' We get, in short, 'the
most detailed information upon almost every part of ancient Gaelic
life, a vast quantity of valuable details of life and manners.' {26}
And then, besides, to our knowledge of the Celtic genius, Mr. Norris
has brought us from Cornwall, M. de la Villemarque from Brittany,
contributions, insignificant indeed in quantity, if one compares them
with the mass of the Irish materials extant, but far from
insignificant in value.
We want to know what all this mass of documents really tells us about
the Celt. But the mode of dealing with these documents, and with the
whole question of Celtic antiquity, has hitherto been most
unsatisfactory. Those who have dealt with them, have gone to work,
in general, either as warm Celt-lovers or as warm Celt-haters, and
not as disinterested students of an important matter of science. One
party seems to set out with the determination to find everything in
Celtism and its remains; the other, with the determination to find
nothing in them. A simple seeker for truth has a hard time between
the two. An illustration or so will make clear what I mean. First
let us take the Celt-lovers, who, though they engage one's sympathies
more than the Celt-haters, yet, inasmuch as assertion is more
dangerous than denial, show their weaknesses in a more signal way.
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