[17] Preface to Halliday's edition of Keating's "Forus Feasa," p. xi. The fine poet, David Bruadar (p. 592), wrote a satiric poem on the haste the Irish made to speak English when the Duke of Ormond was in power, two lines of which I quote from memory:
"Is mairg atá gan Béarla binn
Ar dteacht an Iarla go h-Eirinn."
[19] Published by the late Father Denis Murphy, S.J., for the Irish Antiquarian Society.
[20] I fear many of our moderns are also more or less open to this reproach.
[21] "Ar an adhbhar sin as cóir agus as iommochuibhe dúinne na Herenaig bheith ceanamhail gradhach onórach an ar dteangain ndúchais nádurtha féin, an ghaoilag, noch atá chomhfuelethach chomhmúchta soin, nach mór na deacha si as coimhne na nduine; a mhileán so as féidir a chur ar an aois ealathain noch as udair don teangain, do chuir i fá fórdhoreatheacht agus cruos focal, da scribha a modaibh agus fhocalaibh deamhaire doracha, dothuicseanta, agus ni fhoilid saor mórán d'ár nduinibh uaisle dobheir a tteanga dhuchais nadurtha (noch ata fortill fuirithe onórach fólamtha géarchuiseach inti féin) a ttarcuisne agus a neamhchionn, agus chaitheas a n-aimsir á saorthudh agus á foghlaim teangtha coimhtheach ele" (pp. 10 and 11, preface).
[22] "Tertio notandum quod hoc ipsum idioma sit vernaculum toti in primis Hiberniæ, tamsetsi cum aliquo discrimine turn quoad dialectum nonnihil variantem inter diversas provincias, turn quoad artificii observationem inter doctos et vulgares.... Et dialecti quidem variatio ita se habere passim æstimatur, ut cum sint quatuor Hiberniæ provinciæ Momonia Ultonia Lagenia Conactia, penes Conactes sit et potestas rectæ pronunciationis et phraseos vera proprietas, penes Momonienses potestas sine proprietate, penes Ultones proprietas sine potestate, penes Lagenos nec potestas pronunciationis nec phraseos proprietas."—"De Hibernia Commentarius," p. 7. Louvain, 1632. This shows the antiquity of the Irish saying, "tá ceart gan bias ag an Ulltach, ta blas gan ceart ag an Muimhneach, ni'l bias ná ceart ag an Laighneach, tá blas agus ceart ag an gConnachtach."
[23] "Ní maith tuigthear leis an bpobal gcoitcheann éinteangadh acht an ghaoidhealg amháin" (see p. [11]). See also a mandate of the "Sacra Congregatio Visitationis."
[24] "Quando aderit Rector Hibernicus val alius linguæ peritus, legantur ad mensam ter in hebdomada, libri spirituales, in idiomati Hibernico compositi, ne alumni ejus obliviscantur."—Extracted from the "Archiv. Coll. Hib. Romæ.," lib. xxiii., by Father Hogan, S.J.
[25] Ellington's "Life and Writings of Ussher."