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thing would IiappenNOTES. S.93were the English characters applied to theGreek or Hebrew languages. But where a language has notbeen written, any alphabet will suit it, and they easily coalesceand assimilate. Had the Irish (Celtic) language not been a writtenone, and its orthography settled, before the arrival of St.Patrick, there could have been no possible obstacle to the introductionof the Roman alphabet in its fullest extent. Indeed,had this not been the case, the introduction of the Roman alphabetwould have followed as a necessary and inevitable consequence,though the Saint had been determined to prevent it.7mo. Its antiquity. Many attempts have been made by Pinkarton,and others, to get rid of the ancient Irish alphabet.Theyhave rendered it a sort of short hand wriiing^ invented about thetenth or eleventh century^—the Notae Longobardicae— Runiccharacters— magical or hieroglyphical letters, &c. But theirgrand argument is, that St, Patrick introduced the Roman lettersin 432. Were we to grant this, it is the greatest death blowwhich these gentlemen could receive, for it must then follow,that such manuscripts as are written in the ancient Irish characters,are older than the asra of St. Patrick,characters were invented several centuries after St.But (say they) thesePatrick hadintroduced the Roman alphabet. This concession would beequally fatal to them, for it would then follow, that St. Patrickwas not the father of Irish letters, otherwise it would have beentotally unnecessary for the Irish to frame an alphabet to themselvesseveral centuries after his arrival. The truth is, that theIrish had an alphabet before the arrival of St. Patrick, and that,prior to that asra, the orthography oftheir language was fixed;and though St. Patrick and the christian clergy wrote the Irishlanguage in Roman characters, still they found itimpossible toadd one letter more to the Iri^h alphabet than it originally possessed.The genius and orthography of the language renderedit impracticable. If any reinforcement from the Roman alphabetwas necessary, it was most particularly the letters v and ^/,yet these were never introduced. Tha't the Irish alphabet hashad its gradations fiom rudeness to perfection, is i\o more than