The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-02-10
The Ignorant of Europe Went to
the Green Isle
TO DRINK At THE LITERARY FOUNT
Some Great Scholars are Cited
as Authorities.

In reply to one Louis Rhead, Mr..
William ]. Balfe, secretary of the Gae-
lie Society, recently wrote to the New
York Times an interesting letter, in
which he says:
With your permission, l will first
point out one of his many glaring alb
surdities, and then deal with the con-
tention which he advances.
In attempting to discount the over
whelming evidence which exists of the
superiority of the early civilization OF
ireland to that of England, Mr.. Rhead
states that the abbeys and monasteries
OF England were ravaged by the Morse
men, the Danes, and the Romans, and
the works of art, ETC., were thus de-
stroyed, while Ireland escaped from
these marauders. That is to say, the
Romans, who came to England in the
year IS B. c., and left there A. D. 41o
destroyed abbeys, ETC., not one of which
was erected before the eighth or ninth
century! Mr.. Rhead asserts that
neither priest nor layman, learned nor
unlearned, can prove that Ireland since
the food was more civilized than Eng
land, Scotland, or Wales" Let us see.
DR.. Heinrich thinner, professor OF
Philology in the University of Greifs-
wald, Germany, in the "Preussische
Jahrbucher," in 1887 published by Put
nam in English 1So1), says: ireland
can, indeed, lay claim to great past;
she can not only boast of having been
the birthplace and abode of high cul-
ture in the fifth and sixth centuries, but
also of having made strenuous efforts
in the seventh and up to the tenth CEN
tury to spread her learning among the
German and Romance peoples, thus
forming the actual foundation of our
present continental civilization" What
were the English doing at this time?
M. Darmesteter, the eminent French
authority on early history, says:
"The Renaissance began in Ireland
700 years before it was known in Italy.
During three centuries Ireland was the
asylum of the higher learning which
took sanctuary there from the uncul-
tured states of Europe. At one time
Armagh, the religious capital of Chris
tian Ireland, was the metropolis of civ
ilization."
DR.. Holger Petersen, professor of
Ancient Languages in the University of
Copenhagen, writing in an American
publication in 1899, says:
"It is the Irish nation that bestowed
medieval learning upon Europe. 1t is
the Irish nation that possesses the most
wonderful medieval literature, and the
Irish language is the most interesting
language in Europe"
Perhaps the learned professor meant
English" instead of Irish"
OF this literature DR.. Douglas Hyde
says that "the remnant preserved from
destruction by the Danes and the Eng
lish would fill 1,4oo octave volumes, and
probably more" The most important
remains of it are found in Trinity Col
lege, Dublin; Maynooth, the British
Museum, the Bodleian Library, Ok
ford, and in Milan, St. Gall and Berne,
Switzerland; Vienna, Wurtemberg,
Carlsruhe, etc. Mr.. Rhead intimates
that this literature is of modern make
up Ga pathological impossibility), be-
cause "French artist" assured him
that mot one of them is genuine" The
manuscripts of Milan, St. Gall, Wur-
temberg and Berne were edited and
published by at least four distinguished
scholars, viz: Ascoll, Nigra, Stokes
and Zeuss, the last of whom being the
great German pioneer and master of
modern Celtic research, and Stokes the
greatest living authority upon the old
Irish Qanguage). Are we to accept
their testimony or Mr.. Rheads name
less "Frencf4 artist?"
Westwood, the English authority OH
early art in the British Islands, said:
"Were it not for Irishmen these islands
would contain no primitive works of art
worth mentioning. The Book of Kells
is unquestionably the most elaborately
executed manuscript of SO early date
now in existence"
Mr.. Ernest Smith, Of the School OF
Mines, London, TRANSACTIONS
1866, testified to the superior quality
of Irish gold ornaments in the Bronze
Age, and Prehistoric Art" by Thomas