Atkinson — On the Function of an Academij. 



51 



group of incidents, for much of the unsatisfactoiy handling of early 

 Irish history arises from the attempt to occupy too wide a field. 

 Vague traditions are heaped together unsifted, and acquire a 

 colouring from the unconscious action of the writer's personality, so 

 that the history becomes little better than a kaleidoscope, and fails to 

 command or deserve general acceptance, or to oyercome antecedent 

 prejudices. K"© doubt, history must always remain liable to this 

 colouring, to the personal equation ; but still it is certain that men 

 will always turn with eagerness to the charms of narrative and 

 incident provided in the abundant fields of history, whereas the dry 

 light of science is often a cold, chill glare, distasteful or even hurtful 

 to unfamiliar eyes. 



I need scarcely add that the treatment of these records should 

 be dispassionate. Mr. Bury's recent book, " Life of St. Patrick," 

 is an excellent example of this kind of special study, combining 

 the accurate sifting and weighing of the evidence with the courageous 

 judgment of the historian. Critical work on the famous saints of Ireland 

 would fiu^nish many a fruitful theme for historic study : and the heroes 

 of Irish Saga want their place in history determined by competent in- 

 vestigation. The early migrations to Ireland remain still a subject of 

 rhetoric mainly, and have not yet yielded their quota of trustworthy 

 information. The early tales are full of incident, and seem to involve 

 matters of fact which await their identification at the hands of patient 

 and skilled labour. 



An inexhaustible field of study lies open in the early history of 

 Ireland, through the investigation of the old Sagas of Yiking age. 

 But here there is need of very special training to enable the different 

 sources to be readily and rightly utilised, for this training involves an 

 accui'ate and extensive knowledge alike of the Celtic and of the 

 Scandinavian languages and literatures. This would fiu'nish an 

 admirable field for those of oui' members who have leisure to bestow on 

 antiquarian studies of this order ; the Professorial body are naturally 

 so absorbed at present iii grammatical and lexicological studies that 

 they have but little leisure available for such wider and more compre- 

 hensive investigations. One can hardly imagine a [more promising 

 theme than the relations of the IN'orseman and the Celt, as set forth in 

 or deducible from extant historic records ; nothing more subtly in- 

 structive than to find iu their respective literatui'es also traces of the 

 commingling of the bloods, as in the old Scandinavian custom of the 

 Vikings. 



K.I. A. PKOC, VOL. XXVI., SEC. c] 



