, 1881-10-08

them must hnvo taken. lo,trs IL make, atui
tiIeru is M EVENINGS, rgg,Iarity, an. IH.:llly
In tho handwriting which II WOULD be almost
tmposs0S e F'l1aH a', y @ @"Tsien tn1 ios r., e @
ll,t steadfi.e>s nt l,'!'al snn',Hl |" irprOluce
ttlelr, wonderful original rt,!,nlnrity. wf!lrli
c;.il be seen III photographs vi thu OrigihHl
yein o., w11ici u!eS wSrn wfitte, y, i ni'.!
t,,0 l,,t,ks. III SOME p1nets tile yciluin IL sD
blnck n,,.t tfscnl,trt1 tlIHt M ilnprneticed eyu
would Inil to lascuyHr II single lcHihic wns.t,
9 t. wS ~ s,sl1 sfS'1|s s pes y,rIncc lLt Af Is
,leulp1iGrlnK 0ltl writings proved Of sicli Hrcat
,lsr 10 tic fnver Of ancient literature ~ there
prulrll,ly was not another 1lnll tu lIc found
n EnrP wit so'aF a'c In a a 'n ki'Tw
thG writing u,l tho tnally t!scolnr'!d PAPER.
so1I'e Ut which tlad been written for t'eaily n
Thousand yeMrs.
rriic Of tho p,lst. seem full u contradictions
to Tho lliustcrn ilil,ld. FrT wlfaI llus btrl
said Of the beauty and regularity If Tue pctl-
u,nllshlp to bu seer itl theflt. nllc would nt
Sncu suppose that they wsre xo leglhc
Iix very contrary IL tlIo case. The best
CaltIc scGoar that ever lived, o,le wIlo woulsl
know every word in them, could not read
tll %tl,ps prastiGe; rof n wtef iron
Iuun nlld crowd M much matter rs possible
Into il small spacu. tic writer's prac.Ieetl
system Ut cot,tractfnna. many Ut which seem
zz1 Ipsa the s,is% rSder @ f n s'ns,s "s %9fd III IL
in;tiGI i;I f,.t,rr Univ il rIs"m. Mnnv of lin @
c.ntraetIons afe % nrbitrary; and son!e
,sa sfter 9s, or ttsrs lettefs rc acs @ 9,te 1V il
as'"r,allrti Iy one who Ilas tie ,aUst cotl.
plete knowledge Of tile lahEnaEu. This
w,,a Sn "t,,,,.rniiv nr,cttce,I In oIi rnu,,trirs
hcf3r., m tie nrt ot printing wis known. ltl,st
iny" Ind iii its orirl,, either in ,lesirs, ts s,ye
NJ NJ II; y;s|; eF e i fYS S;SNr y as e ;| r. Sfi
iotl, iticas soiltrlbited in orIrIl.nting tic a'-
( W,y system ten, e yS snss,is soist!s'f
e,'tS;s 5 sees @ uver asa BEEN Sl 's ,sfk %faE
for u t;csjru to tliifuso knowle,lHr, ai,tt tic
rhurr],tm",1n nf the Middle Il r,s wprn sill ,rss
remarkable for such desire. In n,ctent
tin;ss ii,o 1T oi willing w; @ grsat extft
nf ii.,. trutj, or eleventh, CENTURY wo,ii link
it III, tiissr,,cu not to Go uGle 10 write his
nnnie and wilnteyur tllare existed Of learning
in thosr rude md Darbnrous TINES wus coli.
Tiln contents OF these old Douks is Of tl.o
mnst yurinI t.harnctrr. Much of il Wp,li,i
be- ca]le.I rubbish, hut in,sc, 0f It Ii extremely
Interesting. mid SONY Of tl,o poelic pieces arc
1i tctlts Is Of IL %relgioas elnracter, villa some @
Of tie stories arc ,lro1} PaEa11, ind reute Il,
Iagan tintcs. These books wero III iuct
zin.. lit e,ni,rnciilg n very ,u.,cli tEoro Icter-
,,",,eo,ss tnhir N Hoi,femfs tban either Jfuf.
1,cr Or tj,c % 1tttutic III MotihiN ''' ~''''>- @>''
ilesj1rrccttol,. or the Unyui Judgment, will
be Im!ncdlateIy' preceded q followed by thc
renatu of e ades Of aneie Uster
AZ Inv i,cc,, alreatly st3tc tllo must yulilt.
Cow' e. ia enm mere % frHgnnt, iujy opc.i,af eli % Of
ii lnyi,rs t,ert, Inst: ii fhn wlnl0 Of # wuJa in
uxlste,,cc It would Dr6bub,y throw liy],t Ull
sOllo OF tl,e tlnFkest portions III
et ar's e Gox xit a; 1e tho s
In,,ei''rcs % If. Enrmna - ii" 1,mrsert ai iIet"r. .
erDEgncols il. contents rs tl,use Old hooks
may be, they are nevertheless most vnIuublu
TsaFt9r!ss z Il as'et s learning a. p! & stviza %
ancient writings in The Gaelic lnngunge Of
which tho icnrltetI world know little MS Vel.
but tic publication Of tho book under 1t,-
iice viii probabIy give stimulus to tic
forEtttu, writings t|,ntyut exist In t,la ol,-
rienf in,,x,,nfyn III SrotiaTfI mid lrrlnnd.
These boukH nre wflttcu In Il character
caIItl l,y the tIifrrot1t hnlI,es 0f t!oluscfi In.
MnI. Cfl!if. AID saxes} bt more commonly
versant with tho subtert haA my doubts
wlatsyer It present; bnt SUNG ,, GetIc se,cl;
| of irelnnd were slnt indebted to tic lln.nA,,s
for their nlfubet. and that the s9-cntle1 Irish
letters were Indigenous to ireland. .Crltic
| scll0iurs of tho present dny 10 not think 81,
! md nro of the opinion that tho Utt|!aHt clAr-
actcrs were tho only kind of letters known to
the Irish bufore the Introduction Of
| Christianity amongst tloIn. Thg char
acler In which tile old Gaelio
books arc written WINS tho satng as that IN
! .llsc almost ali over Europa until about tho
| twelftI, century, wien the ynriutlun Of tic
| Ito,nnn known as baCli-letter, ti1thtc, or
| German, made lts appearance, !rl,Is 1attrr
was tho i,lost barbaro,ls c|lnllge n,{ldo In tic
nncieMt Ison,au lettcrs The present st,luIl
lsuMut, letters now IN general ist utmost t,ll
over tho civilized world appeared ilrst III
Italy atol,t tho middle OF tic sxteetlth ccnt-
Wry. Ii WIS So nl,lcl, cleMrer nll.l halul.
soli,er t!lun tho barlAro,ls Gothic let
TER then lii use tllnt nll tho Eurr-
ppni ilnttol,s eXuept tho Gcrtltn,,s utl.i
Scnldnny1nns hal the yood SENSE to at!Opt
1t almost as SnDll rs It jl!ittle It's appearance,
md u Is probably destined to come into gsn,:
cral a,sa ero lont, NIL over ihe clyllize. world.
The, t;cr!lan innsu"gc Will continue to th. n
buEbear tO ail torcigllcrs 80 long rs Germans
rn1.sGt in nriutlns II iii ffl4 1iItrnnftl uu hut.