315 
** I have thought that it would not be without interest to 
the Academy, to see how a large collection has been formed, 
in about thirty years, by energetic exertions, continued in spite 
of great difficulties ; and how the collection, after those diffi- 
culties have been overcome, now stands as a national monu- 
ment, supported alike by the Government and by the people. 
I doubt not that the Collection of this Academy, which in a 
few years has attained such magnitude, will, if carried on with 
the same energy, be soon of so much importance, and gain so 
great a name in Europe, that it will receive that strong sup- 
port, both from the Government and the inhabitants of Ireland, 
which it at present wants. 
‘* If you will allow me I shall, at another meeting, insti- 
tute a short comparison between the antiquities in the Irish 
and Danish collections. It is only through such a comparison 
of the antiquities in different countries, that a new light will 
be thrown over the many dark periods of the early history of 
Europe; and I hope that the connexion, which in ancient times 
existed between Ireland and Scandinavia, will give me a pe- 
culiar advantage in illustrating the origin and use of some 
antiquities in the collection of the Academy.” 
Rev. Samuel Butcher read a paper by Rev. Dr. Hincks, 
in continuation of his researches in the Persepolitan writing. 
_ Inthis paper Dr. Hincks shows, that the general principles 
respecting the Persian writing, which he had laid down in his 
former communication on this subject,* are borne out by the 
Bisitun inscriptions, recently published by Major Rawlinson. 
The values which, in his former paper, Dr. Hincks had assigned 
to four of the characters, he admits to be erroneous, and, ac- 
cordingly, now corrects them ; but maintains that the values 
assigned by him to the remaining characters are the true ones, 
and adduces the new inscriptions in proof thereof. With re- 
- ** On the first and second kinds of Persepolitan writing,” by the Rev. 
E. Hincks, D.D. (Vid. Proceedings, vol. iii. p. 262). 
