THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 215 



publicly proposed, and no election was to be valid unless 

 thirty members were present. The election, as well as 

 the proposal of honorary members, was to be regulated 

 in the same manner as in the case of ordinary members. 

 On the 5th of March 1812, a by-law was confirmed, 

 that annual members should be deemed life members on 

 a further payment of fifteen guineas, and on such pay- 

 ment they were to be discharged of all arrears. In 

 November 1812 it was resolved to add a new by-law 

 to those already in force, namely : That no order for 

 payment or appropriation of money was to be made 

 without a previous reference on the subject-matter 

 thereof to the committee of economy, and their report 

 being obtained. 



Later, it appeared that the seventieth by-law was 

 founded on a misapprehension of the true interpreta- 

 tion of a clause in the charter, which was to be inter- 

 preted that the Society had power at any general 

 meeting to confirm such by-laws as had been proposed 

 and agreed to at any previous stated general meeting. 



On the 25th of May 1815, the 42nd, 43rd, and 46th 

 by-laws were amended by the word "thirty" being 

 expunged, and the word " fifty " substituted ; so that 

 for the future intending members had to pay a sum of 

 fifty guineas, and no annual subscription had to be met 

 by them. This was found not to work, and in 1821, the 

 fee of thirty guineas was again resumed. On the 28th 

 of November 1 8 16, several new by-laws were confirmed 

 {Proceedings, vol. liii. p. 46). Among the principal, 

 one of the by-laws arranged that each of the six com- 

 mittees was to consist of not more than fifteen members. 

 No one was to be a member of more than two of the 

 five first committees on the list (which excluded that 

 of Economy). The committees were to be elected by 

 ballot yearly, and each committee was to keep a rough 



