[ 65 ]The Welsh National Eisteddfod has been celebrated with more than ordinary brilliancy this year. In the proceedings, which took place in the second week of the past month, not only prelates and nobles, but the heir to the throne took part. The Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Princesses Victoria and Maud, and a number of the aristocracy underwent the curious ceremony of initiation.
In Scotland, many of the nobility and gentry interest themselves in the tongue which belongs nationally to only half the kingdom. Prominent among them are members of the ducal houses of Argyll and Athole, the Marquis of Bute, &c. The Queen gave a generous contribution towards the foundation of the Celtic chair in Edinburgh. In Ireland things are slightly different.
A branch of the Gaelic League has been formed in New Ross, with Mr. Tobin, Town Clerk, as President, and Mr. W. J. M. Flanagan as Secretary. Mr. Flanagan is an indefatigable Gaelic student, and has acquired, self-taught, a most encouraging proficiency in the Gaelic idiom. We hope that the New Ross society will rival in energy the elder branches, among which the Derry branch holds, perhaps, the best record. Mr. J. J. M‘Loughlin, from this latter body, speaking at a recent meeting of the Central Branch. gave an inspiriting account of the numbers, enthusiasm, and practical work of the League in Derry, where, perhaps, not one-tenth of the members had a previous speaking knowledge of Irish.
We have been informed that the fishermen of the River Barrow, though not Irish-speaking, use quite a vocabulary of Irish technical terms, words of command, &c., in the pursuit of their craft. Some of the members of the League in New Ross might do well to take down all that could be collected of such terms, which could not fail to be of great interest and importance.
The number of those contributing specimens of folk-lore from Irish-speaking districts increases every month. No doubt, many of our readers who have hitherto done nothing in this way will be stimulated by the example of other contributors to use their opportunities for the future. It will do no harm once more to enumerate the chief heads under which matter of this kind may be grouped:—(1) Stories from native and traditional sources; (2) Songs and poems; (3) Religious recitals or paidreaċa; (4) Proverbs, weather-sayings, comparisons, &c.; (5) Charms; (6) Game rhymes; (7) Riddles. There are, doubtless, other heads under which the oral literature of the people may be classed besides the more common classes here enumerated. Then there are technical terms and phrases, i.e., names either of instruments or of actions employed in such crafts as the Irish-speaking people follow—in agriculture, fishing, weaving, building, &c Everything hitherto unrecorded under any of the foregoing heads should, when met with, be at once committed to paper.
One of the best translations into Irish ever executed was a rendering of two of Miss Edgeworth's tales, Forgive and Forget, and Rosanna, done by Thomas Feenachty, a teacher of Irish in Belfast, in 1833, for the Ulster Gaelic Society. The title of the book in Irish is “Maiṫ agus Dearmad, sgeul beag d’arb uġdar Maria Edgeworth. Rosanna, ó ’n uġdar ċéadna. Air n-a dtarraing go fírinneaċ ó Bheurla go Gaoiḋeilg, air iarratas ⁊ fa ṫearmonn na Cuideaċta Gaoiḋielge Ulaḋ a mBeul-fearsaide, le Tomás O Fiannaċtaiġ, oide Gaoiḋeilge i mBeuL-fearsaide. Cloḋ-ḃuailte a mBaile Aṫa Cliaṫ, 1833. A number of copies are at present in the possession of Mr. P. O’Brien, 46 Cuffe-street, Dublin, and students who are not in possession of the book would do well to write for it to Mr. O’Brien.
Want of space compels us to hold over a number of collections of proverbs, &c., received from contributors in various parts of the country. These collections, except such of them as have already appeared in earlier contributions, will be published in coming numbers. We would ask those sending in matter written in Irish to be good enough to observe the following not very embarrassing points:—(1) Writing in the Irish character should not [ 66 ]have the letters joined together, so as to be indistinguishable; (2) No contractions should be used, except, perhaps, the very common and well-known one of ⁊ for agus; (3) Plenty of space should be taken, so that the writing may not be crowded. In short, it should always be borne in mind that, at present, Irish to be printed must be written exactly as it is to be printed. Owing to the carelessness of contributors on these points, much of the matter sent to the Journal has to be entirely re-written.
EXAMINATIONS IN IRISH.
We commented in our last issue on the character of the Intermediate examination papers in the Senior, Middle, and Junior Grades. We have to add that, if these papers were worthy of severe censure, the paper set in the Preparatory Grade was atrocious. It has been the custom in the Intermediate examinations, having regard to the want of facilities for making an accurate study of Irish, to make the papers in that subject somewhat less searching than in other subjects. This is only just. The papers for the present year, however, reverse the principle. The Irish paper for the Preparatory Grade is far more difficult than the papers set in other languages. The grammar questions require a knowledge of the most difficult irregularities, and this from children of 12 to 14 years of age! Other questions contain things equally preposterous.
In pleasing contrast to the Intermediate papers are those set by the Commissioners of National Education in the examinations for certificates in Irish for male and female teachers. These papers contain no quips or cranks or catch-questions, and yet they are well calculated to give a fair test of the candidate's knowledge of the subject. We hope, in a subsequent issue, to be able to notice the results of the examinations.