of it of their usual number of five hundred copies, and are 

 moreover saved from the expense of the paper and printing 

 of fifty copies, always given to authors who publish Essays 

 in the Transactions. 



" With respect to the delay in the publication of my 

 Essay on the Ancient Irish Bells, which I wrote in compli- 

 ance with the wish of the Academy, as conveyed to me from 

 the Chair, by their former illustrious President, Bishop 

 Brinkley, I have only to state, that the cause of that delay is 

 solely attributable, since the plates were furnished, to my be- 

 ing wholly employed on the publication of my Essay on the 

 Round Towers. 



" And lastly, with respect to the charge that my paper on 

 the Antiquities of Tara Hill, was read by the permission of 

 Colonel Colby, it having been prepared under his direction, 

 for the Ordnance Survey, by the persons employed thereon, 

 I have only to remark, that it is certainly true that I wrote apd 

 read the paper by permission of Colonel Colby, because, be- 

 ing employed in the Ordnance Survey at the time, I could 

 not, with propriety, have written or read it without such per- 

 mission ; but that it was my own work, assisted, as I have 

 constantly been, by more competent Irish scholars than my- 

 self, and written expressly for the Transactions of the Aca- 

 demy, I have already given the most unquestionable evidence, 

 namely, that of Colonel Colby and Captain Larcom, the di- 

 rectors of the Survey. 



" I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, 

 " 21, Great Charles-st., " Your obedient Servant, 



" Jan. 23rd, 1845." " George Petrie. 



2. 



" 104, Graf ton-street, 

 " 20th Jamiartj, 1845." 

 " Hodges and Smith present their respects to the Secre- 

 tary of the Royal Irish Academy, and in reply to his note 



