I. Turning to the French language, there is a very singular relic of early times in the shape of an Anglo-Gallic Vocabulary of the end of the fifteenth century, in which the spelling of both languages is strikingly archaic:-- "Here is a good boke to lerne to speke french. Vecy ung bon lievre a apprendre parler fraunchoys. In the name of the fader of the sonne. En nom du pere et du fils. And of the holy goost I will begynne. Et du saint esprit ie veuel cōmenchier. To lerne to speke frenche. A apprendre a parler franchoys." After this exordium follow the numbers, the names of precious stones, articles of merchandise, fruits, wines, &c. _Wine of rochell_ is rendered _vin de rosele_. What we know as _Beaune_ is called _byane_ in French and _beaune_ in English. On the fourth page, among "Other maner of speche in frenche," occur:-- "Sir god giue you good day. Sire dieu vous doint bon iour. Sir god giue you good euyn. Sire dieu vous doint bon vespere. Holde sir here it is. Tenez sire le veez ey." The _z_ in _tenez_ seems to have been specially cut, for it is of a different font or case, and, curiously enough, in the next sentence it is wrongly inserted in _ditez_ (for _dites_). The question is asked how much one man owes another, and the reply is _ten shillings_, for which the French equivalent is taken to be _dix soulz_. But there were no shillings in England at that time; perhaps the writer was thinking of the skilling, with which our coin has no more than a nominal affinity. The _Eclaircissement de la langue Françoise_, by John Palsgrave, 1530, and the _Introductory to learn, pronounce, and speak the French tongue_, by Giles Du Wes or Dewes, written some years later for the use of the Princess Mary in the same way as Linacre's _Latin Grammar_ had been, are sufficiently familiar from their reproduction in modern times under the auspices of the French Government. Dewes was not improbably related to a person of the same name who acted as preceptor to the son of Cromwell, Earl of Essex. Both he and Palsgrave were professional teachers; but Palsgrave was a Londoner, who had completed his studies in the Parisian Gymnasium; and he at all events was a Latin, no less than a French scholar. In the dedication of his English version of the _Comedy of Acolastus_ to Henry VIII. in 1540, he speaks at some length, and in laudatory terms, of the official Primer issued in that year, and he also conveys to us the notion of being then advanced in life.