Irish Druids And Old Irish Religions

be regretted that the Irish are more and more adopting English for Erse.

As the Erse has long been regarded as the "poor relation," among the Celtic family, the following from the Edinburgh Magazine for 1800 may be reassuring to Irishmen--

"The Scottish dialect of the Irish, corrupted as it was with Monkish Latin, and abundance of Danish, arrived in this country with the Dalriadæ. The Irish is the real mother-tongue, and retains a very long list of vocables, either now forgotten, or never used in Scotland. On the other hand, the Irish vocabulary contains all the words, a few modern corruptions excepted, to be found in the Scottish Gaelic."

Although Welsh enthusiasts claim the greatest antiquity for their tongue, many philologists lean to the Irish language. Elton affirms that it "seems to be of all the Celtic language the farthest removed from the Latin"; and that "the oldest Irish is found to be the original, not merely of the modern Erse, but also of the Manx." Ussher found it nearest to Hebrew. O'Flaherty traced it to Phœnicia. Sir William Temple regarded it as an original language. H. O'Brien sees Hebrew derived from this primordial tongue. From Hamilco we should learn that the Carthaginians of his day thought more of the Sacred Island "extensively inhabited by the Hiberni," than they did of the Island of Albiones (Britain).

As to the writing itself, Todd believed in its pagan age; but Dr. Richey says, "It can scarcely be pretended that writing was known prior to the introduction of Christianity." The Greek character is seen in its semi-uncial state. Runic letters are absent, as the Vikings were using Roman ones. when they began to plague the Irish coasts Patrick has the credit, with some, of introducing Roman letters. Boece

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