The Erse language is now instanced as an example of the triumph of the Roman over the Gaelic character, though the language itself still remains in use. It seems to be exactly a case in point, for this dialect of the Celtic language is one in which an original character has been doubted to exist. The opinion of Johnson, who took no little pains to investigate the subject, was decidedly against it[1]; and as, in the establishment of schools in the Highlands, the Roman character was the only means of education afforded, no choice was left to those who were desirous to learn, but to adopt it.
I by no means assert the impracticability of the project in India, provided sufficient means are brought into action. This, like many other extraordinary measures, may doubtless be enforced; but we should take a fair view of the difficulty. Suppose the African government, so often alluded to, in England, were to make the attempt to induce us to abandon our written character, and adopt that of Timbuctoo; would the English readily accede to such a proposal? Yet there is little doubt that it might be carried into effect by the strong arm of power. If such an overwhelming military force were established that resistance was hopeless; if all the existing professors of learning in the colleges, tutors, and school-masters were discharged, and African teachers appointed in their stead, if the English were compelled to send their children to these schools, and severe punishment were inflicted on all who should presume to teach the Engtish character, even extending it to the case of a parent instructing his own child; such measures as these, in the course of time, could scarcely fail to succeed. Those who were candidates for employment, would of course learn any language, or any character, which might be pointed out by their masters; but nothing short of such a plan would ever establish the general use of the Timbuctoo characters in English. Men are much the same in most countries, and are influenced by the same feelings, passions, and
- ↑ See Boswell’s Life of Johnson, vol i., p. 456, 477, 497. See, also, his Preface to Shaw’s Grammar of the Erse language, vol ii., p. 109.
brought into its immediate vicinity. Why was this? Because the Greeks were well versed in their own character, and had a literature of their own.
