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these people of their independency, laws, customs,and consequently of their very language, that, as 1msbeen already observed, their form of government, es-pecially in judicial matters, still bears evident marksof the ancient Tuscan constitution; and that, al-though they be frequently exposed to inconveniencesfrom their stubbornness in this respect, they have notyet been prevailed upon to adopt the Gregorian refor-mation of the calendar.

As to the nature of this language, it may now beadvanced, with some degree of confidence, that theCialcrver owes it origin to a mixture of the Tuscan a ndof the dialect of the Celtic spoken by the Lepontii;and that the introduction of die vulgar Roman af-fected it in some degree, but particularly gave rise tothe Ladin ; the vocabulary of which, as any one maybe convinced by inspecting a feav lines of the biblc,has a great affinity with that of the Latin tongue.But these assertions rest merely upon historical evi-dence ; for as to the Cialover , all that it may haveretained of the Tuscan or Roman, is so much disfi-gured by an uncouth pronunciation and a vagueorthography, that all etymological inquiries are there-by rendered intricate and unsatisfactory. And as tothe Ladin , although its derivation be more manifest,yet we are equally at a loss from what period or branchof the Latin tongue to trace its real origin; for I havefound, after many tedious experiments, that even thevocabulary, in which the resemblance is most evi-dent, differs equally from the classical purify of Tally,Caisar, and Sallust, as it docs from the primitiveLatin of the twelve tables, of Ennius, and the columna

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