The Northwestern standard., 1886-04-03
ANCIENT LITERARY REMAINS.

1t may BE seen how incomplete ana
almost useless are all the histories OF
Ireland that have been published. Ine
history OF Ireland can never be written
with anything like accuracy until ali
Aer ancient manuscripts are translated.
80 make the matter worse with those
Irish histories already published, not
~ne OF those who have undertaken to
9write them in this century know word
Of the language in which the ancient re-
cords of ireland were kept; consequent
,y Keating's 'tHistory of Ireland is
about the only one of them that IS worth
ANYTHING It was written III Gaelic, and
it's author wasa profound Gaelic scholar;
but it's style is SO antlquated that the
modern reader generally becomes pre-
indeed against the book, and too often
throws it from him III disgust. LII Is,
nevertheless. q work Of great merit, and
founded on documents Of the highest
authority 1T was written abont 1928 The
late John O'Mahoney made an excellent
translation Of it.
Nothing can more clearly illustrate the
follv Of men attempting to write the
history of a country the language OF
which they do not understand, than the
anecdote that Eugene O'Culry tells OF
Moore. O'Curry happened to be one
aay in the library of Trinity College
when the poet entered. O'Curry was
yoring over piles Of plackened manu-
scripts. Moore came over to where ne
was and asked in what language
they were written TN the Irish Ian
guage,'' said O,Curry How old are
Ehey?' inquired Moore. Some Of them
are 500 some 800 and some, / have
good reason to think, are st least a
thousand years DID," said O'Curry.
HAnd can you read them?, s'Of course
I can; that's what [ am here for an
swered C'Curry. Moore then put his
hands in his pocket and walked about
The room for some minutes, buried IN
profound thought AT last he said:
'sWeu, I was o fool to undertake to
write history Of Ireland without know
ing g. word of the language IN winch
those books are wr1tten!"
It was by the merest accident that
ireland has the eruaitlon OF O'Cur-
rq to boast Of, If O'Donoyan had not
accidentally heard of him, Ireland would
be without that magnificent work. ''Ihe
Manuscript Materials for Irish His
tory . beyond all doubt the greatest
book ever written about the literature
and history OF that country. O'Curry,
il his humble origin and the few oppor-
tl,nities he had for acquiring knowledge
in his youth are taken into consldera-
tion, was one Of ssthe most remarkable
men, not ouly OF Ireland but OF the
nineteenth century He was one OF
those self-taught geniuses Of whom his
county may feel Justly proud But
there are the materials for more O'Cur-
rys 30 be found among the Irish small
farmers and peasantry; all they want is
encouragement. There are materials for
another O7Curry in this man, Daniel
Magner, who is employed mere as q
common day-laborer This mans pro-
found knowledge, not only of the mod
ern. bus Of the ancient language OF lre-
land is simply astonishing; all modern
Europe, including Germany, might pro
badly be searched in vain to find another
man Of his class and opportunities IS
really learned as he is. Magner has
spent many lonely hours porlng over
discolorea and moth eaten manuscripts,
and the world knows nothing OF his
Iabors. His years of hard study have
brought no comforts to home haunted
by the eyer-present spectre OF poverty
The trouble with such men as Magner Is
that they 1--we ahead of the epoch IN
which their labors would be apprecla-
TED. w le1l 1t IL SAlll LlIal tIiS SlStse A'+'s'e
of the Irish people and their lenders are
as yet mere children, IN a national
sense. no offence is intended. They
may find out before long that they can
have free land in Ireland, and at the
same time dead nation. Just as soon
as Irishmen begin to have pure, just,
and sentimental ideas about what con-
stittltes nationhood, they will begin to
appreciate the worth of such man as
Daniel Magner and viii take steps to pre-
vent one of his rare abilities from being
obliged to earn q living by sweeping
streets.
With O'Curry's opportunities IN his
latter days, Magner might be his equal
and it is to be hoped that the think
ing and soulful Irishmen of New York
will ere long try to give Magner some
position where he will have more time
to pursue those literary studies which
are the very breath of his nostrils.
Daniel Magner was born near Fer