5

—
—
'
—
584 NOTES.
matter, that the Irish were acquainted with letters at least
twenty years before the arrival of St. Patrick. The man who
can thus deliberately deny and assert one and the same thing, as
it thwarts or favours bis purpose, is certainly yery ill qualified
for a historian.
Mr. Innes, uiith all his foibles, is a modest and meritorious
writer. Though he sometimes colours hard, he nevet absolutely
violates truth. Willing to rate St. Patrick's merits as high as
possible, he makes him tbefather of Irish letters. The first ar.
gument he adduces (v. 2. p. 456.) is that the Gaelic (Irish)
words Liiir, a letter Leabhar, a book Leagham, to read
Scriobham, to write, &c. are derived from the Roman Litera,
Liber, Lego, Scribo, &c. and hence infers that Letters, Books,
Heading and Writing, were borrowed from the Romans, and
introduced by St. Patrick. To give this argument its full
weight, I shall here add a short synopsis of the Sanscrit, Celtic,
and Roman languages.
Celtic.
English.
God
Cultivated land
A mother
A brother
A prophet
Land
Ground
A priest
A door
A word, vowel
Wet, drunk
Great
The knee
A month
A king
A ship
A calamity
A day
Sound
A station
Fear
A pen
The middle