In Brittany, at the beginning of the 19th century, the native language had sunk almost to the level of a It was restored to some literary dignity primarily by Legonidec, who had fled to Great Britain as a political refugee and, seeing there what was then being done for Wales, determined to try to do as much for his own country. His Grammaire celto-bretonne appeared at Paris in 1807, and his Dictionnaire breton-francais in 1821. Peo ple of standing and position became interested, and the teaching of Breton was introduced into a number of schools. The native language, however, fell under the ban of the Second Em pire, and the Association bretonne, which was founded in 1844, was dissolved in 1859, and was not re-established until 1873. In 1870, the Revue Critique was started by Gaidoz, and in a few years chairs of Celtic were endowed in various French centres, and were given to scholars like Gaidoz himself, D'Arbois de Jubainville, Loth and Ernault. However, the ukase against the teaching or the use of Breton in the state schools of Brittany remained, as it still remains, in force. To combat the danger that, while higher Celtic studies flourished, the Breton language might perish in its native home, the Association bretonne appointed, in 1895, a permanent committee for its preserva tion: The efforts of this committee were seconded by the Union regionaliste bretonne, founded at Morlaix in 1898, whose object is not only to preserve the Breton speech but also to reconstitute the Breton life in all its forms. In pursuance of its policy, the Union regiona lisle held, in 1899, a meeting similar to the Welsh Eisteddfod, the Irish Oireachtas, and the Scottish Mad, and these festivals took place annually thereafter. The result of all these endeavors is that Breton is now taught in the schools not controlled by the state; that several periodicals, some partly, some wholly, in Bre ton, are published; and that there are still some million and a quarter of people who use Breton as their native tongue.
The Celtic Renaissance was not confined to Europe. It spread wherever the ubiquitous Celt had made for himself a home: to Canada, to the United States of America, to Australasia, to far away India and Ceylon, to Argentina, even to Patagonia. Not to speak Of the de partments of Celtic which have been established at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and Chicago, nor of the chair of Celtic founded at the Catholic University of America in Wash ington, sermons, etc., in Welsh and in Gaelic are preached in different parts of the United States and Australia and journals published in these languages in those and other countries, while encouraging their readers to loyalty to the land in which they live, serve also to recall to their minds the homes which they or their forefathers left, and to put before them, as a stimulus, the varied achievements of the great race from which they are sprung.
Revue Celtique (1870 to date) ; Zeitschrtft fkr Celtische Pkilologie (1896 to date) ; Zimmer, H.,
(Ber lin 1884) ;