LATIN IN ROMAN BRITAIN.
[To Tar EDITOR 01 ERZ " SPECTATOR "]
Sin,—How do those who deny or doubt the currency of Latin in Roman Britain dispose of the evidence of Bede P "This island at present contains five nations, the English,
Britons, Scots, Picts, and Latins, each in its own peculiar dialect cultivating the sublime study of Divine Truth. The Latin tongue is, by the study of the Scriptures, become common to the rest."—(Bk. L, chap. 1, Ed. Giles.) This passage is decisive for Bede's own time, and hardly less for the time before the English came in. There must have been more Latin, not less, in the Celtic period.—I am, Sir, &c., P.S.—On the other subject, viz., vineyards in England, there is an explanation possible that does not involve a change of climate. The vineyard was a name sometimes given as a mystical description of a place where a community life without vows was carried on by Christian women devoted to a pions and practical life. I have been waiting to see if any one else would make this suggestion.
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