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to see it show signs of degeneracy, probably in the way of curtailing and de-characterization. Something of this kind has been the lot of the Cornubian.

We cannot help feeling that the omission of these parts of the subject leaves the work in some measure imperfect, and that there were some highly interesting observations which ought not to have been excluded from a Celtic Grammar of so high a character and pretensions. We will just instance one or two points which are not found in the work, but which merit attention as much perhaps as any that are there. The Gaelic branch of these languages is nowhere more boldly distinguished from the Cymric branch than in the multiform and highly characteristic definite article of the former. The Irish affords the most conspicuous example. The Irish definite article is as different from the Welsh as the same organ in Greek differs from its representative in English. The Irish, like the Greek, rejoices in all the luxuriance of numbers, cases, and genders ; whereas the Welsh, like the English, has but a single form. Thus, in Welsh, the definite article is equally yr (or y before a consonant) whether it be prefixed to a masculine or a feminine noun, and whether it represent (what in other languages would be called) genitive, or dative, or nominative case. Thus, y tad=the father; y fam=the mother; while, “ of the father,” “ to the father," "from the father,” &c., &c.,

" are either expressed by means of collocation, or else by prepositions, Ty y frenines=the house of the queen ; tad y bachgen=the father of the boy. In these two examples the genitival character of y frenines and y bachgen, is indicated by the position they hold after the governing substantives ty and tad. Neither the substantive, as in Latin, nor the article, as in Greek, is capable of such modification of form as to signify that it is in the genitive case.

All this is very different both in the Erse and in the Gaelic. In the former dialect the article declines as in the Greek. You have all three genders in singular and plural, and these varied throughout the four chief cases. In the Highland Gaelic this rich development has been a good deal curtailed, but you have still the two genders, masculine and feminine, and certain distinctions of cases, as the genitive of both numbers, in a perfect state of preservation. We should have been glad to have seen what relation to the other members of its family is borne by the Manks, in regard to this very interesting feature. Such an article is certainly a very sensitive piece of linguistic mechanism, and it argues a considerable cultivation at some past time of the people who are in possession of such an ingenious piece of mental workmanship. Every one who is familiar with the Greek language, would allow us to speak in these terms of the Greek article, and the parallelism between the Greek and the Gaelic in this particular is very striking For example, in the first chapter of Genesis, where the Lxx. has étávw tñs ásúosov, the Highland Gaelic has aghaidh na doimhne, and here the na is precisely=rñs, the definite article of the genitive feminine. ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. V.

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It will be felt at once what a contrast this presents to the inflexible Welsh wyneb y dyfnder.

There is another curious particular in connexion with the Gaelic division, in which the Highland dialect not merely exhibits divergence from the Irish, but a new and independent characteristic of its own. The Highland Gaelic has no form for the superlative degree of adjectives, and, in order to express that idea, it is obliged to have recourse to a curious circumlocution. There is a grammatical form for the comparative,—thus (to take an example known to all the world) the word Ard, which begins so many names in Scotland, is the adjective meaning "high.” Beinn ard=a lofty hill. The comparative is airde: Beinn airde=a higher hill. But in order to express the highest,—there being no form in itself equivalent,—the comparative is fortified by an introductory a's, a rapid expression of the relative pronoun, and the word which by a curious coincidence is the same in Gaelic and English, “is.” The adjective then expresses the graduations required thus: high, higher, [the thing] whichis-higher-ard, airde, a's airde. E. g. Si beinn Nibheis a's airde

'n Albainn=Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland. Not unlike this is the French treatment of the comparative meilleur, when they make a superlative out of it by merely prefixing the definite article. Il est le meilleur homme du monde=He is the best man in the world. Or it may be compared to certain peculiar superlatives in the Greek of the New Testament, where we find ó pel(wy=the greatest; and o pulkpótepos=the least.

This peculiarity assumes more marked importance when we observe that the Irish does not share it, but in this point runs very near to the Cambrian family, and has regular forms for comparative and superlative, as is usual with most languages. We may not now go minutely into the history of this remarkable divergence; suffice it to say, the change has been the work of the Highlander, and that his language was once in harmony with the rest of his family in this particular, and with the type most prevalent in the languages of Europe. It is valuable as an example of the endless resources which language has at its command, for repairing its own wear and tear. The old termination losing its boldness, having shrunk into insignificance through gradual neglect, it became necessary to supply its place, and we cannot help admiring, not merely the ready ingenuity of the work, but also its combination of simplicity with logical truth.

While we cannot but regret that these subjects have not found a place in the book before us, we ought rather to be grateful for the progress it has ensured, than reproach

it with the work left undone. We own to having profited much by Professor Zeuss' labours, and it is with regret that we now take leave of a work which has advanced the light of science to those uttermost members of the Indo-European family, which dwell by the verge of the ocean where the sun goeth down.

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THE FAUSSETT COLLECTION OF ANGLO-Saxon ANTIQUITIES. From

the “ Collectanea Antiqua,” Vol. III. A vigorous attack on the present constitution of the British Museum Trust. Until we have heard both sides of the question, we do not feel ourselves called upon to criticize the rejection, by the Trustees, of Dr. Faussett's collection, although we deeply regret its loss to the country. But the following remarks are worthy of the best attention of our readers :

not.

