Owing to the isolated situation of the Highlands of Scotland, we expected that the Celtic tongue was there retained in greater purity than in those countries which have been the scenes of warfare from the earliest period of antiquity; but, after an attentive perusal of Mr. M'Alpine's Gaelic Dictionary, we must confess that our expectations have not been realized.

The following words are extracted from a list of nouns inserted in the 15th page of the Dictionary, as examples in Gaelic :

Diac, a drake; boc, a buck; MAIDINN, morning; obair, work ; uin, an elbow; mathair, mother; prionsa, prince; searbhanta, maid; BRATHAIR, brother; gannra, gander; dorus, a door, seol, a sail; staighir, a chair; faighir, a fair.

Such words may have crept into the language, but they possess no more claims of being Celtic than Persian.

Allowing for orthographical variations, the sequent nouns, selected from the same page, are pure Welsh :

Duine, a man; cu, a dog; tarbh, a bull; ceare, a hen; coileach, a cock; buachaill, a herd; bo, a cow; avhain, river; muir, sea; sàil, a heel; cealgair, hypocrite; aimsreadair, weather-glass; figheadair, (gweuadyr, w.) weaver; sroin, a nose; mòine, peat-moss; CATHAIR, chair; nathair, serpent; còir, night; uisge, water; bean, woman; geadh, goose; capull, mare; coara, sheep, hence corlem in Welsh; uan, a lamb; bard, a poet.

The article in Gaelic is declined by gender, number, and case, as appears in the following example :

The cases of nouns are four, the nominative, genitive, dative, and vocative. Grammarians restrict themselves to two declensions, although there are six various modes of forming the genitive case:

Same Noun with the Article.

SINGULAR.

N. Am fear

G. An fhir

D. An'n fhear

PLURAL.

Na fir, fearaibh

Nam fear, fearaibh
Na fearaibh, to the.

The following adjectives in the positive state are the same as in Welsh:

Dall, blind; crom, bent; cam, crooked; trom, heavy; bodhar, deaf; mor, great; fann, (gwan, w.) weak; tinne, tight; caol, (cùl, w.) narrow; marbh, dead; lleisy, slothful.

It has been remarked, that in all cultivated languages the adjectives good, bad, little, are irregularly compared. The same rule is applicable to the Gaelic :

Beag, (bach, w.) little; lugha, (llai, w.) less.

Math, (mad, w.) good; fearra, better, (goreu, w. )best, sup. and gwell, better.

Ole, wilce, miosa,-bad, worse.

We insert the personal pronouns in Gaelic and Welsh for the sake of comparison.

Fein, self, in Gaelic is only a corruption of the We.sh word vyhun, compounded of vj and hun, myself: mi fhein, myself; thu fhein, thyself; e fein, himself: sinne fhein, ourselves; sibh fhein, yourselves; eud fhein, themselves. In Welsh, mi vyhun, ti dihun, weihun, &c.

The adjective pronouns are, mo or mu, my; do or du, thy; a, her or his: ar, our; chur or ar, yours; an, their or theirs.

There is nothing wherein languages more generally agree than in the numbers, but we find the Gaelic more closely connected with the Latin numerals than the Welsh, which agrees with the Greek more intimately than the Latin,-a clear proof of the antiquity of the ancient British.

There are in Gaelic two conjugations; the first comprehending all the verbs beginning with consonants, except f or a vowel; the second, all beginning with f, or a vowel. It has (in common with the Welsh, Hebrew, and other oriental languages) but two tenses, the PAST and the

FUTURE.

It is worthy of remark, that most of the words that have gw for their initials in Welsh, begin in Gaelic with an f, as: gwr, w. faer, g.; gwàn, w. fann, g.; Gwydd, w. fiodh, g.; gwin, w. fion, g.; gwîn, w. fion, g.; gwrion, w. firion, g.; gwraig, w. frag, g., &c.

At a future period, perchance, we may compare the Welsh and Gaelic more accurately. In the mean time, we recommend our readers to peruse Mr. M'Alpine's Pronouncing Dictionary, as a book well adapted to study many words now obsolete in Welsh.

Although we are anxious to give credence to the author in Gaelic criticisms, still we cannot confidently "swallow" his opinion under the word "coig," where he gravely tells us that the inhabitants of the Islands of Argyle pronounce Gaelic just as Adam spoke it.

