AN GAODHAL.
31
the expiration of seven years. He supplied
them with shipping and attendance and what-
ever else was judged necessary for so great an
enterprise. In the meantime he himself went
to the Plains of Shinar, where schools had
been long established, to obtain all the infor-
mation he could towards forwarding his de-
sign of introducing arts and sciences into his
dominion. It was the language spoken by
Bartholomew and his wife Elgie or Elgnart,
and of their three sons and one thousand war-
riors. It was that of Scota, daughter of Pha-
raoh, King of Egypt, and wife of Milisius, the
illustrious King of Spain, who, in the year of
the world 2732, was slain in battle against the
Tuatha-de-danans, or damnoni of Ireland, at
Sliabh-Miss (Sliabh being Irish for mountain),
on the north side of which, near the sea, and
south of Tralee, in the County of Kerry
O'Connor, she was buried in a valley, from
her even to this day called Gleaun or Glann
Scoithin, or Scota's Vale, where also fell the
beautiful Fais, wife of Un, a Milisian General.
In the same year was Heber, the eldest son
of Milisius, inaugurated Monarch of Ireland,
in conjunction with his brother Herrman.
It was the language which was spoken by
the great Ollanih Fodhla, or the Doctor of
Laws, who had his existence eight hundred
years before the birth of Our Lord. He it was
who established schools in Ireland and divided
the people into classes.
Hoping I don’t trespass too much on your
time, I remain yours, very respectfully,
CORNELIUS D. GERAN.
THE KELTIC TONGUE.
And we ask it of the pride, the patriotism,
and the hearts of our farmers and shopkeepers,
will they try to drive out of their children's
minds the native language of almost every
great man we had, from Brian Boru to O'Con-
nell — will they meanly sacrifice the language
which names their hills, and towns, and music,
to the tongue of the stranger?
Even the Saxon and the Norman colonists,
notwithstanding the laws (i. e. of Henry VIII,
forbidding and abolishing the national dress
and language), melted down into the Irish,
and adopted all their ways and language. For
centuries upon centuries Irish was spoken by
men of all bloods in Ireland, and English was
unknown, save to a few citizens and nobles of
the Pale. 'Tis only within a very late period
that the majority of the people learned Eng-
lish. — Davis.
Nothing can make us believe that it is natural
or honorable for the Irish to speak the speech
of the alien, the invader, the Sassenach tyrant,
and to abandon the language of our kings and
heroes. What! give up the tongue of Ollamh
Fodhla and Brian Boru, the tongue of M'Carty
and the O'Nials, the tongue of Sarsfield,s, Cur-
ran's, Matthew's, and O'Connell’s boyhood, for
that of Stratford and Poynings, Sussex, Kirk,
and Cromwell! No, oh! no! “the brighter
days shall surely come," and the sweet old
language be heard once more in college, mart,
and senate.
The bulk of our history and poetry are writ¬
ten in Irish, and shall we, who learn Italian,
and Latin, and Greek, to read Dante, Livy,
and Homer in the original — shall we be con-
tent with ignorance or a translation of Irish?
— Davis.
ARCHBISHOP McHALE.
We understand that the Rev. U. J. Canon
Bourke, P.P., M.R.I.A., of Claremorris, and
for a long time President of St. Jarlath’s Col-
lege, Tuam, is writing the life of Archbishop
MacHale in the Irish language. This will be
treat to Gaelic readers, for we believe there
is no living man so competent to undertake the
task, not only because of his thorough know-
ledge of the language, but from his long in-
timacy with the subject. (Had the illustrious
Archbishop the privilege of naming his succes-
sor, we believe Canon Bourke would be his
choice.) We shall endeavor to produce it from
month to month in THE GAEL, and in it we an-
ticipate a treat which cannot be surpassed in
the language. We consider Canon Bourke to
be the best living Irish writer, because we con-
sider he possesses all the elements which are
necessary to entitle him to that distinction, he
is aquainted with the spoken language, he is
patriotic, and no one will gainsay his intellig¬
ence, therefore, we think we are justified in
declaring him to be the best Irish scholar to-
day living.
"THE UNITED IRISHMAN."
We sincerely thank the editor of The United
Irishman, for his flattering notice of THE GAEL.
We hope the editors of other Irish national
papers will follow his example: All agree that
it would be a patriotic undertaking to revive
the language, yet THE GAEL is in its fourth
issue, and though we have sent copies to all
Irish American journalists they don't seem to
notice it, which is hardly consistent with their
professions in other directions.
THE PHILO CELTIC SOCIETY held its regular
monthly re-union at Jefferson Hall, corner of
Adams and Willoughby Streets, on the 29th
ultimo, when we were the recipient of a Gold
Pen, Case and Inkstand, at the hands of the
Philo-Celtic Orchestral Union. The presenta-
tion address is beautifully engrossed, and is
the work of the financial secretary of the society,
John F. O’Brien. The presentation was a com-
plete surprise to us, but we must and do un-
reservedly, acknowledge, a pleasing one; not
because of the intrinsic value of the gift, for, no
matter how costly, money could buy it, but be¬
cause of the sentiments which gave it birth,
and which no amount of money could pur-
