GAELIC NOTES.
Part I. of the Easy Lessons compiled by Father O’Growney is now on sale in book form, price 3d. It contains all the Lessons published in the Gaelic Journal as far as No. 53. Messrs. M. H. Gill and Son, Dublin, are the publishers.
I have had an opportunity of speaking to many who have commenced the study of Irish by the aid of these lessons. All agree in saying that the method of explanation, whether of the sound, meaning, or use of the words, is incomparably simple and intelligible, contrasting favourably not only with other books of elementary instruction in Irish, but even with similar books of instruction in other languages.
The readers of the Gaelic Journal will be pleased to learn that Father O’Growney’s health has much improved. Professor, editor, and author, he has undertaken and carried out the work of three good men, and no wonder if the strain has proved severe.
Anyone who has tried to teach Irish to a small class can realize the labour employed in delivering lectures on Irish to hundreds of students in every grade of proficiency. The difficulty lies in the want of suitable books of instruction, and that difficulty Father O’Growney has tackled with success, having prepared and printed privately for the use of his students a temporary series of admirable brochures containing selections of Irish literature and lessons in grammar and composition, the instructions in each section being made interdependent and co-ordinate.
Under Father O’Growney’s management, the annual rate of circulation of the Gaelic Journal has increased tenfold Its pages, from month to month, have won the encomiums of the Press not only in Ireland but all over the globe, and are read with interest by the lovers and students of the Gaelic tongue in every land. There is good ground for hope that, as the movement for the preservation, study, and cultivation of Gaelic grows in intensity, the Gaelic Journal will be more and more recognised as the point of union of every phase and section of that movement, which already owes much to the fresh impetus imparted to it by the exertions of Father O’Growney.
We will all hope that a temporary rest from the tension of his work will give Father O’Growney back to us restored to perfect health.
Irish has been adopted as a subject of instruction at the City of Dublin Technical Schools, under the control of the Dublin Corporation, and Mr. Michael Cusack has been appointed instructor. The credit of this step is in a large measure due to Alderman Sir Robert Sexton, who urged on the authorities the necessity of a knowledge of Irish for those engaged in the industrial development of the western counties.
Our next number will contain some particulars of the recent examinations of National Teachers for certificates in Irish.
In the New Ireland Review for September appears a paper by Mr. T. O’Neill Russell, on “The Making of Gaelic,” in which the writer sets forth his views on the cleavage between the Gaelic of Ireland and of Scotland.
The Central Branch of the Gaelic League adjourned its meetings and classes over the months of August and September. At the close of the month’s work the weekly attendances were still increasing, and the interest in the conversation lessons was unabated. The branch enters on its second year’s work on the first Tuesday of October.
The League is going ahead in Cork. At a meeting held on the 5th ult., a lecture, musically illustrated, was delivered by Mr. L. Fleming on “The Vision Songs of Ireland.” Gaelic songs were rendered and Gaelic poems recited in connection with the lecture by Miss Bergen and Messrs. C. O’Kelly, P. Lynch, J. J. Murphy, T. Murphy, and J. Moynihan. Mr. D. Horgan presided. A vote of thanks to the lecturer was proposed and responded to in Gaelic, and a Gaelic chorus closed the proceedings. This is a new dawn of National culture in Ireland.
Mr. David Nutt (270 Strand, London) will shortly publish a volume, to be entitled “Tales and Traditions of the Western Highlands, collected and edited by the late Rev. J. G. Campbell of Tiree.” This work will form the fifth volume of Mr. Nutt’s admirable series of Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition. From the prospectus of [ 110 ]the new book it will be learned that, as a contribution to the collection and elucidation of the fast-fading remains of Gaelic traditional belief, custom, and folk-fancy, and as a memorial of a conscientious and hard-working scholar, a true Gael and lover of the Gael, this volume is sure to be acceptable to all who cherish the Gaelic race and its traditions. The contents will embrace clan-traditions, legendary history, fairy and folk tales, fables and games. Four of the pieces will be accompanied by the original Gaelic versions. The subscription price is 3s. 6d. net (4s. post free).
No man has done more, perhaps, than Mr. Nutt to advance the literature of the Gael in the world’s estimation. The publication, of Celtic lore has been, in his case, no commercial speculation but a pure labour of love. His beautiful volumes claim by right a place in the library of every lover of Celtic literature.
Attention is directed to Father O’Growney’s paper in this number on the Gaelic of “An Unexplored Region” in West Cork. This paper should serve as an example of what might easily be done by many readers in various districts. Work done in this direction is of the highest value, and it is to be hoped that such articles will be numerous in future issues, and that the material for them will be sought in every Irish-speaking district.