16 JULY 1927, Page 14

THE PROPOSED GAELIC COLLEGE FOR THE HIGHLANDS [To the Editor

of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—A Lowlander with a strong affection for the Highlands and with a deep appreciation of the charm of their people, I suggest a further argument in support of the preservation and study of the Gaelic language.

Is it not possible that this language is nearer to the original Celtic speech than is the Irish ? Mountaineers are notoriously conservative as regards customs and language, witness the endurance of the Welsh language ; and may not the speech of the modern Highlander differ but little from that of his remote forebears ? I know that most at any rate of the serious students of the Irish language take the opposite view, but there are no a priori reasons against this opinion.—