spoken by the contiguous nations, as has been generally imagined) should
have maintained itself through a series of ages, in spite of the many
revolutions which frequently changed the whole face of the adjacent
countries. And indeed, so obstinately tenacious are these people of
their independency, laws, customs, and consequently of their very
language, that, as has been already observed, their form of government,
especially in judicial matters, still bears evident marks of the ancient
Tuscan constitution; and that, although they be frequently exposed to
inconveniences from their stubbornness in this respect, they have not
yet been prevailed upon to adopt the Gregorian reformation of the
calendar.

As to the nature of this language, it may now be advanced, with some
degree of confidence, that the _Cialover_ owes it origin to a mixture of
the Tuscan and of the dialect of the Celtic spoken by the Lepontii; and
that the introduction of the vulgar Roman affected it in some degree,
but particularly gave rise to the _Ladin_; the vocabulary of which, as
any one may be convinced by inspecting a few lines of the bible, has a
great affinity with that of the Latin tongue. But these assertions rest
merely upon historical evidence; for as to the _Cialover_, all that it
may have retained of the Tuscan or Roman, is so much disfigured by an
uncouth pronunciation and a vague orthography, that all etymological
inquiries are thereby rendered intricate and unsatisfactory. And as to
the _Ladin_, although its derivation be more manifest, yet we are
equally at a loss from what period or branch of the Latin tongue to
trace its real origin; for I have found, after many tedious experiments,
that even the vocabulary, in which the resemblance is most evident,
differs equally from the classical purity of Tully, Caesar, and Sallust,
as it does from the primitive Latin of the twelve tables, of Ennius, and
the _columna rostralis_ of Duillius, which has generally been thought