32 



times, from the peasantry. There is, therefore, scarce a doubt 

 of their having been discovered in that locality. 



" I may here observe, that I have seen many hundred va- 

 rieties designated by numismatists British and Gaulish coins 

 in bronze, silver, gold, and electrum, and have not yet seen 

 any which have not been copied from Etruscan types, most 

 of them very closely. The Baron Donop's publication con- 

 tains an immense number of varieties, but they are all of the 

 same character. 



" The bold outline of countenance of the heads on those 

 specimens exhibits a perfection of design only to be arrived at 

 by long experience and progress in the arts, a perfection in 

 medalling not surpassed in the best period of Etruria, Greece, 

 or Rome. These exceed in execution the generality of Bri- 

 tish and Gaulish coins in Ruding, and have more the character 

 of the earlier Sicilian. A few specimens of these coins may 

 be seen in Plate xxxiv. of Etruria Celtica, vol. ii. p. 140, and 

 generally are in a very low style of art, and were of the pe- 

 riod of the decline of the Celtic empire, if 1 may be allowed 

 such a term. I mean the period immediately preceding the 

 invasion of Gaul by the Romans. 



" The specimens now exhibited I take to have been of a 

 much earlier period, even many centuries before the Romans 

 had subjugated the Etruscan power of Italy. 



[Sir W. Betham here described Mr. Cook's coins.] 

 " I have referred to the plates of Etruria Celtica, because 

 they are more accessible than Marchi and Tessieri, or the 

 Museum Arigoni, from which the plates in that work were 

 copied. 



" I shall not attempt to draw any conclusions from these 

 interesting specimens, but content myself with placing them 

 before the Academy, as striking facts, important in developing 

 the ancient history of Ireland and of Celtic Europe. 



"Much has been done by the formation of the Museum 

 of this Academy for the accumulation of facts and materials. 



