Blair Collection > Vestigia celtica

above has been here introduced only to
anticipate a hne of criticism which might
otherwise very fairly be taken up. It is of
course conceded that no number of quota-
tions, however large and apposite, can enr
tirely obviate such criticism. But while
frankly making that concession, I plead
that I have here one good point, at least,
honestly scored in my favour, I have
shown that, in the oldest Irish MSS.
hitherto printed, we find the same analytic
form of speech as is here under considera-
tion. That form of speech is as old, at
least, as the times of ScU niucci Mic Ddtho.
So far as the light of manuscripts can
guide us, the analytic is not, therefore, the
product of a tendency, in that direction, of
an older synthetic form. I do not at all
forget that the philologist, like the geolo-
gist, is accustomed to make very large
drafts on the bank of time, and that, behind
the line of the oldest manuscript, there lies
" a great gulf," where many things may
have happened, which are undreamt of in
our philosophy. But, while hovering over