271 



"We trust that your Excellency's administration of the high 

 office confided to you by our most gracious Sovereign will not 

 only tend to the peace and prosperity of Ireland, and the de- 

 velopment of the internal and commercial resources of the 

 country, but also to the advancement of the scientific and lite- 

 rary pursuits to which the Royal Irish Academy is especially 

 devoted." 



ANSWER. 



"Mr. President and Gentlemen, — I thank you for 

 your kind congratulation on my arrival here as the Represen- 

 tative of our most gracious Queen, and I am gratified to hear 

 that in the high position in which Her Majesty has been 

 pleased to place me, I am ex-officio the Visitor of the Royal 

 Irish Academy. 



" Owing to the numerous duties which have occupied me 

 during the short period I have been in this country, I have 

 had but little time to inquire into the character or object of 

 your Society ; but on looking over the list of names of the 

 Members who are enrolled in it, I feel convinced that your ef- 

 forts for the advancement of polite literature, science, and an- 

 tiquarian researches must have been successful, and productive 

 of great advantages. 



"I am glad to hear that, owing to the kindness of Lord 

 Clarendon, the Academy is now provided with a suitable 

 house, and I sincerely join in the hopes you have expressed, 

 that the new arrangements you are about to make will be be- 

 neficial to the student as well as interesting and instructive 

 to the public." 



Dr. Petrie presented, from Mr. Wilham Wakeman, a Ro- 

 man coin of "the younger Faustina," found at Navan. It 

 was a rather curious circumstance that Roman corns should be 

 so frequently discovered in that particular locality. 



2 b 2 



