In the first place, it will be noticed by careful readers of the list above given, that these compositions are not limited to French proper or to the _langue d'oil_, though infinitely the greater part of them are in that tongue. Indeed, for some time after attention had been drawn to them, and before their actual natures and contents had been thoroughly examined, there was a theory that they were Provencal in origin. This, though it was chiefly due to the fact that Raynouard, Fauriel, and other early students of old French had a strong southern leaning, had some other excuses. It is a fact that Provencal was earlier in its development than French; and whether by irregular tradition of this fact, or owing to ignorance, or from anti-French prejudice (which, however, would not apply in France itself), the part of the _langue d'oc_ in the early literature of Europe was for centuries largely overvalued. Then came the usual reaction, and some fifty years ago or so one of the most capable of literary students declared roundly that the Provencal epic had "le defaut d'etre perdu." That is not quite true. There is, as noted above, a Provencal _Fierabras_, though it is beyond doubt an adaptation of the French; _Betonnet d'Hanstone_ or _Beton et Daurel_ only exists in Provencal, though there is again no doubt of its being borrowed; and, lastly, the oldest existing, and probably the original, form of _Gerard de Roussillon_, _Giratz de Rossilho_, is, as its title implies, Provencal, though it is in a dialect more approaching to the _langue d'oil_ than any form of _oc_, and even presents the curious peculiarity of existing in two forms, one leaning to Provencal, the other to French. But these very facts, though they show the statement that "the Provencal epic is lost" to be excessive, yet go almost farther than a total deficiency in proving that the _chanson de geste_ was not originally Provencal. Had it been otherwise, there can be no possible reason why a bare three per cent of the existing examples should be in the southern tongue, while two of these are evidently translations, and the third was as evidently written on the very northern borders of the "Limousin" district. [Sidenote: _Italian._] [Sidenote: _Diffusion of the_ chansons.]