101 



Of this he has given proof in his critical edition of the earliest specimens 

 of Welsh, taken from Cambridge and Oxford MSS. His collection of the 

 old Welsh Glosses is more complete than that made by Zeuss, as it con- 

 tains newly-discovered glosses from the MS. of Jnvencns at Cambridge. 

 I have entered into these details for the purpose of showing that Mr, 

 Stokes' learning is of a solid kind. He has not amused himself, nor 

 will he mislead his readers, by fanciful conjectures. The work which 

 he has executed, and for which the medal of the Academy has been 

 awarded to him, is a substantial contribution to Celtic philology. It 

 will also secure to its author an honourable place in the estimation of 

 those who understand, as he does, that every contribution to a more 

 accurate knowledge of the Irish language is ultimately a contribution 

 to Irish history. "■ Por this," as he says himself, can never be written 

 until trustworthy versions are produced of all the suiwiving chronicles, 

 laws, romances, andpoetry of ancient Celtic Ireland. Moreover, immediate 

 results of high historical importance may be obtained by comparison of the 

 words and forms of the Irish with those of the other Indo-European lan- 

 guages. Chronicles may, and often do, lie ; laws may have been the work 

 of a despot, and fail to correspond with the ethical ideas of the people for 

 whom they were made ; romances may misrepresent the manners and 

 morals of their readers and hearers ; and poetry may not be the genuine 

 outcome of the popular imaginative faculty. But the evidence given by 

 words and forms is conclusive — evidence of the habitat, and intellectual 

 attainments, the social condition of the Aryan family before the Celtic 

 sisters journeyed to the West — evidence of the period at which this 

 pilgrimage took place as compared with the dates of the respective mi- 

 grations of their kindred — evidence of the connexions existing between 

 the Celts and other In do-Europeans after the separation of languages. " 



Dr. Stokes, — I am sure that every member of the Academy shares 

 in the regret which I fe]t, when I was informed that his engagements 

 rendered it impossible for your son to attend here to-night to receive the 

 medal awarded to him by the Council. I place it in your hands — you 

 will convey it to him, along with the assurance of our respect and good 

 wishes. In the midst of professional pursuits carried on with diligence 

 and success, he has found time to signalize himself by rendering im- 

 portant services to Irish philology. Having prepared himself for his 

 task by a course of well-ordered study, he has produced a work remark- 

 able alike for the diligence with which he has collected his materials, 

 and the skiU with which he has arranged them. He has brought 

 together the largest collection that has yet been published of Celtic 

 words, illustrated by the light of comparative philology. And, improv- 

 ing upon the teaching of Zeuss, he has been able to carry our insight 

 into the system of Celtic declension to the farthest point which it has 

 yet reached. 



A Cunningham Medal has been awarded to Mr. John T. Gilbert for his 

 "History of the City of Dublin." In undertaking this history, Mr, Gilbert 



