THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 221 



trouble. The solicitor was also a source of annoyance, 

 and a threat as to legal proceedings against him had to 

 be made. 



In August 1799, ^40 were paid to George Fitz- 

 gerald for a sinecal circumferenter, 1 for land survey- 

 ing. The instrument was referred to the Royal Irish 

 Academy for examination, and Dr. Elrington and Dr. 

 Brinkley were of opinion that ingenuity had been 

 shown in its construction, and that it would answer its 

 purpose more satisfactorily than the instrument in use. 



About the same time the Rev. Andrew Callage 

 presented specimens " of a curious fossil called asbestos" 

 which he obtained from Corsica. A bust of the late 

 Right Hon. William Conyngham was procured from 

 Edward Smyth, statuary, and soon afterwards, Sir 

 John Sinclair, president of the English Board of 

 Agriculture, sent to the Society a statistical account 

 of Kilronan parish, co. Roscommon, written by Mr. 

 Conyngham, which he had presented to the Board 

 in 1773. This gentleman had been William Burton, 

 son of the Right Hon. Francis Burton, of Buncraggy, 

 co. Clare, m.p., and Mary, daughter of Henry Conyng- 

 ham, m.p. He assumed the name of Conyngham 

 on succeeding to the family estates on the death of 

 his uncle, Henry, Earl Conyngham. Mr. Conyngham 

 was m.p. successively for Ennis and Killybegs, teller 

 of the exchequer in Ireland and a privy councillor, 

 and he died, unmarried, 31st May 1796. He took an 

 unwearied interest in the objects of the Society, and is 

 frequently mentioned in the minutes, more especially 

 in connection with the library and fine arts depart- 

 ments. Conyngham travelled much on the continent, 

 and on such occasions he took the opportunity of 



1 An instrument used by surveyors for taking angles. A sinecal 

 circumferenter was one that read the sines of the angles. 



