326 



It was Resolved, — That the Treasurer be authorized 

 to sell off stock of the Academy to the amount of £400, if 

 so much be thought necessary by Council. 



Professor Mac Cullagh presented and described to the 

 Academy an ancient Irish Cross, which formerly belonged to 

 the abbey of Cong, in the province of Connaught. It is a 

 most interesting memorial of the period preceding the Eng- 

 lish invasion, and shows a very high state of art in the 

 country at the time when it was made, which was the early 

 part of the twelfth century, in the reign of Therdelach Ua 

 Conchovar, (or Turlogh O'Conor,) father of Roderick, the 

 last of the native kings of Ireland. This date is supplied by 

 the Gaelic inscriptions, extremely clear and well cut, which 

 cover the silver edges of the cross, and which, besides giving 

 the names of the king and of contemporary dignitaries of the 

 church, preserve that of the artist himself, who was an Irish- 

 man. A Latin inscription informs us that it contains a pre- 

 cious relic — a portion of the wood of the " true cross ;" and 

 this circumstance will account for the veneration in which it 

 has been held for ages, though, unfortunately, it was not 

 sufficient to protect it from injury, much of the ornamental 

 work having been removed, and part of the inscriptions torn 

 away. Notwithstanding these depredations, however, it is 

 still a splendid monument of ecclesiastical antiquity. 



* In the centre of the arms, at their junction with the shaft, 

 there is fixed a cruciform piece of oak, marked with the 

 figure of a cross, and much older, apparently, than the rest 

 of the wood, which is oak also. This piece bears marks 

 of the knife, as if it had been taken for the relic ; though 

 it is perhaps too large to be so, and, besides, it does not 

 appear that the true cross was made of oak. Hereabouts, 

 however, the relic certainly was ; for the place is sur- 

 mounted by a very conspicuous crystal of quartz — a mode 



