never would the British lays have acquired their fascination: it was not until they became Romance that they were invested with their power. Teuton and Scandinavian yielded to the charms of France and the French tongue. Never, but for the model given by the Trouveurs of the Langue d'Oil, would the Germans have gained their national Epic. The title Abenteuer, prefixed to each song of the Niebelungen Lied, reveals the school in which the Suabian Minstrel was formed. Increasing moral in the French Great as the merits of the Teutonic forms fluence of of speech may be, and admirable as the talents language they have employed, yet the languages as the lan of civilization. Shakespeare and Milton and Schiller and Goethe, have failed to win the wreath belonging to the French tongue. National pride or national feeling must not be allowed to conceal this truth from us. The French language is our universal interpreter throughout the European Commonwealth. Justly may the French assert that their intellectual heroes constitute the advanced-guard of European progress. Their wit, their whim, their verve, their erudition, equally sparkling and profound, their grace, readiness, talent, their philosophy, their perfect trust in human reason, their complete emancipation from positive faith, all combine to give them that commanding station; and their language bestows the weapons wherewith they gain the victory. France created the emphatic name of civilization; and that language is amongst the most powerful of the efficient causes which promise or threaten to extend the Empire of civilization throughout the world. 13. Such has been the progress, the triits decline umphant career of the Neo-Latin or Romance The Latin as a verna tongue. Latin retained in peculiar localities. cular languages; yet the Classical Latin yielded slowly. There appear to have been peculiar localities, the opposite counterparts of the Sedici and Tredici Communi, in which the Latin subsisted with a certain degree of purity: a volgare, in the strict sense of the term. Race, habit, fancy, thus preserved the spirit in particular places and amongst peculiar classes, when it was yielding to the |