languages besides, is pure Celtic, but little altered too,
in its transit from one language to another. _Ard_, high or chief,
_Muir_, the sea, and _Fear_, (in composition pronounced _ar_) a man, so
that _Ardmurar_, or _Admiral_, signifies literally the _Chief Seaman_.
There is nothing of torture in this derivation, as may be seen by
referring to any Irish dictionary, and it is a curious fact, that the
Irish seamen in the navy very generally call the Admiral "_the
Ardmurar_." In Irish it is frequently written in two words, thus--_Ard
muirfhear_.

_Beltin day_.--The first of May is so called in many places in the North
of England. It was a custom in the days of Druidism to light large fires
on the tops of hills on the evening of the first of May, in honour of
_Bel_ or the Sun, and hence that day is still called in Irish, _La
Bheltine_, or the day of Bel's fire, from _La_, a day, _Bel_, the god
Bel, and _teine_, fire. The same ceremony was practised in Britain,
being a Druidical rite, and the name (_Beltin day_) remains, although
the custom from which it originated, has in England, at least, been long
forgotten.

Guthrie, in his "Geographical Grammar," tells us, that the English
language is a compound of the Saxon, the French, and the _Celtic_. As
far as this latter is concerned, the assertion appears to me to have
been made without due consideration; I do not believe that there are
twenty words of _genuine Celtic_ in the English language; there are, it
is true, a very few Irish words, which have become as it were, English
denizens, and of these I have sent you a specimen above; but I do not
believe it possible to increase their number to twenty, even in broad
Scotch, in which dialect of the Saxon (from the neighbourhood of the
Highlanders who use the Irish language) some Celtic words might be
expected, but very few occur;[2] there is, however, one very curious
exception to this rule, and for which, I confess, I am unable to
account, (though perhaps your correspondent, _Rupert C._ in No. 342,
might,) it is this--that in Grose's _Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, or
Cant Language_, if the words which are evidently figurative be thrown
out, nearly the whole of what remain are pure Irish.

[2] As _Oe_ a grandson--Irish _O_ or _Ux byre_, a
cowhouse--Irish boyach (boi-theach.)

H.S.

* * * * *

TURKISH CANNON.

(_For the Mirror._)

The Turks use the largest cannon of any peo