Who consecrate, in your immortal strain, And noblest themes in deathless songs pursue. Rowe's Translation. But whatever merit their Poems might have possessed, when over-run by strangers, they were soon forgot, and the memory of the achievements they celebrated shared the same fate. Had the states of Greece been conquered, in like manner, soon after the days of Homer, the language would have experienced so material a change, that his compositions, ill understood, would have sunk into neglect, and been now as little known as the songs of many Gaulish, German, and British bards, no more remembered than if they had never existed. Wherever the Roman arms prevailed. their language soon gained the ascendancy in the courts of justice, and in all public transactions. The higher orders would, of · course, learn it, and the literati adopt it, as more fashionable, regular, and universal. When, in process of time, the Goths, Huns Vandals, Vandals, and other barbarous nations, in their turn, expelled the Romans, and settled, not only in the different provinces, but in Italy itself, a jargon, compounded of the provincial, and Latin speech of the conquerors, took place. From such mixtures have arisen the Italian, French, and Spanish, which the labour and diligence of centuries have at length, rendered copious, regular, grammatical and elegant languages. The Saxons, who succeeded the Romans, and drove the ancient inhabitants into Wales, spoke the Gothic tongue. These were followed by others from the continent, particularly a party of Angles, from the south of the present Jutland, who possessed the districts north of the Humber, and from whom, the southern parts of the island is called England. The speech of all these people, which originated from the same root, was interlarded by the missionaries who converted them to Christianity, with Latin words, being their native language, and that always used in their religious service. But what brought about about the greatest change and improvement was the Norman conquest, in one thousand and sixty-seven. This revolution introduced the French, which was spoken at court, as well as by the generality of the nobility. Accordingly, most of the apothegms, mottos, proverbial sayings, &c. preserved by the histories of those times, are in old French. The great bulk of the people, however, continued the Anglo-Saxon. A charter of Henry the first, written about the year 1113, is in that language. An old chronicle, written about 1150, is in the same...The Ormulum, which is supposed to be penned in the reign of king John, is Saxon, refining into the present English. The first piece composed in this stile, is the Geste of king Horn, about 1250. After this, the English .improved rapidly, and it is surprising what a difference appears. between Robert of Gloster, and Robert of Brunne, though the works of the former are only sixty years older than the chronicle of the latter, which was in 1338. Chaucer, who flourished in the fourteenth century, is ac counted counted the father or English poetry. Succeeding authors improving greatly upon him, it is now become the favourite of the polite and literati, who formerly generally wrote in Latin; for if not the most soft and harmonious of modern languages, it is the most copious and energetic. Many have supposed that the present Scotish tongue, on account of its affinity, is formed from the English. The notion, however, is erroneous. The Picts, who possessed the north, spoke a dialect of the Anglo-Saxon used in south Britain. And though, after the conquest of Kenneth M'Alpin, the Gaelic became the court language, and the people took the name of Scots; yet the subdued, composing the richest, as well as the most numerous part of his subjects, maintained their own tongue, which, in time, gained the ascendancy. The speech of their neighbours on the borders being nearly similar, contributed greatly towards this prevalence. Besides, in nine hundred and forty-five, Edmund, king of England, gave Cumber land land to Malcolm the first, of Scotland, on condition of paying homage for it. From that time, the heir of the Scotish crown was always prince of Cumberland, and residing, as sovereign, in that country, adopted the language of the people, which, in those days, differed very little from his `own. On the murder of Duncan by M'Beth, in 1039, his immediate heir fled to England, where he remained seventeen years. There he learned the language of that court, which during the reign of Edward the Confessor, was French. On his return, in 1056, many Saxons accompanied him to Scotland, and still greater numbers flocked thither eleven years after, when William the Conqueror mounted the English throne. From that time, especially after the seat of government was removed to Edinburgh, the Gaelic ceased to be the court language, and was again confined to the Highlands, and western islands. Though the modern English exceeds in |