so rapidly in consequence of the Roman conquest, that, even at the time when Pliny wrote, it generally prevailed in Provence as far as Lyons, and the Gallic language had disappeared. From Sulpicius Severus and the ecclesiastical fathers, we see that in the fifth century the Romanic was the vernacular tongue in Gaul and not Celtic. This was the case from Provence to Armorica, and during the period of the Frankish kings the boundaries of the Romanic language were undoubtedly the same as they are at present, and for centuries the language of Lower Britany has not lost a single village. I do not mean to say, that the Celtic was everywhere else quite extinct, but it was spoken very little, just as in some villages of Lusatia, Wendish is spoken, of which the inhabitants of the towns do not understand a word. Augustus, then, extended Italy in this manner, because the northern parts had either already become Latinised, or showed every symptom of soon becoming so. Augustus divided Italy into eleven regions, and afterwards, in the third century of our era, probably under Severus, this number was increased to fifteen. Pliny has made the former the basis of his description, but the latter is not found quite complete in any ancient author. A knowledge of these divisions is of great importance in history, in order to understand the notices of ancient writers, especially of the “Scriptores Historiae Augustae.” The regions of Augustus are:—1. _Latium_ and _Campania_, from the Tiber to the Silarus, on the frontier of Lucania. 2. _Southern Samnium_, _Beneventum_, the country of the _Hirpini_, _Apulia_ and _Calabria_. 3. _Lucania_ and _Bruttium_. 4. _Northern Samnium_ and the country of the _Marsians_, _Marrucinians_, _Pelignians_, and _Vestinians_. 5. _Picenum._ 6. _Umbria._ 7. _Etruria_, a name which remained customary until the second century; but from that time and especially during the third century, it was always called _Tuscia_, as _Tusci_ was always the name of the inhabitants. Tuscia occurs neither in Cicero, nor in Livy, nor in Ennius, nor in Cato. But in the reign of Constantine no scholar ought to speak of Etruria. These are things which serve as hints to him who understands them to indicate the time at which anything is written, and which are stumbling blocks to those who are ignorant of them. When at Rome, I had made such progress in these matters, that in looking at a ruin, I could immediately discern to what century it belonged, and in like manner a practised eye can, even without any statement of time or place, discover whether coins are Thracian or Cilician and whether they belong to the period before or after Alexander. Historical blunders are quite as bad as grammatical ones; they are not indeed illogical, but they grate upon well-trained ears and feelings, and create uneasiness. 8. _Ariminum_, the legations of Urbino, Ferrara, and Romagna. 9. _Liguria_, the country south of the river Po, from the borders of Etruria as far as the Alps. 10.