Scenes in North Wales, with Historical Illustrations, Legends, and Biographical Notices. By G. N. Wright, A.M. P.A. R.H.A. Embellished with Engravings. Printed for Tegg, Cheapside. 1 vol. 8vo.

THE present year had added another to the list, already large, of guide books, peregrinations, legends, landscapes,

&c. &c., of and concerning our own beautiful Wales. We say guide books, because, although the work before us does not comprehend routes for the observance of the uninitiated, yet it certainly is intended to be a pocket companion to the tourist. It is embellished with thirty-six engravings, exceedingly small, but many of them well executed. The price of the whole is 4s. 6d. ; and, even in this age of cheap literature, we cannot imagine in what way the proprietor intends reimbursing his expenses, much more to gain by the speculation. It cannot be expected that much original matter will be found in such a work; it consists of selections from commonly received authorities, clothed in the editor's own words, and most, if not all, of the plates are reduced copies; but that he is capable of rendering his own ideas in fine language admits not of a doubt. We give one short specimen. In his preface, he says, "The great deeds of Leonidas were done amidst the rocks and glens. Switzerland displays her hatred of tyranny in an undying affection for the memory of Tell; while, from the chivalrous exploits of Glendwr, brandishing high the torch of liberty, a stream of light has issued, that seems to have poured its rays into the deepest recesses of his native glens.' We have seen something very like this, in reference to the same subject, but we have reason to think that the imagery is not borrowed; and we therefore give Mr. Wright that credit for originality which it would be unjust to withhold. But this volume is not free from imperfections: the best authorities have not been consulted; the typographical errors shall not here come under our notice, knowing the many difficulties an editor has to contend against, especially in matters of Cambrian interest; but there are several points, historically important, here wrongly given, for which there can be no excuse. The French also is imperfect; for example, in page 10, a very stupid error occurs, we are told something about, "the coup dé œil enjoyed from the Marine parade.

In page 16, the summit of Snowdon is termed "the loftiest pinnacle in ancient Britain." We cannot admit that Scotland was not part of ancient Britain. The Cymry, Lloygrians, and Caledonians, were all originally Gauls, and Albin was as much a part of Britain as London or Mona; two or three mountains in the Highlands are higher than Snowdon. The above assertion is calculated to mislead the juvenile reader, and there is no excuse for so palpable an error. In the very next page, the editor speaks of "the British Simplon, through the flinty rocks of Ogwen;" surely he

cannot mean flinty in a figurative sense, and we have no such formation in North Wales, excepting (and that very rarely) small conglomerated knots. In what school of geology has our author studied? In page 21, we are again favored with a little startling information regarding Snowdonia : "This is the highest of the North Cambrian chain, and still supposed the loftiest hill in Great Britain!!" In page 31, the author assures us that Owain Glendwr 66 was entombed at Monington, in Herefordshire." In two lines, he has taken upon himself to solve that which has been an object of fruitless investigation by our best antiquaries. We believe there is not an atom of proof that Glendwr was buried at Monington. We know that there is in the British Museum a M.S., stating, that the supposed body of Glendwr was discovered at Monington, upon rebuilding the Church, in the year 1680; that it was entire, and of "goodly stature." Our Welsh scholars have been unable to fling the smallest ray of light upon the subject; and different places are said to have been the depository of Glendwr's ashes, with just as much proof in their favour as Monington. Had the author said that Glendwr was probably buried somewhere in Herefordshire, he would have been supported, at least, by very vague and uncertain testimony. We must express to Englishmen that it is of much consequence to us to preserve our history correctly: had Edward Plantagenet, their king, and our conqueror, been confounded with uncertainty in any assumption relating to him, in life or death, we should have deeply regretted the event; and we must be equally tenacious in all that regards those immortal warriors, who, with their followers, were the last struggling remnant of what once were a great and glorious nation.

We cannot pursue our investigation further; sufficient has been shown that material errors occur in the "Historical Illustrations." But it is our duty as well as our inclination to add, that the engravings are worth the price of the whole volume.

Any work intended for the well-directing of children's minds, which moves their little hearts towards good, and leads them from bad, is worthy of high commendation; and, as an instrument of this kind, we have perused the third Number of 'the Juvenilia' with considerable pleasure. The article 'On the Necessity of a Liberal Education,' must have an