NATURE 



145 



THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 



SOUE RECENT BOOKS ON CELTIC. 

 Krltir Researches. By E. \\'. B. Nicholson. Pp. 



xviii + ji2. (Oxford: Clarendon Press; I.ondon : 



Henry Frowde, 1904.) Price 2ii'. net. 

 1 he Mythology of the British Islands. By Charles 



■Squire. Pp. .\ + 446. (London : Blackie and Son, 



Ltd., 1905.) 

 The Literature of the Cells, its History ami Romaiue. 



By Magnus Maclean. Pp. xv + 400. (London : 



BlacUic and Son, Ltd., 1902.) 



THOSE who have the study of Celtic at heart can- 

 not but be rejoiced at the strides which it has 

 made in recent years. At no period have the inhabi- 

 tants of the Celtic countries — those of Wales and Ire- 

 land more especially — shown a keener interest in their 

 l.inguages and institutions than at the present day; 

 the number of scholars engaged in Celtic research has 

 never been .so great; and this Celtic revival, so-called, 

 is like to prove no passing outburst, fanned by eccen- 

 trics and sentimentalists; rather we should sec in it 

 tlic coming of the race into its own again, the reap- 

 ing .iftrr many days of a rich harvest of literature and 

 legend. 



In the case of the Welsh, the movemcnl h.is been 

 partly the cause, partly the effect of the movement to- 

 w.irds improved education, and is no longer of yester- 

 day. It can be traced back some seventy years, to the 

 founding of the British schools by the late Sir Hugh 

 Owen. Thirty years later the same enlightened 

 patriot added discussions, both learned and practical, 

 on matters affecting the Principality, to the musical 

 and literary contests at the Eisteddfod. About the 

 same time the study of the Welsh language, which 

 owed \\h.-il life it had to the devoted labours of 

 Chancellor Silvan Evans, received a fresh direction 

 from the papers and speeches of Prof. Rhys, who in- 

 veighed against the school of Dr. Owen Pughe, and 

 pointed the way to more scientific methods. The last 

 fifty years have been marked by a steady, if gradual, 

 advance; the interest in Wales and things Welsh, and 

 the sense of nationality, have become ever keener and 

 more real, the language has secured a fresh lease of 

 life, and the study of philology and history has been, 

 and continues to be, vigorous and fruitful ; not the 

 least happy augury for the future is the fact that a 

 number of younger men, natives of the Princi[)alilv, 

 have already made a name in these fields. 



L'nlike the Welsh, by which it may have been in part 

 suggested, the Irish revival is of comparatively recent 

 date. It is none the less vigorous on that account. 

 Within tli<' last few years, owing largeh' to the efforts 

 of the Cjaelic League, Irish has been studied with 

 eagerness by persons of every shade of opinion, and a 

 determined attempt has been made to develop native 

 industries. .\ society has been founded for the publica- 

 tion of Irish texts — it has already done considerable 

 work — and a special school, the School of Irish Learn- 

 ing, has been started to give students a scientific train- 

 ing in the language and to open up the rich treasures 

 of Irish literature. The necessary funds are provided 

 NO. 1859, VOL. 72'] 



in part by \(ilinilarv sub>cri|)tion, and the generous 

 donor nia\ hope th.il h<' is helping to raise up a race 

 of scholars as devoted as O'Curry and O'Donovan, as 

 distinguished as Stokes and O 'Grady. Up to this pre- 

 sent, there has been no corresponding movement 

 among the Scotch Highlanders or the other Celtic 

 peoples, but it will not be the fault of their congeners 

 if their national aspirations remain iinawakened. The 

 Pan-Celtic Congress, which met for the first time in 

 1901, has for one of its aims to increase the feeling of 

 union among " the sea-divided (iaels '" themselves; it 

 is attended by delegates from all the Celtic districts, as 

 well from Brittany as from those on this side of the 

 Channel. 



.Apart from the enthusiasm of the Celtic-speaking 

 races for their own language and institutions, there 

 is a growing tendency among the other inhabitants of 

 these islands — themselves far from purely Teutonic — 

 to recognise the importance of the Celtic element and 

 to wish to be enlightened as to its history and litera- 

 ture. It is doubtless to meet this demand that there 

 have appeared of late years a number of books on Celtic 

 subjects, written not so much for the specialist as for 

 the general public. Of the books at the head of this 

 notice two — Mr. Squire's " Mythology " and Mr. 

 Maclean's " Literature " — .are of this more or less 

 popular character. .\]\ three alike are the work of men 

 whose distinctions are not confined to Celtic, and bear 

 witness to the increasing interest which it is exciting 

 among the British nation as a whole. 



Mr. Nicholson's " Keltic Researches," as the sub- 

 title indicates, are a series of studies in the history of 

 the ancient Goidelic languages and peoples. The 

 author's first object is to demonstrate to philologists 

 certain unrecognised or imperfectly recognised lin- 

 guistic facts; but, inasmuch as he has not made Celtic 

 his one and only study, he does not write in a narrow, 

 specialising spirit ; his linguistic facts are important, 

 but he values them chiefly for the light which they 

 throw on history in general, on the Pictish question, on 

 the Menapian settlements, and on the distribution of 

 the Celtic languages in Britain ,ind on the Continent. 

 The inaln philological result of the book is to show 

 that the loss of original /), a loss supposed to be the 

 main characteristic of the Celtic languages, is of com- 

 paratively late date in the Goidelic group, that, in fact, 

 p was kept at Bordeaux until the fifth century .\.u. 

 Those who wish to be satisfied as to the soundness of 

 his linguistic foundation are advised to turn to the ap- 

 pendices, which make up a third of his book, imme- 

 diately after reading the first eight pages. 



We need scarcely point out that much of his matter 

 is controversial, .and th.it some of his conclusions are 

 liable to be disputed, l-'or instance, many will refuse 

 to admit that the PicN spoke a tongue virtually iden- 

 tical with Gaelic; they will maintain with .Stokes that 

 they spoke something nearer akin to Welsh, or with 

 Zimmer and Rhys that their language was not Aryan 

 at all. On the other hand, there can be little doubt as 

 to the correctness of his main linguistic results. Ex- 

 ception may be taken to the interpretation of his pieces 

 jiistificatives, the Rom tablets and the Colignv calen- 

 dar; but he is certainly right in inferring that, besides 

 those of the Gallo-Brythonic branch, there existed in 



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