Excerpt from An Essay on the Druids, the Ancient Churches, and the Round Towers of Ireland Whatever may be the character of the following Essay, it is the result of considerable study and inquiry. In the first place, the subjects of which it treats could never be approached without a knowledge of the Celtic language. That, in itself, would require the labour and application of much time. There are, and have been, distinguished antiquaries in Ireland who could not pronounce a single sentence in the Irish language. Yet, to know that language well, without being able to speak it, is an utter impossibility; for it is essentially more a language of the tongue than of the letter. It was once the speech of a vast number of the human race. Probably, it was the first language spoken by man. At the present day fragments of it are found in most countries of the world, even in India and among the original tribes of America. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.