All the publications just referred to were of works which came from a more or less remote period. No serious attempt had been made to publish the more recent works of the eighteenth-century poets, written in the still living language of the people, and still preserved by popular tradition. This defect was remedied by the Gaelic League. From the first it set itself to provide a popular literature, and when it had succeeded in securing an established position, it proceeded to issue ... Read More

Above : Brehon Laws (Inzet : St. Patrick) The oldest Gaelic MSS. that we have, date from this period. They, however, are not literature, but are in the form of " glosses." These were not written in Ireland, but in the numerous monasteries established by Irish missionaries in Britain and Europe. They consist of notes and vocabularies written on existing Latin and other texts. The difficult words and passages in the original texts were translated or explained in Gaelic on the margins, or ... Read More