36 DUBLIN TJNITEESITY 



be traversed, you contrived to bring home, when each small weight was 

 a serious burden, some fossil shells, — precious in our eyes, as affording 

 the key to the solution of a previously unsettled problem in Arctic 

 Geology. 



We, in conclusion, request your acceptance of the accompanying 

 Testimonial [a copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica], as a mark of our 

 entire sympathy with your labours, and a record of our appreciation of 

 the brilliant discoveries that will ever be associated with your name. 



The Peesldent then rose, and said : — 



Captain Sir Leopold M'Clintock, — It is now my grateful duty, as 

 President of this Association, to present you with the Address unani- 

 mously agreed to by the Council, in the name of the members. It ex- 

 presses briefly, and in somewhat blunt language, the genuine feelings of 

 our hearts, and as such we hope you will receive it. 



"We do, indeed, rejoice to see you once more amongst us, returned 

 in safety and in honour, from what appeared to many of us, when you 

 started, as a forlorn hope, and we do most warmly sympathize with all 

 the praise and all the honour you have received. We do not think you 

 have been too highly praised, or too liberally laden with honours. What 

 you have received, you have thoroughly earned. I am not now, how- 

 ever, going to trouble you with further compliments. I know that it 

 must be painful to a modest man to have to stand up in public and listen 

 to his own praises. But if any place could divest praise of the shadowy 

 nature of compliment, and invest it with the substance of truth, surely 

 this old hall is that place. The honours here usually conferred are not 

 mere passing compliments ; they are laurels, sharply contested for, fairly 

 won, and equitably awarded by competent authority. One such honour 

 was awarded to you when last within these walls. We do not seek by 

 our present address to add any distinction to your name, but as our 

 little offering springs from a root of love and of respect, we hope that it 

 carries with it also " a seed of immortality I" 



We have had some difficulty in selecting a memorial which might 

 be worthy of your acceptance, and within the scope of our ability. 

 Many propositions have been made to us. We debated them several 

 times, and at last concluded that a set of books of reference, such as 

 would be useful to you at all times, and that you could carry to sea on 

 future voyages, would be the most suitable gift for us to make to you. 

 We hope you will accept them in the spirit in which they are offered. 



