A Literary Historyof Ireland
From Earliest Times to the Present Day
By
Douglas Hyde, LL.D., M.R.I.A.
[An Craoibhín Aoibhinn]
[1899]
CASE OF MOLAISE'S GOSPELS
DEDICATION.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GAELIC LEAGUE,THE ONLY BODY IN IRELAND WHICH APPEARS TOREALISE THE FACT THAT IRELAND HAS A PAST, HAS AHISTORY, HAS A LITERATURE, AND THE ONLY BODY INIRELAND WHICH SEEKS TO RENDER THE PRESENT ARATIONAL CONTINUATION OF THE PAST,
I DEDICATE
THIS ATTEMPT AT A REVIEW OF THAT LITERATUREWHICH DESPITE ITS PRESENT NEGLECTED POSITIONTHEY FEEL AND KNOW TO BE A TRUEPOSSESSION OF NATIONALIMPORTANCE.
DO CHONNRADH NA GAELDHEILGE.
A Chonnradh chaoin, a Chonnradh chóir,
Rinn obair mhór gan ór gan cabhair,
Glacaidh an cíos a dlighim daoibh,
Guidhim, glacaidh go caoimh mo leabhar.
A cháirde cléibh is iomdha lá
D'oibrigheamar go breágh le chéile,
Gan clampar, agus fós gan éad,
'S dá mhéad ár dteas', gan puinn di-chéille.
Chuireabhar súil 'san bhfear bhi dall,
Thugabhar cluas don fhear bhi bodhar,
Glacaidh an cíos do bheirim daoibh,
——Guidhim, glacaidh go caoimh mo leabhar.
PREFACE
The present volume has been styled—in order to make it acompanion book to other of Mr. Unwin's publications—a"Literary History of Ireland," but a "Literary History ofIrish Ireland" would be a more correct title, for I have abstainedaltogether from any analysis or even mention of theworks of Anglicised Irishmen of the last two centuries. Theirbooks, as those of Farquhar, of Swift, of Goldsmith, of Burke,find, and have always found, their true and natural place inevery history of English literature that has been written,whether by Englishmen themselves or by foreigners.
My object in this volume has been to give a general view ofthe literature produced by the Irish-speaking Irish, and toreproduce by copious examples some of its more salient, or atleast more characteristic features.
In studying the literature itself, both that of the past andthat of the present, one of the things which has most forciblystruck me is the marked absence of the purely personal note,the absence of great predominating names, or of great predominatingworks; while just as striking is the almost universaldiffusion of a traditional literary taste and a love ofliterature in the abstract amongst all classes of the native Irish.The whole history of Irish literature shows how warmly theefforts of all who assisted in its production were appreciated.[Pg x]The greatest English bard of the Elizabethan age was allowedby his countrymen to perish of poverty in the streets ofLondon, while the