English against the Irish people, as well before as after the
Reformation, special penalties against the minstrels, bards, and
rhymers, who sustained the lords and gentlemen, . . . are to be
met with at every step.

"Nevertheless, the harp has remained the emblem of Ireland, even
in the official arms of the British Empire, and during all last
century, the travelling harper, last and pitiful successor of the
bards, protected by Columba, was always to be found at the side of
the priest, to celebrate the holy mysteries of the proscribed worship.
He never ceased to be received with tender respect under the thatched
roof of the poor Irish peasant, whom he consoled in his misery and
oppression by the plaintive tenderness and solemn sweetness of the
music of his fathers."

Could any expression of ours set forth in stronger light the Celtic
mind and heart as portrayed in those native elements of music and
literature? Could any thing more forcibly depict the real character
of the race, materialized, as it were, in its exterior institutions?
We were right in saying that among no other race was what is
generally a mere adornment to a nation, raised to the dignity of
a social and political instrument as it was among the Celts. Hence
it was impossible for persecution and oppression to destroy it,
and the Celtic nature to-day is still traditional, full of faith,
and at the same time poetical and impulsive as when those great
features of the race held full sway.

Besides music, several other branches of art, particularly
architecture, design, and calligraphy, are worthy our attention,
presenting, as they do, features unseen anywhere else; and would