ULSTER A NATION.
[To ma Eons. or an "Eirscrtroz."1
Sea,—" Oxoniensis " says that in all the distinctive marks of nationality enumerated by Herodotus, except language, Ulster differs from the Southern provinces of Ireland. He need not have made the exception. The Ulsterman speaks a form of Lowland Scotch, the Irishman of the South and West what may be called an Anglo-Irish dialect, the groundwork of which is literary English modified by Gaelic idioms and modes of expression. Of the latter a fascinating account is given in Joyce's little book, English as We Speak It in Ireland (I quote the title from memory). It is true that the Ulsterman and the Southron understand each other, as do the Swede and the Norwegian; but the dialects they speak are essentially different in genius and tradition.
I was myself born and bred in Belfast, and have a vivid recollection how it seemed like going into a foreign country when my father moved south into Westmeath. Everything was different, down to the street songs. In Mullingar one heard "The Boys of Wexford," "St. Patrick's Day," Sce., or topical ballads, satirical or tragic; in Belfast it had been "There's nae good luck about the house," "The Campbells are coming," and other Scottish national or folk melodies. The whole atmosphere, indeed, was essentially Scottish. Thus, when I came a few years later to read some of the more Scottish of the " Waverleys," I found myself, to my surprise, breathing, as it were, native air.
I have lived years in Ulster and Leinster, was educated in England, have spent many months in Scotland, and several of my closest friends are Scotsmen; furthermore, for the last thirty years my work has lain in North Wales. Thus I can claim some acquaintance with the different types of national character to be found in these islands, and I say without hesitation that the difference between the Irish Roman Catholic of the South and the Ulster Protestant is greater even than that between Welshman and Englishman, immeasurably greater than that which divides Lowland Scot from Yorkshireman. If Ulster Protestantdom does not con. stitute a separate nationality in Ireland, then the whole case for a separate Scotch or Welsh nationality in Great Britain
is gone.—I am, Sir, &c., HARRY R. REICHEL. Gartherwen, Bangor, North Wales.
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