Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/318

306 CELTIC LITERATURE scholars, is the larger fragment of the Book of O Duvegan, Ollamh of Ui Maine, the O Kelly s country, who died in the year 1372. The other part of this manuscript is in the British Museum. Contents The contents of these manuscripts are of the most Irish MSS. miscellaneous character, in fact many of them are mere scrap-books. The following classification will enable the reader to form some general notion of the nature of existing Irish literature : (1) grammar and glossaries; (2) annals, genealogies, and pedigrees; (3) history, legendary and real, including a large number of narrative poems, some of which might be considered to be ballads, and prose his torical tales; (4) mythological and other imaginative tales; (5) lyric poetry; (6) satire; (7) religious litera ture, including lives of saints; (8) law; (9) science, inclusive of medicine; and (10) miscellaneous translations from other languages. The manuscripts containing this varied literature were written after the llth century; only three of the principal ones above mentioned are as old as the 12th, the remainder being written chiefly in the 13th and 14th centuries. The contents of a manuscript are at least as old as itself and may be much older. Sometimes the manuscript itself informs us that a particular piece was copied from another manuscript which is named. Again poems are attributed to authors who lived long before the manuscript containing them was written, even as far back as pagan times. Can we look upon those poems as the genuine work of the period they are referred to, in the same way as we accept the works of Greek and Latin writers, although we do not possess any manuscripts of them written within even centuries of the author s time 1 and if not, how are we to determine the true age of the contents of an Irish or of a Welsh manuscript 1 The answer to this question necessarily affects everything that could be said on the character and growth of Irish and Welsh literature. We must, therefore, say a few words on the subject, especially with a view of pointing out some of the considerations which might help us to arrive at a true solution of the problem. Use of The first point which naturally suggests itself for inquiry tne^Pa^n is waetlaer the Irisb knew the use of letters before the Irish. ag introduction of Christianity. This question has been much discussed, but as there is not much evidence one way or the other, the discussion has not been profitable. Cfesar says that the Gauls knew writing and used the Greek alphabet, showing that their knowledge of letters probably came from the Greek colony of Massilia; and the Gauls of North Italy used the Etruscan alphabet long before the time of Caesar. But these facts do not necessarily imply that their brethren in the British Islands had also a knowledge of letters before the arrival of the Romans, nor have we any evidence even after that event that the British language was written. The Celtic names on British coins prove nothing one way or the other. As regards Ireland the only piece of evidence of the existence of a knowledge of writing before St Patrick s time is the statement of Gennadius respecting the letters of Celestius. This, it must be admitted, would be very slender evidence to found a conclusion upon unless supported by more definite facts. Ogam in- In certain parts of Ireland, and in those parts of Wales enptions. once OCCU pi e( i by the Irish, are fouad rude stone monu ments, upon the edges of which are cut inscriptions consisting of a number of long and short lines. This method of writing, which is called Ogam, was practised in Christian times even as late as the 9th and 10th centuries, for marginal entries written in Ogam characters are found in some of the manuscripts of St Gall; and in the vellum manuscript in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, called the Book of Ballymote, compiled near the close of the 14th century the different styles of Ogamic writing and the value of the letters are explained in a special tract on the subject. The character of many inscribed monuments, and the circumstances under which they are usually found, seem to favour their pre-Christian use also. On this point, however, there is still much uncertainty, and the utmost that we could venture to say is that the archaic character of the grammatical forms of Ogamic words, and especially the case of one bilingual inscription, places their relative antiquity beyond question. The geographical dis tribution of O^am-inscribed stones is worthy of attention; they are almost exclusively confined in Ireland to Minister, and chiefly to the south-western counties. In the provinces of Leinster and Connaught only a few have been found at one or two spots, and but one has been found in Ulster; they are, in fact, most abundant in the district where, according to tradition, the Milesians or Scots first landed in Ireland. In Wales they seem also to be chiefly confined to the districts formerly occupied by the Gwyddel, or Gael. Notwithstanding the use oif 0<jam by Irish scribes in the 9th century, and the existence of the key in the Book of Ballymote, the deciphering of the inscriptions has not been hitherto very easy, perhaps, as some think, because many are cryptic. Those that have been deciphered with certainty are very simple, and evidently marked the grave in some instances, porhaps in every case, of a Sai or Fili, that is, if used in pagan times, of one of the Druidic order. If we can trust to the authority of some of the oldest of the romantic tales, Ogam was used in the north of Ireland as well as in the south; there, however, it was cut on sticks or twigs, as Yenantius Fortunatus tells us the barbarians cut their runes. In some Irish poems mention is made of Duile Feda, which has been interpreted to mean " Books of Wood," and may have been Ogam-inscribed tablets. But as no specimen of this literature has come down to us, and as they must, if they were ever used at all, have been an inconvenient and imperfect mode of recording the pro duct of thought, we may leave them out of consideration, W r hatever opinion then may be held as to the existence in Ireland of a knowledge of letters in prehistoric times, we may safely assume that literature in the true sense of the word began there with Christianity. In saying this, how- Oral Irans- ever, we are not to be understood as denying that a record mission of of events, accounts of battles, panegyrics of warriors, may P oems * c< not be orally transmitted in verse. Metre, alliteration, rhyme, and assonance are powerful aids to the memory, and a bar to the introduction of new matter, and conse quently prevent two different streams of traditions from mingling. But in time, and especially among a highly imaginative people possessing the power of improvising in verse, the streams of verse did mingle, enlarge, and modify themselves. Nevertheless it is marvellous how perfectly long poems of the most complex metrical structure may be transmitted by oral tradition for centuries. Poems transmitted in this way follow of course all the phonetic changes of the language, and, when at length they are written down from memory, look as if they had been com posed at first in the living language. In this way an essen tially pagan literature may come as it were into existence long after paganism itself had passed away. The Kalevala, or heroic epopee of the Finns, and the Kalevi Poeg of the Esthonians, are examples of this. In order that this should take place, the manners, customs, and general state of culture should undergo but little change. When any serious change in these respects occurs, the stream either ceases altogether, or becomes so modified and admixed with foreign elements that a new literature may be said to begin. One of the most marked changes which takes place under such circum stances is the substitution of vague descriptions of dress and arms, and a vague toponomy, for the full and definite

descriptions and precise toponomy of the primitive poems.