Madam, - It was good of Deasún Breatnach to challenge the notion that the Irish language is exclusively linked with republicanism and Roman Catholicism (May 12th).
Bishop Bedell's generous efforts to promote Irish in the 17th century built on the work of 16th-century pioneers. The first book printed in Irish was John Carswell's translation of John Knox's Liturgy (Edinburgh, 1567). He used the Cló Rómhánach and dedicated the work to "fearaibh Alban & Eireand".
The first Gaelic book printed in Ireland was a Church of Ireland Cathechism by John Kearney, Treasurer of St Patrick's Cathedral (Dublin, 1571). The typeface he used consisted of a mixture of Roman and Gaelic manuscript-style letters, and was provided by Queen Elizabeth I.
Kearney's successor as Treasurer of St Patrick's, Uilliam Ó Dómhnaill (William Daniel), published the New Testament in 1602 and the Book of Common Prayer in 1608, using the same type. When Bedell's Bible was eventually published in 1685, Ó Dómhnaill's New Testament was incorporated in it.
In a different field, two Protestant women should be honoured for their services to poetry in Irish: Charlotte Brooke (1740-1793) who published Reliques of Irish Poetry in 1789; and Róis Ní Ógáin (Rose Young) (1864-1946), whose Duanaire Gaelhilge, in three volumes 1921-30, gave a splendid overview of the whole range of versification from the bards to Deirín Dé. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL DRURY, Avenue Louise, Brussels, Belgium.