315 



" I have thought that it would not be without interest to 

 the Academy, to see how a large collection has been formed, 

 in about thirty years, by energetic exertions, continued in spite 

 of great difficulties ; and how the collection, after those diffi- 

 culties have been overcome, now stands as a national monu- 

 ment, supported alike by the Government and by the people. 

 1 doubt not that the Collection of this Academy, which in a 

 few years has attained such magnitude, will, if carried on with 

 the same energy, be soon of so much importance, and gain so 

 great a name in Europe, that it will receive that strong sup- 

 port, both from the Government and the inhabitants of Ireland, 

 which it at present wants. 



" If you will allow me I shall, at another meeting, insti- 

 tute a short comparison between the antiquities in the Irish 

 and Danish collections. It is only through such a comparison 

 of the antiquities in different countries, that a new light will 

 be thrown over the many dark periods of the early history of 

 Europe; and I hope that the connexion, which in ancient times 

 existed between Ireland and Scandinavia, will give me a pe- 

 culiar advantage in illustrating the origin and use of some 

 antiquities in the collection of the Academy." 



Rev. Samuel Butcher read a paper by Rev. Dr. Hincks, 

 in continuation of his researches in the Persepolitan writing. 



In this paper Dr. Hincks shows, that the general principles 

 respecting the Persian writing, which he had laid down in his 

 former communication on this subject,* are borne out by the 

 Bisitun inscriptions, recently published by Major Rawlinson. 

 The values which, in his former paper, Dr. Hincks had assigned 

 to four of the characters, he admits to be erroneous, and, ac- 

 cordingly, now corrects them ; but maintains that the values 

 assigned by him to the remaining characters are the true ones, 

 and adduces the new inscriptions in proof thereof. With re- 



* " On the first and second kinds of Persepolitan ^vriting," by the Rev. 

 E. Hincks, D. D. (-T7c?. Proceedings, vol. iii. p. 262). 



