The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-01-30
IN RE ELITERATURE'
"Annals of the Kingdom Of Ire
land" Among the Most
Valuable.
WORK OF EUGENE O'CURRY,

The First Professor Of the Irish
Language in Catholic Univer- IA.
sity of Dublin.
The writ ers whose care ers have been
lately sketched in our columns, are am
pie proof that in literature, properly So
called, the Irish race has been brilliantly
repre- sented in Ireland, even under all
the disadvantages Of foreign rule and
the poverty resulting from it. Carleton,
Lover, Lever, Banim, and De Faru alone
are enough to show that the Irish me-
tropolis, with population less than that
Of San Francisco, is singularjy fertile in
literary talent. It need not be thought,
however, that it is only the lighter
branches of literature, Or, as the Ere, ch
would more accurately call it, literary
art that are congerial to the genius of
the Celtic race. Ireland can boast a
scarcely less distinguished array of deep
scholars who have given their lives to
study for the sake of learning alone, like
the great scholars of the past, the Scali-
gers and De Thous, the Muratoris and
Bentleys. History, both native and
foreign, has always been congenial
field for Irish research. Itwas favorite
study of the G ltic natl from the days
of St. Patrick if not from far earlier
times.
The old Irish chronicles were carefully
kept during the existence of the native
Celtic government, and even down to the
ainal conquest of Ulster, the last inde-.
pendent Celtic pro vince, which only sub
mitted at the death Of Elizabeth in the
beginning of the seventeenth century.
It was after that date, indeed, that the.
Four Masters Of the franciscan Nfcnassse
terry Of Donegal compiled from native
sources the we'll known "Annals OF the
Kingdom of Ireland" which must always
be one of the most valuable monuments
of the literatures of Celtic Ireland. The
Penal Laws and the invasions and SUBJ
seauent confscations of Cromwell and
William III, effectually crushed the Gel
tic language as literary vehicle Of
thought, but all through the past two
dismal centuries it's uss and the monu-
ment of it's past glories were carefully
preserved by devoted scholars like Mac
Firbis, Father Heating, O'Halloran, Ruri
O'Flaherty and Charles O'Connor of
Belnagare. The tradition has been
handed down from generation to genera
tion, and in our own time it has been
worthily continued by men like O'Dono-
van, O'Curry and Stokes, who have
brought the wide historic culture of the
nineteenth century to bear of the Irish
records of their native land and the his
tory of the whole great Celtic race.
We shall say few words on the work
of Eugene O'Curry, whose indefatigable
industry and copious learning won from
Thomas Moore the confession that he
should never have attempted his own
history Of ireland without previous ac-
quaintance with it's native literature.
Matthew Arnold, the brilliant Oxford es-
sayist, confessed in his writing on Celtic
history that O'Curry made him feel like
a mere triher in literature, while O'Curry
should be classed with the giants of
scholarship. Yet O'Curry was only the
son of poor farmer in the west of Ire
land who owed almost nothing to schools
or universities. His learning was entire
ly the result of unremitting toll, which
gave him no reward beyond modest
livelihood and the consciousness that his
work was for the renown of his native
land.
O'Curry was born in Glare, not far
from Limerick, in the year 1896. His
father, like Carleton's, was Il small far
mer, who had retained as precious in
heritance number of old Irish manu-
scripts, of priceless antiquarian value in
our day, but then regarded by the DOM
inant and educated classes as 50 much
waste parchment or, worse still, as trea-
sonabie documents, the possession Of
which was crime. Old O'Curry, how
ever, held his literary treasures as the
apple Of his eye and early taught his son
to regard them in the same light as he
did himself Eugene was slightly lame
and unable for that reason to take as ac-
tive part as the rest of the family in
the hard work Of the farm, but that cir
.cumstance only increased his love for
study, which he pursued unremittingly.
It was not until he was nearly forty years
OF age, however, that an opportunity
was afforded to bring his stores OF Irish
lore to the public knowledge The Or
sdinance Survey of Ireland about SIXTY
years ago undertook incidentally to OBJ
taiin some data coace ming the origin offe