Page:The ancient language, and the dialect of Cornwall.djvu/23

 innovation ; so that its purity seemed to retire from the Roman presence, and to seek an asylum in those moun- tainous or retired regions to which the invaders could not without much difficulty have access. the natives had less to fear than that of most others, if we make an exception in favour of Wales; and perhaps from this Roman invasion it suffered least. have, comparatively speaking, very few Latin idioms, and very few Latin words. "But it was not from the influence of the Roman language, that the Cornish tongue was doomed to perish. It survived the shock which it had sustained, and secured its independence by retiring to the Cambrian mountains ; to the retreats which Danmonium afforded it; and by emigrating to the continent, and there starting up as a new dialect on the shores of Armorica. (Brittany). "When the Romans abandoned their conquests in this island, and the Saxons succeeded them, the inhabitants of Britain retiring before their victorious arms, sought a refuge in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany, carrying with them once more that language which was originally com- mon to them all. This language, in process of time for want of a more frequent intercourse between the inhabi- tants, became differently pronounced and written, and in various degrees mixed with different languages. "It does not appear that anything was ever pinted in the Cornish language till the year 1707, when the learned Mr. Lhuyd published his Cornish grammar.
 * ^In these western territories, the original language of
 * ^ Hence, throughout the Cornu-British language we