aying there.
Boghin the brass Cooking the food.
My deal is mislin I am going.
The nidias of the kiena don't The people of the house don't know
granny what we're a tharyin what we're saying.

This was said within hearing of and in reference to a bevy of servants,
of every hue save white, who were in full view in the kitchen, and who
were manifestly deeply interested and delighted in our interview, as well
as in the constant use of my note-book, and our conference in an unknown
tongue, since Owen and I spoke frequently in Romany.

That bhoghd out yer mailya You let that fall from your hand.

I also obtained a verse of a ballad, which I may not literally render
into pure English:--

"Cosson kailyah corrum me morro sari,
Me gul ogalyach mir;
Rahet manent trasha moroch
Me tu sosti mo diele."

"Coming from Galway, tired and weary,
I met a woman;
I'll go bail by this time to-morrow,
You'll have had enough of me."

_Me tu sosti_, "Thou shalt be (of) me," is Romany, which is freely used
in Shelta.

The question which I cannot solve is, On which of the Celtic languages is
this jargon based? My informant declares that it is quite independent of
Old Irish, Welsh, or Gaelic. In pronunciation it appears to be almost
identical with the latter; but while there are Gaelic words in it, it is
certain that much examination and inquiry have failed to show that it is
contained in that language. That it is "the talk of the ould Picts--thim
that built the stone houses like beehives"--is, I confess, too
conjectural for a philologist. I have no doubt that when the Picts were
suppressed thousands of them must have become wandering outlaws, like the
Romany, and that their language in time became a secret tongue of
vagabonds on the roads. This is the history of many such lingoes; but
unfortunately Owen's opinion, even if it be legendary, will not prove
that the Painted People spoke the Shelta tongue. I must call attention,
however, to one or two curious points. I have spoken of Shelta as a
jargon; but it is, in fact, a language, for it can be spoken
grammatically and without using English or Romany. And again, there is a
corrupt method of pronouncing it, according to English, while correctly
enunciated it is purely Celtic in sound. More than this I have naught to
say.

Shelta is perhaps the last Old British dialect as yet existing which