226 A HISTORY OF 



be hung in the board-room in acknowledgment of his 

 exertions in the study of agriculture, botany, mineralogy, 

 and the veterinary art. Foster was born in 1740, and 

 early devoted himself to a political career. He was mem- 

 ber of Parliament for Dunleer in 1768, became Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer in 1785, being elected Speaker of the 

 House of Commons in August 1785. Bitterly opposed 

 to the Union, he exerted his utmost endeavours to 

 prevent that measure being carried, and declined to 

 surrender the mace of the House, saying that " until 

 the body that entrusted it to his keeping demanded 

 it, he would preserve it for them." It is still held 

 by his descendants in the Massereene family. After 

 the Union, Foster represented Louth in the Imperial 

 Parliament, and accepted the post of Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer for Ireland. In 1 821, he was created Baron 

 Oriel, and died on the 23rd of August 1828, aged 

 eighty-seven. Foster was indefatigable in his labours 

 on behalf of the Dublin Society, of which he was a 

 vice-president for many years. He was most diligent 

 in his attendance on committees, and took an especial 

 interest in the department of mineralogy and botany, 

 and in the foundation of a school for the cultivation of 

 the veterinary art. The Society was in possession of a 

 portrait of Foster which hung in the board-room, but 

 in 1 8 1 3 it was ordered to be replaced by one painted by 

 Sir William Beechey. 



Early in 1803 Abraham Wilkinson, secretary, died, 

 and the Rev. Dr. Thomas Smyth was elected to the 

 vacant post. 



A letter from the Rev. Thomas Hincks 1 was re- 



1 Thomas Dix Hincks, born in Dublin in 1767, was a Presbyterian 

 divine, ordained in 1790 for Cork, where he conducted a school. He 

 projected the Royal Cork Institution, of which he became an officer, 

 and in which he lectured on Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. 

 Hincks also edited the Munster Agricultural Magazine. 



