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comparisons are ; but it is enough to say here, and I think it can be truly- 

 said, that this volume contains the largest store of trustworthy compari- 

 sons of Welsh, Irish, Gaelic, Cornish, and Breton words with one another, 

 and of the different Celtic forms, with Sanskrit, Zend, Greek, Latin, Go- 

 thic, Anglo-Saxon, English, and Old High German, that has hitherto been 

 published. But the philologist is no longer satisfied with finding a simi- 

 larity between roots in different languages ; he compares the structure of 

 inflected words, and finds that common principles of formation run through 

 the different members of a great family of languages. In this depart- 

 ment of comparative philology Mr. Stokes has made discoveries, the 

 merit of which has been recognised. In his commentary on the Irish 

 Glosses, he has introduced considerable improvements in the declensional 

 paradigms, and made a great advance in the analysis of declension. To 

 the theory of the verb he has contributed important observations. He 

 has, for instance, shown Schleicher's explanation of the relative form of 

 the Irish verb to be inaccurate. He has also established the existence 

 of a class of reduplicating roots. Such steps as these entitle him to the 

 credit of being not only a successful scholar, but a worthy successor of 

 Zeuss. I believe it was the " Grammatica Celtica" of Caspar Zeuss which 

 inspired him with an interest in this branch of learning. The analy- 

 tical power manifested in that work convinced him that it was possible 

 to carry on Celtic researches in a philosophic spirit, and to establish 

 principles of Irish philology and ethnology on a sure historical basis. 

 Having completely mastered Zeuss' comprehensive work — a task by no 

 means an easy one — he commenced a methodical search for the oldest 

 grammatical forms, so precious to the philologist. In this labour he 

 had the good fortune to receive help and encouragement from the late 

 Dr. O'Donovan and Professor O'Curry, who opened to him many of the 

 deepest and richest sources of information. But their aid would have 

 availed him but little, if he had not been gifted with a remarkable lin- 

 guistic faculty, and a most persevering industry. Conceiving that, in 

 order to trace the development of the Irish language, the student should 

 begin by examining the most ancient documents, he applied himself 

 systematically to the work of copying the most remarkable of them 

 with extreme accuracy. He thus amassed so rich a collection of spe- 

 cimens of the Irish language anterior to the eleventh century, that 

 he has qualified himself to undertake the printing of Cormac's cele- 

 brated Glossary, long reputed the very touchstone of Irish philological 

 learning. "Whilst the Irish has ever been the primary and final object of 

 all his philological researches, he has not confined his views to it. He has 

 made himself familiar with the principles ofBopp's science of compara- 

 tive philology, and has applied them to the other members of the Celtic 

 family of languages. He has mastered the Cornish, a dialect obscured by 

 corrupt spelling and ill-defined grammatical forms. Of this dialect he has 

 printed a specimen, the miracle-play of our Lord's Passion, with a trans- 

 lation and grammatical notes. ' Neither did he omit, like most Irish and 

 Welsh philologists, that essential guarantee of success, the acquisition of 

 the sister- dialect. He has to a considerable degree mastered the Welsh. 



