hing.

The Celtic language is now admittedly one of the most ancient in
existence. Its affinity with Sanscrit, the eldest daughter of the
undiscoverable mother-tongue, has been amply proved,[159] and the study
of the once utterly despised Irish promises to be one which will
abundantly repay the philologist. It is to be regretted that we are
indebted to German students for the verification of these statements;
but the Germans are manifestly born philologists, and they have
opportunities of leisure, and encouragement for the prosecution of such
studies, denied to the poorer Celt. It is probable that Celtic will yet
be found to have been one of the most important of the Indo-European
tongues. Its influence on the formation of the Romance languages has yet
to be studied in the light of our continually increasing knowledge of
its more ancient forms; and perhaps the conjectures of Betham will, by
the close of this century, receive as much respect as the once equally
ridiculed history of Keating.

It is almost impossible to doubt that the Irish nation had letters and
some form of writing before the arrival of St. Patrick. There are so
many references to the existence of writings in the most ancient MSS.,
that it appears more rash to deny their statements than to accept them.

[Illustration: RUNES FROM THE RUNIC CROSS AT RUTHWELL.]

The three principal arguments against a pre-Christian alphabet appears
to be: (1) The absence of any MS. of such writing. (2) The use of the
Roman character in all MSS. extant. (3) The universal opinion, scarcely
yet exploded, that the Irish Celts were barbarians. In reply to the
first objection, we may observe that St. Patrick is said to have
destroyed all the remnants of pagan writing.[160] Caesar mentions that
the druids of Gaul used Greek characters. It appears impossible that the
Irish druids, who were at least their equals in culture, should have
been destitute of any kind of written character. The ancient form of
Welsh letters were somewhat similar to the runes of which we give a
specimen, and this alphabet was called the "alphabet of the bards," in
contradistinction to which is placed the "alphabet of the monks," or
Roman alphabet. The alphabet of the Irish bard may have been the
Beith-luis-nion, represented by the Ogham character, of which more
hereafter.

The difficulty arising from the fact of St. Patrick's having given
_abgitorium_, or alphabets, to his converts, appears to us purel