31 



that he had every reason to believe, from those from whom he 

 obtained theni, that they were found in digging the foundation 

 of his house on Arran-quay, in this city, in the alluvial soil 

 formerly the bed of the LifFey. He had to sink twenty feet 

 through this soil to find a foundation, and in it were found a 

 great many burned clay tobacco pipes, and such like matters ; 

 but he obtained nothing else till long after the house was 

 finished, when these coins were brought to him for sale, and 

 he purchased them, but could obtain no precise evidence 

 where they were found. He is, however, strongly impressed 

 with the idea they were found as above stated. 



" It is remarkable that eight of the twelve specimens now 

 exhibited to the Academy are figured in the plates of my 

 Etruria Celtica, which I copied from a publication of Messrs. 

 Marchi and Tessieri, Jesuits, keepers of the Kircherian Mu- 

 seum at Rome, the Museum Ariyoni, published about 100 

 years since at Venice, and several other works on Etruscan 

 and Italian antiquities." 



[Sir W. Betham then described the coins figured in the 

 plates of his Etruria Celtica.] 



" The principal object of this paper, however, w^as not so 

 much to call attention to Mr. Haliday's coins, as to bring 

 before your notice several coins which Mr. Cook, of Birr, 

 has placed in my hands, some of which are also undoubtedly 

 Etruscan, and others of the class found in Britain and France, 

 and commonly denominated British and Gaulish coins. The 

 devices on them are evidently Etruscan, or copied from Etrus- 

 can types. The designs are as fine and well executed as the 

 best medallist might be proud of. 



" Mr. Cook's coins, which I have now the pleasure of 

 laying before the Academy, are in a great degree free from 

 the objection of the want of knowledge as to the locality in 

 which they were found, inasmuch as Mr. Cook purchased 

 them, with many others, from a shopkeeper, or dealer, of the 

 town of Tullamore, who had purchased them, at different 



