NEW PUBLICATIONS.
Reliquiae Celticae: Texts, Papers and Studies in Gaelic Literature and Philology, left by the late Rev. Alexander Cameron, LL.D. Edited by Alexander MacBain, M.A., and Rev. John Kennedy. Vol. II. Poetry, History and Philology. Inverness: The Northern Counties Publishing Company, Limited.
This is one more of those numerous Gaelic publications which do honour to Scotland and put Ireland to shame. The book is turned out in first-class style. The value of the literary matter contained in it can hardly be set down. This matter consists of five sections: the Fernaig MS., the Book of Clanranald, the Turner MS., a collection of proverbs, and some original poetry by Dr. Cameron. The Fernaig MS. is a collection of religious and political poems, transcribed by Duncan Macrae in the years 1688- 1693. The spelling is “phonetic,” and the result is that even Scottish Gaelic scholars find great difficulty in interpreting the text. But the orthography suffices to prove, beyond all doubt, that the Scottish Gaelic of to- day is substantially the same as the Scottish Gaelic of over 200 years ago; cf. p. 7, Di reind ea Eva = do rinn e Eubha (do rinne sé Euḃa); va eaid=bha iad (do ḃí siad); p. 11, cha deijd = cha dtéid (né ṫéid, ní ṫeiḋeann); p. 16, ni skuir ea dhoomb=ni sguir e dhíom (ní sguirfiḋ sé díom); p. 29, hohir=thoir (taḃair), &c. The poems are of great interest, and would have deserved to be held back until they could be published with a com- lete transliteration and notes.
The Book of Clanranald consists of two MSS., the Red Book and the Black Book. The Black Book, after an untraced existence of many years, was found by Skene, of all places, at a bookstall in Dublin. The Gaelic of this compilation is Irish Gaelic, the chief part being a history of the Macdonalds. Some poems connected with the Macdonald history, and some of a miscellaneous kind are also given from the Book of Clanranald. The poetry is often of a high order.
The Turner MS. belongs in the main to the middle of the last century. It has already been noted (September, p. 87) how at least one stanza of one of the poems it con- tains is preserved by oral tradition in the West of Ireland. The MS. is “of Argyllshire, or rather of Kintyre, origin.” Here again the language is Irish Gaelic for the most part, somewhat changed by Highland scribes. The following are the first and last stanzas of one of the poems, “Caoi Mhic U Mhaoilchiaráin” (a surname common in West Connaught):
Mac uí Mhaoilchiaráin mo ghrádh,
Mo ghrianán é ’s mo choill chnó;
Leabadh i n-úir gé aige atá,
’S faide an lá dhúinn-ne ná dhó.
* * * * *
Tig an samhradh ’s tig an sámh,
Tig an ghrian ghobhlánach gheal,
Tig an bradán as a bhruaich,
Ach’ as an uaigh ní thig mo mhac.
Of the poems, some are of the “Ossianic” type, some humorous, some devotional, some elegiac. Two versions of the tale of Deirdre, and a fine collection of Gaelic pro- verbs supplementing Nicholson's great work, complete the most valuable part of the volume. There follow a number 9fhymnsand poems by Dr. Cameron, which are pleasant to read, but of no exceptional merit. Our High- land brothers have even a greater weakness than the Irish Gael for versification. The “Lectures and Addresses” at the end are instructive, but a better knowledge of Irish Gaelic, surely an easy acquisition for a Highlander, would have made them more so.
Ulster Journal of Archæology. Journal of the Waterford and South-East of Ireland Archæological Society.
Irish Archæology is a branch of national culture which, throughout by far the greater part of its scope, must be inseparably linked to the National language. Lovers of the Irish language will therefore regard with unmixed pleasure the rapid spread of archaeological studies in Ireland. No more substantial witnesses to the reality of this development could be asked for than the two journals before us. The Ulster Journal of Archæology, now revived under such happy auspices, is a marvel of typography and illustration, and one more triumph to the credit of the great Irish firm—Marcus Ward and Co.—by whom it is brought out. The Waterford Archæological Journal is also beautifully produced, and the illustrations are excellent. We are assured that in both publications the Irish language, as connected with Irish antiquities and history, will not be neglected. In connection with this subject, we have to express our regret that it should be open to an English literary weekly to censure Irish archæologists for the ignorance of Irish. It is hard to see how the censure is to be warded off. None of our antiquaries or historical students have any valid excuse for not making at least a business acquaintance with Modern Irish, and, through it, with Middle Irish, which contains almost all the matter of historical and antiquarian interest in the lan- guage; and that matter in great part unpublished and unstudied. Fancy one making original researches in Greek archæology without a knowledge of Greek, relying wholly on Latin writings for information. It would not be a loss, but a great saving, of time for some of our writers on Irish antiquities, if they were to learn as a basis some modern Irish, in which instruction is almost flung at people now-a-days; then to take their Windisch, and Dr. Atkinson's Passions and Homilies, or Father Hogan's Battle of Rosnaree, and with these to acquire a general knowledge of the Middle Irish accidence and idiom. They would thus be saved from most of the ludicrous blunders that meet the eye on page after page of archæological papers, and from mistakes, too, that do not meet the eye the result, as a rule, of relying on vicarious quack-scholarship, or on out-of-date publica- tions. The old Ulster Journal of Archæology drew on the foremost Celtic scholarship of its time. May the same be true of its successor, and of its successor’s con- temporaries!
Dr. Hyde’s great lecture on “Irish Literature,” before the Irish Literary Society, London, has been republished by the society in a sixpenny pamphlet, which may be had from them direct, or through any of the principal branches of the Gaelic League.
Mr. Thomas O’Flannaoile, the well-known Celtic scholar and lecturer in Irish to the London Irish Literary Society, is engaged, says the Academy, on a volume to be called, For the Tongue of the Gael. It will be a col- lection of essays, literary and philological, on Irish-Gaelic subjects. Several of them appeared originally in London and Dublin journals, and were highly spoken of; but most of them will be new. These will include a bio- graphical and critical sketch of “Michael O’Clery, Chief
