down to the twelfth century, which no French author has yet doubted or
denied; and allowing that what the writers of those times say of the
Gallic is to be understood of the Romance, as appears from chronological
proofs, and the expressions of several authors prior to the fifth
century;[AS] who, by distinguishing the _Gallic_ both from the _Latin_
and the _Celtic_, plainly indicate that they thereby mean the Romance,
those being the only three languages which, before the invasion of the
Franks, could possibly have been spoken, or even understood in Gaul:
admitting these premises, I say, it necessarily follows, that the
language introduced into England under Alfred, and afterwards more
universally established by Edward the Confessor, and William the
Conqueror, must have been an emanation of the Romance, very near akin to
that of the abovementioned oath, and consequently to that which is now
spoken in the Alps.

The intercourse between Britain and Gaul is known to have been of a very
early date; for even in the first century we find, that the British
lawyers derived the greatest part of their knowledge from those of the
continent;[AT] while on the other hand, the Gallic Druids are known to
have resorted to Britain for instruction in their mysterious rites. The
Britons, therefore, could not be totally ignorant of the Gallic
language. And hence it will appear, that Grimbald, John, and the other
doctors introduced by Alfred,[AU] could find no great difficulty in
propagating their native tongue in this island; which tongue, at that
interval of time, could only be the true Romance, since they were
contemporaries with Lewis the Germanic.

That the Romance was almost universally understood in this kingdom under
Edward the Confessor, it being not only used at court, but frequently at
the bar, and even sometimes in the pulpit, is a fact too well known and