amending of the said translation, as they will answere to the kynges highnes at theyr uttermost perils, and wyll avoyde suche punisshement as they, doynge contrary to the purport of this proclamation shall suffre, to the dredefull example of all other lyke offenders. And his highnes further commaundeth, that all suche statutes, actes and ordinances, as before this tyme have been made and enacted, as well in y^e tyme of his moste gracious reigne, as also in the tyme of his noble progenitours, concernying heresies, and havynge and deteynynge erronyous bokes, contrary and agynst the faythe catholyke, shall immediatly be put in effectuall and due execution over and besyde this present proclamation. And god save the kynge. * * * * * THO. BERTHELETUS, Regius impressor excusit. Cum privilegio. * * * * * LATIN--LATINER. It is interesting to note the great variety of significations in which the word Latin has been used. Sometimes it means Italian, sometimes Spanish, sometimes the Romance language. Again, it has been used as synonymous with language, learning, discourse; or to express that a matter is plain and intelligible. {424} Muratori, in describing the "Cangiamento dell' Lingua Latina nella volgare Italiana," observes,-- "Così a poco a poco il volgo di questa bella Provincia [Italia], oltre adottare moltissimi vocaboli forestieri, andò ancora alterando i proprj, cioè i Latini, cambiando le terminazioni delle parole, accorciandole, allungandole, e corrompendole. In somma se ne formò un nuovo Linguaggio, che _Volgare_ si appellava, perchè usato dal _Volgo d'Italia._"--Muratori, _Della Perfetta Poesia Italiana_, tomo i. p. 6., ed. Venez., 1730. So Boccaccio, giving an account of the intention of his poem, the "Teseide," writes,-- "Ma tu, o libro, primo al lor cantare Di Marte fai gli affanni sostenuti, Nel _vulgar latino_ mai non veduti," where, as in the letter to La Fiammetta, prefixed to this poem, _vulgar latino_ is evidently Italian ("Trovata una antichissima storia ... in _latino volgare_ ... ho ridotta"), and not the Provençal tongue, as Mr. Craik suggests in his _Literature and Learning in England_, vol. ii. p. 48., where he supposes Boccaccio to have translated _from_, and not, as is clear, _into_, _latino volgare_. Dante repeatedly uses Latino for Italiano, as in _Purgatorio_, xi. 58.: "Io fui Latino, e nato d'un gran Tosco." And in _Inf._ xxii. 65.: "Conosci tu alcun, che sia Latino." In _Paradiso_, iii. 63., "Sì che il raffigurar m' è più _latino_,"