[1] "Dictionnaire Languédocien-françois," par l'Abbé de Sauvages. "_Franchiman_ est formé de l'Allemand, et signifie _homme de France_." The Abbé wrote in 1756, when he did not care to translate too literally; the Frank-man meant the _Free man_, for the Franks called themselves so, as "the free people." This learned Gascon, in his zeal for the _Langue d'oc_, explains, "_Parla Franchiman_," means "parler avec l'accent (bon ou mauvais) des provinces du nord du royaume:" an insinuation that the French accent might not be positively the better one. The good Abbé had such a perfect conviction of the superiority of his Languedocians, that he would have no other servants not only for their superior integrity, but for that of their language. [2] "Palgrave," 174. They also received some in exchange, many words in Cæsar being British.--Hearne's "Leland's Itinerary," vi. [3] In that very curious "Logonomia Anglica" of the learned Alexander Gill--the father, for his son of the same name succeeded him as master of St. Paul's--we have the orthoepy of our dialects given with great exactness. This work was produced about 1619, and we find the peculiar provincial pronunciation of the present day. A work so curious in the history of our vernacular tongue should not have been composed in Latin. Mr. Guest has carefully translated a judicious extract,--"History of English Rhythms," ii, 204. [4] The late Dr. Valpy told me that Mr. Walker, the orthoepist, had so intimate a knowledge of the provincial peculiarities of pronunciation, that in a private course of reading at Oxford with twelve undergraduates, he told each of them the respective place of their birth or early education. [5] Tooke's "Diversions of Purley," p. 141. [6] In "Anecdotes of the English Language," by Samuel Pegge, an antiquary, who called himself "an old modern," the reader will find several curious exemplifications of the vulgar dialect, sometimes fancifully, but often satisfactorily ascertained. It is amusing to detect what we call _vulgarisms_ composing the language of Chaucer and Shakspeare, and even our Bibles and Liturgies.