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 Composition, that could not be derived from its Parent; since nothing can impart that to another, which it has not it self: And it shows likewise, that a Barbarous People, as the Italians were when mingled with the Goths and Lombards, may, without knowing or minding Grammatical Analogy, form a Language so very musical, that no Art can mend it. For, in Boccaces Time, who lived above 300 Years ago, in the earliest Dawnings of Polite Learning in these Western Parts of the World, Italian was a formed Language, endued with that peculiar Smoothness which other European Languages wanted; and it has since suffered no fundamental Alterations; not any, at least, for the better, since in the Dictionary of the Academy della Crusca, Boccaces Writings are often appealed to in doubtful Cases, which concern the Niceties of the Tongue.

Now, when this Native Smoothness of the Greek Tongue was once discovered to common Ears, by the sweetness of their Verses, which depended upon a Regular Composition of Long and Short Syllables, all Men paid great Respect to their Poets, who gave them so delightful an Entertainment. The wiser Sort took this Opportunity of Civilizing the rest, by