The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-05-09
Whit Is seing Done 10 Restore the
q Ton.us to Its Former
" Place.
,lcala ALI. KINDS OF TREASURES
4 An lndisp ans abl, Acquisition for tho
library Of the Modern
. If Historian.

H., u.
Ing Of the Liverpool Irish Literary soole-
4 ty in the lecture room attached to the
William Brown library. Liverpool, late
ily. The reverend professor death with
the Irish language, and gave wealth OF
sfacts to explain the details OF the SUD-
Z iect, to show the popular errors about IT,,
sand to index The principal Irish scholars
Of more recent times. The active use OF
Of Irish ceased in The seventeenth ceiltu-
nv, and DIR. Godfrey Heating was one OF
the last scholars OF that time. irish CLOS
saries began TO appear ABOUT the tlme OF
the union. and the discussions at that
period on the round towers led to the es-
Establishment of the Dublin Gaelic society
In 1908. This was followed by the Os-
sianic society, the Archaeological society,
and others, which did more or less good.
aOFlannagan and Halliday were the
scholars of this movement. Then later
on came Eugene O'Curry Of Glare and
DIR. O,Donovan of South Kilkenny. The
latter did splendid work translating
"The Annals OF the Four Masters" which
is storehousa of Irish knowledge.
O'DOnovan travelled all over Ireland, and
recovered the key 10 the place names and
proper names mentioned in this book
He wrote a grammar, dictionary, ana
works. O'Curry worked in manuscripts
and texts. and knew Irish from his child
hood O'Donovan learned Irish when be
was grown up. The reverend professor
then mentioned that ODonoyan's son
was at present residing in Liverpool, and
actually studying Irish under Prof. Kuno
Meyer of University College. Then there
was DR. Petre--his work on the old
round towers settles their history. He
also wrote OF Irish music, and Irish
tombs with their inscriptions. These
have been edited by Miss Margaret
Stokes, who herself has written on Irish
Architectural Irish Saints in Italy, and
her last book, "Wanderings in France, in
Search of Irish Saints" The Irish Ian
guage is divided into three kinds-mod-
ern Irish, middle Irish and ancient Irish
They differ somewhat, and in studying
them it is necessary to begin with the
modern language, whose idioms when
learned render it easier to master middle
and ancient Irish.
The available sources for studying old
Irish are mostly scattered in libraries
over Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
They consist largely in words and SELL
fences in Irish, comprising CLOSES writ
ten in Latin, theological and others books,
to make clear Or comment on the mean
ing. These CLOSES are the work of the
early Irish monks who went over to
evangelze Europe. While so many Irish
men have failed to see the value of their
own language, Germans, Russians,
Swedes and Englishmen have taken up
the study. No one was more pleasantly
surprised than DR.. O'Donovan when he
first came upon the work of the German
savants. Among these, perhaps,
Johann Casper. Zauss was the most not
ed At the present moment Copen-
hagen professor was studying Irish in the
Isle of Arran Old Irish is rich in facts
for philology, ethnology, literature.
church history and folklore, but the only
ern Irish The literature Of haiolcgy or
the lives of saints is voluminous and al
most untouched, waiting for workers.
Father OGrowney of Maynooth, at pres
ent, unfortunately very i'll in the United
States has collected a vast mass Of mod
ern Irish matter Of great value. DR..
Robert Atkinson has been engaged on
new dictionary, toward the publication
of which the Royal Irish Academy have
given a grant of f200. DR.. Stokes of Ok
ford has also published a dictionary; aud
Prof Strachant of Ovens college, Man
chester, one OF the most learned of mod
ern Irish scholars has assisted the sci
ence ct the grammar by calculating the
difficulties Of the Irish deponent verb.
The Book of Kells'' was instanced as
the best known example Of perfect illu
mination and scribe work. The Celtic
languages We're in two divisions, the
Cymric and the Gaelic; the Cymric in
Guided Welsh, the language Of Wales;
Cornish, the now dead Language OF Devon
and Cornwall, which was last spoken in
1920, and Armoric, or the present Ian
g,lage of the B1t;tons Gaelic included
the Irish, the Scotch and the Manx. The
Welsh and Irish, although akin, were
more distant that English and German
The Welsh and Irish speakers could not
easily understand each other. But Irish,
Scotch and Manx people can easily UNI
derstand each other with a little trouble.
i The language graduates from Waterford
around the coast through Cork and Ker-
ry, Galway, the Isles of Rathlin and Ar
ran. Mayo and Donegal, to the Isles and
Highlands of Scotland and the Isle of
Man, Waterford standing at one end and
the Isle of Man at the other Of the pecu-
liar differences in the tongue. No histo-
rian can set out to write upon Irish his
tory unless he knows the Irish language,
understand the. best points in the many
ancient sources awaiting his research.
Certain modern Irish writer's are apt to
build theories of their own by searching
for numbers Of little facts which appear
to support their. ideas. Such methods
were unfair and unscientitic, as was also
the way in which it has been theorized
that certain customs did not exist because
Some writer did not mention them. All
these mistakes would be corrected if
irish were better known. The reverend
professor considered the causes Of the
languages decay to be principally the ed
vocational system and the apathy of the
clergy. The Irish was practically dead
as Ianguag efor speaking pur
noses: but what he advocated
was that every Irishman should
know and take such an intelli-
gent interest in it that it would be fully
( studied and kept alive in the same way as
ancient Greek has been to this day. 81 ts
sssISsE Odds and Ends. 38 st
tsss dear daughter, Z said Mr.. scadds,
n want you to think twice before youaac-
scept Mr.. Weevil, J. If he should propose. :"
eyes, papa replied Miss Scadds. duti-