AN GAOḊAL.
89
out knowing Irish is nothing incongruous; a native
of Eire without knowing his own teaga vin vilis
wahara, is no anomaly among his people; and he
has his education finished while he has yet learned,
nought of that language in which his own St. Pat-
rick preached to our heathen sires, Cormac Uulfhada
composed his famous laws, and in which Brian
fired that heroism that blazed for the freedom of
Ireland at the battle of Clontarf. — Are we a para-
dox among the nations?
If one were to visit Spain or Portugal, with
the desire of learning the Spanish or Portugese lan¬
guages, and should find on entering those King-
doms that very few, (comparatively) of the native
could speak to him in the dialect of their country
what I ask, would be his surprise ? Let us reverse
the case and suppose that a Spaniard, or any other
foreigner landed amongst us, with the desire of
learning the Irish language, how many, may I ask
would be found capable of teaching him — of
satisfying his desire for Irish philological knowledge
comparatively few indeed.
But, it may be asked what use is there in
studying this much neglected language! It can be
answered there is much use every way. It is to
the antiquarian. To them a knowledge of the
Irish — admittedly the best preserved branch of the
Great Celtic stock — is absolutely necessary. But
to the children of Ireland ought it not be a
precious inheritance? We glory in the name
Celt, and why not then hold the Celtic language
dear? with it are interwoven a thousand national
recollections which we fondly cherish ; with it is
wound up the history of our glory, of our tri-
umph of our fame.”
What They Are Doing At Home.
The following extracts from the letter of our
friend, Mr. Duffy, Dublin, will be pursued with
pleasure by Philo-Celts.
Dublin May 1882
I received early this month the bundle of
copies of the GAEL which you sent me for agents
in Dublin * * A friend of mine calling to the
agents a few days since for a copy found they
were all disposed of. * * As soon as I left
them with them for sale I put an advt. in the
Freeman calling attention to the GAEL and I
dare say that had a great effect on their quick
sale, for a week afterwards they had all been
sold. * * I have not the slightest doubt but
that the paper will take here, and I am cer-
tain that at least a hundred copies would find
sale in the beginning, and would largely in-
crease afterwards. You may rely on my best
efforts in the matter, for it is a labor of love
to me. * * Turning to other questions, it must
interest you to know that the Council of the
Society are in communication with the Super-
ior-General of the Christian Brothers with a
view of arranging for the reception of a de-
putation which the Council has appointed to
wait on the head of the order here in Ireland
respecting the teaching of Irish in the schools of
the Brothers. As we have succeeded so well so
far with the other modes of instruction in the
country we have great hope that the Brothers will
be induced to take up warmly the teaching of the
Irish Language in their schools, and thus, im-
mensely assist the movement of preserving the
language, as the Christian schools are numbered
by hundreds in the island, and, besides, having
a great hold on the people, the instruction im-
parted in them is of a very advanced kind. As
to what we are doing at present I wish to let you
know that we have the Children of Lir going thro'
the press. My time is mostly engaged on it, and
I have consequently in my spare hours very lit-
tle time to apply myself to anything else. The
Book will be out of hand in three or four months.
We hope the Dublin Society's efforts with the
Christian Brothers will be successful, and we can
-not see how it would not, as the Irish Monks
were proverbial for their assiduity in conserving the
ancient literature of the country. We are sure the
Children of Lir will be a welcome guest to Gaelic
students, especially when, as we have been in-
formed, its orthography will be modernized. We
wish the Society every success-
THE SCOTCHMAN SAYS. —
A return has been issued relating to the Gael-
ic-speaking people of Scotland, as taken at last
census by an arrangemont come to almost at the
last moment, and the terms of which were very
far from being considered satisfactory by those
who were most urgent in their demands for the
numbering of the Scottish Celts. The column
added to the schedule would, no doubt, be va-
riously interpreted by the Gaelic people who filled
them up. Some would interpret “Gaelic speaking'
as meaning those who spoke Gaelic only, while
others more liberal would hold it to mean those
who, speaking English, could also speak Gaelic.
The return shows that of the 3,735,536 compris-
ing the whole population of Scotland only 231,602
are put down as speaking Gaelic, or one in every
sixteen. The following table gives the proportion
of population in the various counties: —
No. of
Division,
&c.
Division.
Population.
Whereof
Speaking
Gaelic.
I. — Northern Division.
1.
Shetland 29,765
12
2.
Orkney 32,044
36
3.
Caithness 39,859
4,246
4.
Sutherland 22,376
16,776
