558 



him to visit Brussels himself, and to inspect the MSS. in 

 question. He there collated the curious history of the Danish 

 wars in Ireland, of which there is an imperfect copy in the 

 Library of Trinity College. He transcribed the passages de- 

 ficient in that copy, and brought home a list of the various 

 readings found in the Brussels MS. of that very important 

 tract, with a view to its publication; but time did not permit 

 him to do more. He saw, however, that the two volumes now 

 exhibited to the Academy were of much greater importance, 

 and were in fact the most valuable documents for the illustra- 

 tion of the ecclesiastical history and topograghy of Ireland 

 that have been as yet discovered. He hoped, therefore, that, 

 as he now has it in his power to exhibit them to the Academy, 

 sor/ie account of their contents would not be unacceptable. 

 But first it was necessary to explain how they came into his 

 possession, and how it was that he was enabled to exhibit 

 them here. He owes this privilege to the very great kindness 

 of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Dr. Todd 

 was so much impressed with the great importance of obtain- 

 ing copies of the MSS. now before the Academy, that he ven- 

 tured to state the case toHisExcellency, having been informed 

 at Brussels, that the Belgian Government would make no 

 difficulty about lending the MSS., if application were made 

 to them by the Government here. The Lord Lieutenant, 

 although he was then in London, and occupied with much 

 urgent public business, very kindly took the matter up, made 

 the necessary communication to the Belgian authorities, and 

 in shorf obtained the MSS., with full permission to have trans- 

 cripts made of them. 



Dr. Todd exhibited the beautiful copies of these valuable 

 records which had been made for him by Mr. Eugene Curry ; 

 copies which he had no hesitation in saying were much more 

 valuable than the originals, as being not only more legible 

 and intelligible, but also in many respects more correct. He 

 then proceeded to describe the contents of the two curious 



