“A ġealḃuinín an ġuib reaṁair, d’iṫ tú mo ċuid
- eorna;
Croċfaiḋ mé go cinnte ṫú ag seisiún Bhaile-an-
- Róba.”
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Aċt ní raiḃ Baile-an-Róba ’n-a ḃaile ṡeisiúin ó’n mbliaḋain 1782—cruṫuġaḋ sin go ḃfuil an t-aḃrán sean go leor.
NEW PUBLICATIONS. Hibernica Minora, edited by Kuno Meyer (Oxford, Clarendon Press, pp. xiv., 103.) Sometime in the eighth century, as Dr. Meyer thinks, an Irish writer composed a treatise on the Psalter, and fragments of this have come down to us in two MSS. One of these is preserved in the Bodleian library, the other in the British Museum, and the MSS., as we have them, were transcribed in the I5th and l6th centuries respectively. Dr. Meyer now prints the Bodleian copy, giving the variants of the other MS., and from both he reconstructs the text, to which he adds a translation, notes, and an excellent vocabulary. This is not all, for in the form of an appen- dix we are given a description, with copious examples, of the remaining contents of this highly interesting Bodleian MS, in which the most reliable copy of the fragment now edited is found. We congratulate Dr. Meyer on his excellent work, and thank him for having again given students of the older Gaelic a most useful book. We notice that, in the vocabulary, Dr. Meyer trcats, as two distinct verbs, ^AbAim^I take, and jAbAmn^I sing. It is much to be wished that someone should give us a good treatment of all the uses of this many-sided word.
Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century, by the Rev. Edmund Hogan, SJ. (Quarterly Series, p. ix., 506). Irish readers of every shade of religious conviction will find Fr. Hogan’s new book one of the greatest in- terest. In it he has brought together minute accounts of the lives of thirteen Irish religious, with various ex- tracts from their correspondence or from other contem- porary writings. We learn that in 1600 the Irish College of Douay had up to sixty students, sons of the English of the Pale, all speaking Irish. In 1608, priests required a knowledge of English only in one or two counties. Irish customs, dress, local practices, etc, were all carefully noted down by the religious, and thus the book is filled with matter of the greatest attraction. It is from writers like Father Hogan, and not from formal historians, that we really learn how Irishmen lived and thought in the sixteenth century
The Rennes Dinnsenchas In the current issue of the Rviie Celtique, vol. xv., pp. 278-336, Dr. Stokes pub- lishes the first part of the MS. of the Dinnsenchas pre- served at Rennes. Thanks to Dr. Stokes, we shall soon have in print every fragment of this treatise on Irish place-names, whose value for students of the language, folk-lore, romance, and history of Ireland can hardly be exaggerated. The present instalment contains the first thirty articles of the Dinnsenchas, each edited with trans- lation and notes.
Father Hogan’s Todd Lectures on passages from Irish Lives of Saints, with the corresponding passages in old Latin lives, deserves a separate notice, which we reserve to our next issue.
Laoidhean agus Din Spioradail, by the late Rev. A. K. MacCallum. This new volume of Gaelic hymns is a substantial addition to the already large body of High- land Gaelic devotional poetry. Regarding it merely as pure literature, it is a welcome and valuable publication, contaming nearly 500 pages of excellent Gaelic. The volume is produced with all that excellence and finish of paper, printing and binding, which are associated with Mr. Sinclair's Celtic Press in Glasgow. Mr. John Whyte, brother of Fionn, is the editor, and has done his work well. Among the words of interest we notice ial, genera- tion (gach linn a's ial, &c. ). From this word, no doubt, is denved our ilin, a clutch (of chichens). Another old acquaintance is cricinne-c, the world, now obsolete with us. Faoilte is used in its two senses of (1) gladness, and (2) welcome (our piLce). It is only in a maritime country thit teachd an tir could have come to mean sustcnance. Among the 400 translated hymns, we notice, as the most attractive those rendered into Gaelic by the editor and Fienn, Dr. Blair, etc. , etc. We would also notice the poems by Dr. Norman MacLeod, especially Oidhche na Callainne, or New Vear's Night. We have alniost lost this word ; it is yet heard in som places as oTOce ChAilne. ' In Rosshire they say yet mo naisge, Callainne ort, my new year's gift on you. Any person wishmg to know Highland Gaelic cannot do better than procure this and all the other publications of the Celtic Press of Glasgow.
GAELIC NOTES.
Miss Annie W. Patterson, Mus. Doc, B.A., has made a strong appeal through the Press for the revival of the ancient Gaelic musical and literary festivals. Her appeal has been well received, and many offers of practical help have been forthcoming. “Enthusiasm and organization” are what are requisite, says Miss Patterson, to make a reality of this idea. Organization alone is wanting, in our opinion.
On the I2th of October, Miss Patterson laid her project in detail before the Gaelic League of Dublin. She was received with enthusiasm, and the members bound them- selves by resolution to aid in realizing her proposal. It is not intended that the project shall be confined in any way to the capital.
Dr. Hyde is at work on a new book, of which the title, says a contemporary, will be “The Story of Gaelic Literature.” The book will be one of the earliest pub- lications of the new Irish Library. The time is, therefore, at hand when Irishmen who only want to know English will cease to have an excuse for asking, “What literature have you in Irish?” A highly appreciative article on Dr. Hyde and his work for the Irish tongue has recently appeared in the Boston Republic. And the subject is a young man yet.
The new edition of O'Donovan's Grammar, by Dr. MacCarthy, is promised for an early date. It will b beautifully printed. As the first edition is so often quoted, the original pagination will be marked on the margin! Editorial verbal changes will appear in square brackets in the text, and editorial longer additions and corrections
