PREFACE 



To the patriotism and munificence of Lord Ardilaun 

 the publication of this History of the Royal Dublin 

 Society is due. During his long connection with the 

 Society he had gained an intimate knowledge of the 

 leading part that for many generations it had taken in 

 the development of the resources of Ireland ; and he 

 believed that it would be of service to his country that 

 an account of the Society's operations and of the men 

 who had directed them, should be compiled. 



I have to thank Lord Ardilaun for much help and 

 many valuable suggestions during the preparation of the 

 work, and I regret that it did not appear before his 

 resignation of the office of President, which he held for 

 the lengthened period of sixteen years. The season of 

 its publication, however, is not altogether inappropriate, 

 as it synchronises with the centenary of the Society's 

 possession and occupation of Leinster House. 1 



In publishing this History, Lord Ardilaun has 

 carried out a suggestion made considerably more than 

 a century ago by Arthur Young. Writing in 1780, 

 that eminent agriculturist expressed the opinion that 

 Ireland deserved great credit for having given birth to 

 a society which had been the precursor of all similar 



1 On the I4th of December, 1814, the purchase of that mansion 

 was completed, and on the ist of June, 1815, the first meeting of the 

 Society within its walls was held. 



