ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 455 



trust myself to speak. Among my predecessors in this high office 

 was one whom I am still more proud to follow : my nearest 

 relative filled this chair. I know how he was valued here ; and I 

 cannot but feel that much of the indulgent estimation which you 

 have formed of my fitness for the same station has come to me 

 reflected from his memory, and that you hope to find in the son 

 some of those qualities for which the father was loved and honoured. 

 But, Gentlemen, whatever qualifications I may want, there is 

 one to which I lay claim : I mean that of deep interest in the 

 welfare of this Body, and zeal for its service. Here I will yield 

 to none ; and I console myself with the hope that it may make 

 some amends in your estimation for the many wants which you 

 will hereafter have occasion to observe. 



My predecessor in this chair, upon an occasion similar to the 

 present, laid before you some of his views respecting the constitu- 

 tion of the Academy, and the means by which its future interests 

 might be promoted. I am sure that you will permit me to follow 

 this precedent, and to offer a few remarks firstly, upon the mixed 

 nature of that constitution under which we are here ilnited for the 

 pursuit of truth, and, secondly, upon the progress that has been 

 made, or that may hereafter be made, in that high object of our 

 incorporation. It is of the future that it is important to speak : 

 the precept 



Ta /J.fv oiriffu) firi\av0avo/jifvos, rois 8e f/j.irpoffQfi> 



holds good in the pursuit of knowledge, no less than in the ad- 

 vance in piety. But still our hopes of the future, if they are to 

 be more than dreamy visions, must be based upon the history of 

 the past. 



The first thing that must strike every one, in considering the 

 constitution of this Academy, is the comprehensiveness of its 

 scheme, and the wide scope of its labours ; and we are inclined 

 to ask, whether a constitution so large and so varied, so opposed 

 to modern precedent, can be sound and healthful ? When we 

 look into the recent history of Associations for the advancement 

 of knowledge, we see that each division of the wide domain of 

 truth, as it has arisen into prominent view by the labours of those 

 engaged in its cultivation, has claimed for itself the concentrated 

 energy, and the undivided resources, of an exclusive Society. In 



