461 



Monday, June 13th, 1853. 



THOMAS KOMNEY ROBINSON, D. D., President, 

 in the Chair. 



Eugene Curry, Esq., was elected a Member of the Academy. 



Dr. Todd exhibited to the Academy an ancient Irish reli- 

 quary, composed of brass and silver, of exquisite workman- 

 ship. It represents a human arm, with closed hand, and is 

 believed to have contained portions of the hand or arm of 

 St. Lachtin [_pr. Lachteen], abbot or bishop of Achadh-ur 

 [Fresh-field, now by an erroneous translation called Fresh- 

 ford] , in the county of Kilkenny. 



St. Lachtin was a native of Muscraighe (now Muskerry), 

 in the county of Cork, and was descended from the royal 

 family of Conaire II., King of Ireland in the second cen- 

 tury. He died, according to the Annals of the Four Masters, 

 in the year 622 ; and his memory was venerated by the Irish 

 Church on the 19th of March. 



This curious reliquary is now the property of Andrew 

 Fountaine, Esq., of Narford Hall, near Swaffham, Norfolk, 

 and has been in the possession of his family for many years. 

 The opportunity of exhibiting it to the Academy has been pro- 

 cured through the influence of Lord Talbot de Malahide, by 

 whom it has been borrowed from its owner, to be exhibited 

 with the Academy's Museum at the Great Exhibition. 



It has already been engraved, and a short account of it 

 printed in the Vetusta Monumenta, published by the Society 

 of Antiquaries of London ; but the interpretation there given 

 of the inscriptions upon it is full of inaccuracies. It had been 

 previously exhibited to that Society by Sir Andrew Fountaine 

 in 1829. 



There are four inscriptions, on plates of brass, running 



vol. v. 2 Y 



