160 



attention had long been carefully solicited, and which was 

 about to pass into the hands of all readers of poetry, and all 

 admirers of Irish music. 



What, it was asked, were the literary pretensions of Rey- 

 nolds, that he should be considered as the author of a lyric 

 poem, to which he had written nothing equal ? As to 

 Campbell, no one acquainted with his poetry could doubt his 

 competency to the task. Moreover, the style, the senti- 

 ments, the versification, were all in perfect harmony with the 

 unquestioned productions of Campbell's muse, and particu- 

 larly with the " Lines written on a Visit to Ayrshire." The 

 warm friendly feelings expressed by Campbell for Ireland, 

 entitle him to the gratitude of Irishmen ; and it would ill be- 

 come any native of our country to pluck a single leaf from 

 the chaplet of fair renown that encircles the brow of Camp- 

 bell. 



' ' Non ego illi detrahere ausim 

 Hjerentem capiti multa cum laude coronam.'' 



Hor. Sat. x. 48. 



W. R. Wilde, Esq., read the following Memoir of the 

 Dublin Philosophical Society of 1683 : 



•' The year 1683 is memorable in the annals of scientific 

 literature in Ireland for the formation of the Dublin Philo- 

 sophical Society, the great prototype of all our existing 

 learned bodies, but in particular of the Royal Irish Academy. 

 It was commenced in October in that year by William Moly- 

 neaux, ' the friend of Locke,' and the distinguished mathe- 

 matician and astronomer, who was the first secretary of this 

 society. 



" As there is no detailed account of this body in print, and 

 as the notices, of it which have as yet appeared are always 

 exceedingly brief, and frequently incorrect, I have for some 

 years past endeavoured to collect as much of its history and 

 proceedings as the scanty records scattered through works 

 and libraries afford. With these materials — with the manu- 



