Blair Collection > Practical grammar of the antient Gaelic, or, Language of the Isle of Man, usually called Manks

IV EDITOR S INTRODUCTION.
The Society considers the publication of these too heavy an
undertaking for its present funds ; but it is not without hope
that it may at some future, pei"haps not distant^ time be able to
aid in giving them to the world, and that the present publication
may open the way to such a result.
This reprint of the Grammar is an accurate transcript of the
original work^ with corrections only of errors of the press and of
some obvious inaccuracies of the pen. The old plan of making
an English Grammar was to reduce the structure of the language
to a rigid conformity to Latin and Greek, in the number and
names of cases, and of moods and tenses. In Manx the same
thing was thought imperative. The modern rule is, to have just
as many cases, and as many moods and tenses, as there are actual
variations of the w^ords, without the admission of prepositions or
of auxiliary verbs. To this rule the laws of gi^ammar seem to
require the Manx, as well as the Enghsh, to be conformed. As,
however, the adoption of such a principle in the present instance
would involve the rearrangement, to a considerable extent, of
the Grammar, it is thought advisable not to attempt the change,
but to give the work in its original integrity. Dr. Kelly's
Grammar thus presented, especially viewed as an original pro-
duction, unaided by any pre- existent grammar, cannot fail to
strike the intelligent reader as reflecting the highest credit on
the author's industry and ingenuity.
The object of this reprint is not to uphold the Manx as a
spoken language, — that were a hopeless attempt, were the end
ever so desirable ; but to afford some assistance to the student of
this interesting branch of the ancient Celtic, and to obtain for it,
when its lifetime is gone by, a place among the records of the