THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 237 



&c., Ogilby's History of China, Ogilby's Virgil, and a 

 curious and valuable book, Relation of a Journey 

 beginning A.D. 1610, printed in London, 1637. The 

 pictures were bequeathed subject to a proviso that 

 none of them were ever to be lent to the Artists' 

 Gallery, nor was anyone at any time to be allowed to 

 copy them. On this condition being violated they 

 were to be surrendered, sold by auction, and the pro- 

 ceeds added to the residue. The will is undated, and 

 Pleasants made a codicil, dated in 1817 at Booterstown 

 House, his interest in which he left to his brother 

 William. Both were proved on the i6th March 1818, 

 by Joshua Pasley, Abbey street, wine merchant. 



Thomas Pleasants, who was born in Carlow in 

 1728, had an extensive knowledge of classical literature, 

 and was interested in general literature and the fine 

 arts. He was a man of unbounded generosity and 

 philanthropy, as will be seen by gifts of his already 

 noticed. He defrayed the expense of reprinting Dr. 

 Samuel Madden's Reflections and Resolutions proper Jor 

 the Gentlemen of Ireland (1728). Pleasants died on 

 the ist of March 1818, at his house in Camden street, 

 now the Pleasants asylum for orphan girls, which 

 was founded by him. In 1820, Mr. Solomon Williams 

 presented to the Society his portrait of Pleasants, which 

 now hangs over the mantelpiece in the registrar's office. 



The lectures delivered at this time by the professors 

 under the auspices of the Society appear to have 

 been well attended, and the theatre was frequently 

 crowded. The Museum and the Elgin Marbles cast- 

 rooms were closed during the lectures, so as to enable 

 the porters to attend at the different doors. Not 

 more than 400 tickets were issued for each, and none 

 but members and officers of the Society were admitted 

 to the members' seats. It is amusing to record that on 



