The Eisteddfod and the Feis Ceoil. 55 



the latent fires of genius will once more spring into activity. 

 But there is the other and perhaps greater claim for support — 

 the formation of national character. Ireland may or may not 

 become a musical country. Her supremacy in olden times does 

 not go to prove anything ; because the folk song, in which lies 

 the preeminence of Ireland, is to modern music what the 

 Homeric Legends are to Greek literature, or the rude orna- 

 ment of a savage people to the pictures of modern painters. 

 But national character depends upon the cultivation of self- 

 reUance and independence, upon self-control and perseverance, 

 and upon many other qualities which are developed and trained 

 by organizing such movements as the Feis Ceoil. For it is by 

 creating Irish institutions, founded and supported by Irish men 

 and women, institutions which do not depend on English or 

 foreign patronage or approval for their success, that national 

 character can be developed and built up. In the Feis Ceoil are 

 ideals and hopes which are not bounded by the merely artistic 

 success of the movement. That is an essential of course, but 

 we have aims which, if rightly stated, must appeal to every man 

 and woman who desires better things for Ireland. 



We might add to the words of Mr. Yeats quoted above, that 

 the making of character is the object of all education ; and the 

 two institutions which give the title to this paper are educa- 

 tional in the very highest sense. The Eisteddfod of Wales, 

 which has been the model in many respects of the Feis Ceoil, 

 is an institution with a pecuHar and unique interest of its own. 

 It is not a musical and artistic event pure and simple ; it is the 

 expression of the ideas and culture of a nation, and embodies 

 its highest aspiration — the outward and visible sign of inward 

 and spiritual forces, which make for what are the most fruitful 

 sources of happiness and good. It has grown up wiih the 

 people, and, after years of existence and association with them, 

 is as much to the Welsh people as the hand is to the crattsman, 

 or pen to writer. Take the Eisteddfod from Wales, and you 

 deprive a nation of its speech — a people is left, dumb and 

 inarticulate, filled with yearnings and desires which find no 



