The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-10-03
be correct shortly after Petrie made
his celebrated declaration.

be correct shortly after Petrle made
his celebrated declaration.
Some attempts were made by Cen
eral Vallency in the latter part of the
eighteenth century to decipher the
Ogham by some method of his own,
but he met with no success, though
he was most enthusiastic in drawing
public attention to the subject.
Though an Englishman, born and
bred, he was partial to the question
of Irish welfare, and became almost
a fanatic on the subject of Irish an
tiquities. Like another eminent
Englishman, Sir William Betham, he
stood manfully for the veracity of
the ancient Irish records against the
cold. unsympathetic and prejudiced
views of the general run of English
and Anglo-Irish writer's, and received
like Sir William, the hostility which
can always be expected from that
quarter.
Father Hogan's Translation.
A few curious-minded scholars had
given the matter some attention after
Vallancy had read his first paper on
the subject before the Royal Irish
Academy, body which he helped to
found, but it was not till 1845, that
an accepted translation was rendered
by Father Matthew Hogan of Blarn-
ey, though it was claimed before the
Academy, by Professor Graves in
1848, that he was the first to trans
late one. The prior credit was given
to Father Morgan by the greatest
writer on the Ogham question. Rich
ard Rolf Brash, whose profound pro-
duction was published by his wife
after his death, which took place in
1876. Prof. Graves did valuable
work in that line, however.
Brash's work is entitled, 'The Og-
ham-Inscribed Monuments of the
Gaedhil pronounced GaeD in the
British Islands," 1t is a large vol
ume of 425 pages of rearing matter
and fifty plates. From this valuable
work I am mainly drawing, as it is
the standard production on the sub
ject; in fact is the only one worthy
of study, for it goes into the subject
in detail, giving us all the informa-
ton which could be gathered about
it in the British Isles and compares
it with some of the most ancient in
scriptions of the East, showing a
striking analogy of form.
Ogham Inscribed Stones Found in
the Most Ancient Burial
Places.
Brash had no hesitation in declar-
ing that as those Ogham-inscribed
stones have all been found in the
most ancient burial places of the
country, they were erected and in
scribed by the first colonists who
landed in ireland. This is very i'm
portant. The first recorded colonists
are said to have arrived in Ireland
over four thousand years ago from
the East, and yet De Roo gives rea-
sons to show that Ireland may have
been populated by a race from this
American continent long before that
time.
This strange theory would proba-
Llno 1rrrifav
Anna Wilkes, who tells us very en-
phatically in ireland, Ur of the
Chaldees," that biblical students
have been led by conventional as
sumption to the wrong conclusion as
to the whereabouts of the real Chal-
dee, which without contradicting the
Bible, she places in Western Europe,
and existing long before the Bible
was commenced. She has no hest
tation in declaring in her very learn
ed work, that Ireland was in reality
the Ur of the Chaldees. However
this may be, it is true that while the
Ogham inscriptions are found in the
greater numbers in Ireland a very
similar character is found in coun-
tries of biblical record. Anna Wilkes
knew nothing of the Ogham, and did
. not touch on the question. Had she
7 known of it's value, it might aid hel
! theories, fanciful though they may
I be.
4 Records of Ireland's Civilization
+ from the Most Remote Times.
While Brash records his indigna
ton at the lack of interest in the Og
( ham, he doesn't hesitate to place the
blame on the prejudice existing
against all things Irish by the leading
scholars of England as we'll as the
) Anglo-Irish school. Indeed have nc
3 hesitation in saying that Englishmen
have been fairer on such affairs than
: the Anglo-Irish, whose works on all
things Irish must be read with q
great deal of caution, because 1t has
: been a consistent failing with the
majority of them that they cloud in
I the most subtle manner all those
! questions which tend to confirm the