THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 147 



held there on the nth of March 1773, under the pre- 

 sidency of Arthur Richard Dillon, archbishop of Nar- 

 bonne, to which all Irish gentlemen resident in Paris 

 were invited, a select committee was appointed, which 

 resulted in the establishment of a branch in Paris. The 

 Book of Leacan, which was believed to have been lost 

 during a season of turbulence, while in possession of 

 Dublin University, or to have been brought away by an 

 Irish clergyman, who had prevailed on the librarian to 

 lend it to him, and who was suddenly obliged to fly to 

 France, was stated to be the only important manu- 

 script in their possession, and the college undertook 

 that a copy of it should be made. Sir John Gilbert, 

 in his History of Dublin (iii. 235), states that, in Sep- 

 tember 1 7 87, the Book of Leacan was sent through the 

 Abbe Kearney, of Paris, to the Royal Irish Academy, of 

 which institution it still " forms one of the chief literary 

 treasures," and for which it was edited in facsimile by 

 Dr. Atkinson. It was also hoped to open correspond- 

 ence with colleges, religious houses, and libraries 

 throughout France. In his History of Dublin^ Gilbert 

 states that this antiquarian committee of the Dublin 

 Society generally met in Trinity College library, and 

 that they assembled for the last time on the 24th of 

 February 1774. It does not appear to have accomplished 

 anything of practical value during its short existence. 



The first mention of Major (afterwards General) 

 Charles Vallancey, of the French family de la Vallence, 

 who was born in England about the year 1721, has been 

 made above. He must have become a member of the 

 Society between 1761 and 1764, during the period when 

 the minute books are missing, as there is no mention 

 of his admission in those now extant. He was in the 

 corps of Royal Engineers, and first came to Ireland in 

 1761, to assist in a military survey, from which time 



