vi 
attempted to bring forward there those charges against the 
Council, which he has since thought proper to carry before 
the Government. 
“In the next place, the Council have to express their 
great, regret that the different Essays of Mr. Petrie, about 
which Sir W. Betham shows so much concern, have not yet 
been published ; but they beg to observe, that the peculiar 
circumstances of the case have thrown entirely into the 
author’s hands the publication of the Essay on the Round 
Towers of Ireland,—and that, while he is employed uponthis, 
which is a very large work, it would be useless to press upon 
him the publication of the others. Mr. Petrie, however, has 
addressed to the Council a statement of the causes which 
have retarded the appearance of his Essays, and this state- 
ment is herewith transmitted to your Lordship. 
“* The Council also take leave to transmit two Estimates— 
one from the Publishers of Mr. Petrie’s Essay on the Round 
Towers, the other from the Printer of that work. By the 
first of these it appears that the publishing price of the yo- 
lume which Mr. Petrie has engaged to give to the Academy 
for thirty shillings (and the printing of which is now greatly 
advanced), cannot be less than two guineas, and is more 
likely to be 2} guineas. By the second estimate it appears 
that if the work were printed by the Academy, as a volume 
of its Transactions, the impression being limited, as usual, to 
500 copies, each copy would cost the Academy above three 
pounds; that is, more than double the price for which 
Mr. Petrie has undertaken to supplyit. Yet Sir W. Betham 
has not hesitated to state, that the Council have allowed 
Mr. Petrie ‘ to print the work for his own benefit, virtually 
at the expense of the Academy ;’ and that, by agreeing to pay 
him thirty shillings a copy for 450 copies, they have given 
him ‘ booksellers’ profit’—and have ‘ made him a present of 
£234 13s. 4d. of the Academy’s money, which would pay for 
