GAELIC NOTES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXII, Issue 52, 26 April 1895, Page 4

GAELIC NOTES.

Bidhean cuid d' ar g-cairdibh Sacsanacha ag dh^anamh grinn agns ag g&iridbe ar Ar n-obair chum na Gaedhilge a chongbb&il beo agns a theagasg. Acht atd siad gan i6!asar bith ar an g-ciiis bo. la truagh linn iad. Atd an form ceudna orra do bhi ar an m-bainrioghan Elisibet naair rinne ci dllghe chnm na teaogan agns na creidim a egnos ann aon-fheacht"

Some survival, we find, of the good Queen Bess obtains in these more enlightened times of ours. Queen Bess, it will be remembered, made a law by which Latin might be used in the Church of Bng-' land services in Ireland. So great was ber Grace's detestation of the Irish language that anything seemed to her preferable to it. She would not even have the faith of the Irish people perverted by its means. Their faith and their language, she was determined, should perish together. The me&nini? of our Gaelic paragraph, therefore, will be app rent to those who take the trouble of translating it.

The golden jubilee of a venerable Christian Brother— the Rev Brother Flynn— was lately celebrated with great rejoicing at Mount

Sion, Waterford. The Host Bey Dr Sheebao, Bishop of Waterford and liamore presided at the High Mass and there was present a Urge number of the clergy. The laity too weTe nunuronsly represented. A special feature of the celebration was the presentation to Brother Plynn by the members of the lrißh class of an address in tbe ancient tongue, which was read fluently and intelligently by a pnpil named Cleary. "Aa pupils of your Irish claee," said the address, in its trans. lation given by the Waterford GUiaen, "we cannot refrain from expressing our admiration and our gratitude for your z:alou3 and successful labours in the teaching of the old language of Ireland. We have heard it race from your tongue with all the ancient richness with which it fell from the hallowed lipq of the monks of Bangor and Lif more. This language so dear «o every true Irishman, together with the memory of you who first gave us a taste for ir, shall ever be by us fondly cherished." «' If," said Brother Flynn in his reply. •' yon learn to speak, read, and write, this sweet native tongue of ours there will then be no danger that It will die out in the land, and generations yet to come will bless you for transmitting to them such a noble monument of Erin's glory." The late Professor Blackie, who was one of the first classic scholars of his day, was a strong supporter of Gaelic studies. Throngh his exertions a Celtic Ohair was founded in tbe University of Edinburgh— for which he personally collected £12,000. Of the celebrity won by the Irish schools of the earlier ages, 8i r Bobert Ball, in a recent lecture, recalled an instance. The Emperor Charlemagne, he said, had written to Dangal, the abbot of a monas - teiy in Ireland, asking him to explain the causes of two eclipses whioh Lad shortly before occurred. The lecturer also referred to tbe knowledge of astronomy possessed by the Irish monk Fearghal, consecrated Bishop of Baltibug, in 756, and canonised in 1233 as St Ylrgiliui. The Gaelic League, 4 College Green, Dublin, have issued an appeal for aid in the work they have undertaken— and which, on their

part, is a labour of love, none of the members receiving payment for their services. The death of the late Bey Mr Cleaver, they tell as, has entailed a serious loss on the movement, and made it necessary to provide for a continnance of the system of teaching in the schools which he had adopted. ' In Ireland;" they say, •' all that is possible is being dons by those engaged in the movement, but the funds at the disposal of our organisation are not sufficient to enable us to extend our work tbrongbout the large and remote liish-speaking districts along the South, West and Nonh. so as to properly organise the movement, to form local bodies to advance and maintain it, to distribute Gaelic Literature among the people, and to efford generally to tbe movement that monetary support without which it cannot be carried on." An easy way of giving aid to the movement for preserving and reviving tbe Irish language may be found in according support to the Gaelic Journal. This publication continues to increase in usefulness and interest. Its circulation throughout tbe country must have the effect of quickening study where it already exists, and of awakening • desire for it where it bag not as yet been let on foot. It provides the student with reading both to instruct and amuse. To the advanced scholar also its notes of explanation and ir quiry afi rd the ueans of further advancement. It is, in fac', impossible to speak too highly of this excellent periodical.

Pablio works, as a remedy for distress, is the subject of the chief paragraph in the Lenten Pastoral of the Archbishop of Taam. A Cambridge correspondent praises the appointment of Lord Acton to the Professorship of Modern History, and recalls the circumstance that his Lordship is a relation of Gibbon. His library comprises 60,000 volumes. Miss Barrymore, a member of the John Drew Dramatic Company, in Milwaukee, recently left an order to be called at stven o'clock on Snnday morning at the Davidson Hotel, so that she mitht attend early Mass, The execntion of the order by the ball- boy saved her life. A gas jet bad been left open during the night, and Miss Barrymore was found in an unconscious onditioa. Tbe discovery was made soon enough to revive her.