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seum a few ancient Roman coins, recently found in the vicinity 
of our city. 
‘‘ These coins were found by a person digging in, or adjacent 
to, the grounds of a gentleman’s place called Fonthill Abbey, 
situated a little to the south of the village of Rathfarnham; and 
they were given by the finder to Mr. Glennon, of Suffolk-street, 
who brought them to me as objects which I might consider of 
some interest, and accept as a token of personal regard. Per- 
ceiving, however, at a glance what the coins were, I deemed 
it desirable that they should be placed in our own Museum ; 
and, at my request, Mr. Glennon unhesitatingly acceded to me 
the privilege of presenting them to the Academy in his name. 
‘«<Tt may befurther remembered that, in my former remarks 
upon the frequency of such discoveries in Ireland, I had occa- 
sion, more than once, to direct attention to the somewhat 
curious fact of the finding of Roman coins at or in the imme- . 
diate neighbourhood of this particular locality. But though 
this fact was interesting, there was nothing in it of striking 
importance—nothing that could not be, at least plausibly, ac- 
counted for. The coins so found, with one exception, were 
either coins of the early emperors, or, as more frequently, of 
those posterior to the establishment ofChristianity by Constan- 
tine; and in either case it might fairly be conjectured that 
such coins had been brought into this country by merchants 
trafficking with Roman Britain or Gaul; or by the marauding 
Scots who so frequently warred with the Romans in the pre- 
sent Scotland; or, again, by Roman Christians who may have 
sought a refuge in Ireland from Pagan persecution. But such 
conjectures cannot be indulged in to account for the discovery of 
the coins I have now to present to the Academy ; for though 
they are Roman, they are not of the class previously noticed: 
they belong not to the times of the Empire, but to those of the 
Republic ;—in short, they present us with specimens of the as, 
and some of its subdivisions or parts, all of which appear to be 
