351 



fore, on the present occasion, only to congratulate the Academy and 

 the country on the acquisition of this Collection, which it is to be 

 hoped will prove a centre to which may be attracted the various 

 objects of antiquarian interest now scattered through the country, 

 or which may hereafter be discovered, and thus be laid the foun- 

 dation of a truly national Museum of Antiquities. 



" Besides the actual Dawson Collection, our Museum has been 

 enriched by donations from His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, 

 and from various private individuals, to whom on the several occa- 

 sions of presentation well merited thanks were voted by the Aca- 

 demy. 



" The necessity of arranging our Museum in such a form as 

 should do justice to its intrinsic value, and adapt it for those pur- 

 poses of reference and exhibition on which much of the influence 

 it is calculated to exert must depend, has rendered the present ac- 

 commodation of the Academy House totally inadequate to our 

 wants, and the Council has consequently directed its attention to 

 ascertaining how far our accommodation in rooms can be extended. 

 It has been found that at a moderate cost the present Board Room 

 may be converted into a Museum Eoom sufl[icient for our objects, 

 and that under the Library and the adjoining spaces, there exists 

 ground now of little use, on which a Board Room, rather larger than 

 the present, may be constructed. A model and drawings of the ar- 

 rangement proposed have been already laid before the Academy, 

 and met with its approval, but circumstances connected with our te- 

 nure of this house have induced the Council to postpone for a short 

 time entering upon any outlay in building. 



" In the Report of the last Council, the Academy was informed 

 that an application had been made to His Excellency the Lord 

 Lieutenant, that he might recommend to the Government to increase 

 our Annual Grant by the sum of £100, or to allow that sura per 

 year, specially for the purchase of Irish antiquities. No decisive 

 answer has been as yet received to that application, but it is to be 

 hoped that as we have now made so excellent a beginning to our 

 Museum, and that the sphere of our public utility has thus been 

 much extended, so small an increase to our exceedingly scanty 

 means mav not be finallv refused. 