“ The public voice had long been raised against the unaccountable absence of National Antiquities in the National Museum. Foreigners had long reproached us for the neglect with which we treated the valuable remains of ancient art illustrative of our own history, and the regard shown to matters of minor importance. They asked, when they visited the British Museum, for the halls and chambers consecrated to British, to Romano-British, to Saxon, to Norman, and to English Antiquities; and were astounded when told that such apartments existed

In their own countries they had with pride conducted Englishmen over their museums, and shown them the monuments of their ancestors chronologically classified and arranged. Whether they came from Denmark, from Austria, from Prussia, from France, or from Italy, they felt that the chief business of the curators of a Museum of Antiquities, and especially of a National one, was to gather and preserve the antiquities of the locality. They could not understand why funds given by the country should be devoted wholly to remotely foreign remains; why Egypt, Babylon, China, and the South Sea Islands, should take precedence of and wholly supplant Britain, Rome, Germany, Denmark, and Gaul. Their patriotism and common sense were shocked at this repudiation, and they asked if the people of England was so destitute of memorials of the races from whom they descended, that even their chief Museum could not afford examples ?”

The fact is that in John Bull's estimation omne ignotum pro mirifico. Our countrymen have little taste for scientific research, but a huge one for outlandish sight-seeing. “When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."

NEW GUIDE TO ABERDOVEY AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD; with some

Account of Towyn, Machynlleth, and the Vales of Dovey and
Dysynwy. By Thomas OWEN MORGAN, Esq. Aberystwyth :
J. Cox. 1854.

This is an admirable guide-book, well written and well arranged, an excellent pendant to the author's Aberystwyth Guide, and a work of which it would be no praise to say that it is far superior to most compositions of the same kind. The writer's name is a guarantee for the concession to objects of antiquity, of a greater share of consideration than is usually allotted to them. Yet we confess that in one or two instances we should have been glad of a more minute and technical description of such objects. We may mention by way of example the extremely curious church of Towyn, which is, we venture to think, treated somewhat scurvily :

“ The church is a cruciform structure: the spacious nave, supported by massive round pillars, and separated by them from the side aisles and transepts, marks it as the work of the early part of the twelfth century. The original tower sprang from the central cross."

The rest of Mr. Morgan's description has nothing to do with the architecture of the church. He has not told us whether the chancel has or ever had aisles, whether the lantern arches remain, whether the arches which the “ massive round pillars ” of the nave support are round or pointed, -or, indeed, whether they support any arches at all, --whether there is a clerestory, or what kind of one there is, and whether there is any sort of ornamental detail,—all of which are very important points. But he has told us that the structure belongs to the early part of the twelfth century, a conclusion which could only be drawn from some of the very data which he has omitted, and at which we profess ourselves unable to arrive even with the light of them.

These deficiencies, however, which we hope will be corrected in a second edition, do not prevent our cordially recommending the New Guide to Aberdovey.

A GENEALOGICAL CHART OF WELSH HISTORY. By J.J. HARRIES

HARRIS, of St. John's College, Cambridge, and of the College of Preceptors; Author of "The Schoolroom,” “Birmingham

Ecclesiastical & Scholastic," and other works. Second Edition. We have no doubt that this will be a highly popular work in the Principality, especially among the country gentlemen, as it undertakes to celebrate the ancestors of those who have any, and to find them for those who have not. We have not discovered anything like antiquarian research in this Chart; and an occasional reference to Burke's Landed Gentry, has helped us to most of the sources from whence the author derived his information. We do not know what may be the merits of Mr. Harries Harris in “ The Schoolroom,” but to his “Birmingham Ecclesiastical & Scholastic” he has added an extraordinary specimen of Birmingham Genealogical & Historical.

Arrhæologia Cambrensis.

NEW SERIES, No. XX.-OCTOBER, 1854.

Cambrian Archeological flssoriation.

The Eighth Annual Meeting of the Association, which was held at Ruthin, commenced on Wednesday, September 13th. Active preparations for receiving the Society had been made by a Local Committee, consisting of the following gentlemen :

The Ven. Archdeacon NEWCOME, Chairman.
The Worshipful the Mayor of Ruthin, W. Owen, Esq., Denbigh,
The Rev. the Warden of Ruthin,

0. Owen, Esq., W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., M.P.,

Thomas Mousley, Esq., Shipley Conway, Esq.,

Rev. Dr. Jones, Beaumaris, Townshend Mainwaring, Esq.,

Rev. J. Jones, Rector of Llanfwrog, Henry Sandbach, Esq.,

Rev. W. Hughes, Rector of Bettws, George Johnson, Esq.,

Rev. R. Hughes, Ruthin School, Arthur Turnour, Esq., M.D.,

Rev. E. Owen, Vicar of Llanfair, Robert Ellis, Esq.,

Rev. Ed. Thelwall, Llanbedr.
John Price, Esq., Llanhaiadr Hall,

F. W. SMITH, Esq., Treasurer.
Rev. E. L. BAROW, Esq., } Secretaries.

TURNOR,
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH.
In the absence of Sir Joseph Bailey, Bart., M.P., the chair was
taken by W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., M.P., who resigned it to the
President elect, F. R. West, Esq., M.P.

Mr. West, on taking the chair, announced that he had received a letter from Sir Joseph Bailey, intimating that it would not be in his power to attend the meeting at Ruthin, and expressing his regret at his inability to do so. Sir Joseph was also desirous of becoming a Life Member of the Association. For himself, Mr. West observed that he did not profess to be an archæologist, and must therefore claim the indulgence of the Society, while he endeavoured to perform the ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. V.

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