movement, which has
thriven largely on account of its anti-English character, would have a
much better chance of galvanizing the ancient language of Ireland if
it were not for the supreme difficulties of Irish spelling and
phonetics. Of the hundreds of thousands of persons who attend the
classes of the League not more than one or two per cent. at the
outside arrive at any state of proficiency. Presbyterian Gaels in
Scotland are taught to read the Bible but Irish Catholics are not
encouraged to do so. The result of this is seen in the fact that,
whilst many, if not all, of the local Nationalist newspapers under the
pressure of the League publish badly-printed and little-read columns
in Irish, there are only two regularly appearing periodicals which
contain any large amount of Irish. Half the contents--and those the
most important--of the weekly organ of the league, _An Claidheamh
Soluis_ ("the flaming sword"), are in English. The latter was started
in 1898 under the title of _Fainne an Lae_ ("the ring of day," i.e.
the dawn). The other periodical is the monthly _Gaelic Journal_
(_Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge_), a would-be literary magazine of very
inferior quality which has led a precarious existence since 1882. In
1898 it was decided to hold a festival called the _Oireachtas_
("hosting, gathering") on the lines of the Welsh _Eisteddfod_. The
venture was a great success and similar meetings have been held every
year since, whilst each province and many of the counties have their
annual local Gaelic _feis_ (festival). The literary output of the
movement has been prodigious, consisting in the main of a number of
short stories and dramas (mostly propagandist), but nothing of any
particular merit has as yet been forthcoming. The best-known writers
are Dr Douglas Hyde (collector of folk-stories--_Beside the Fire_,
1890, _An Sgeulaidhe Gaedhealach_, 1895 (reprinted from vol. x. of the
_Annales de Bretagne_), _Love Songs of Connaught_, 1893, _Religious
Songs of Connaught_, 1905); P. O'Leary (author of two lengthy stories,
_Seadna_, 1904, _Niamh_, 1907); P. Dinneen (author of an historical
tale, _Cormac Ua Connaill_, 1901); P. O'Shea, better known as "Conan
Maol," author of a collection of short stories entitled _An Buaiceas_,
1903.

AUTHORITIES ON IRISH LANGUAGE.--For the study of Old Irish--Zeuss,
_Grammatica Celtica^2_ (Berlin, 1871); B. Guterbock and R. Thu