Frerauson—Address delivered before the Academy. 191 
-most express denial to that statement. In the transfer and new 
deposit of our Museum which has been made since it ceased to benefit 
by Sir William Wilde’s services, his arrangement, so far as it had 
gone, was piously preserved ; every object he had recorded was iden- 
tified with its place in the Catalogue and in the old Registers, and 
keys connecting the new and old places of deposit were made out with 
the utmost particularity for them all. Since then there have come 
into the house upwards of four thousand objects, every one of which 
at the time of its acquisition has been entered in the new Register, 
with particulars of place and circumstances of finding, wherever these 
could be ascertained ; and for all objects which may come in, pending 
the transfer, like entries will be continued. If the Department should 
desire to prepare, for its own information, an authentic account of 
the commencement and progress of the Collection up to the time 
of transfer, I do not doubt that the Council will willingly give access 
to the Minute-books and documents from which the facts may be 
obtained. 
Another part of the arrangement contemplated at the time of the 
Academy assenting to the transfer of its Museum was, that it should 
change its abode to Leinster House, where suitable apartments should 
be provided for it. We have, at all times since our foundation, been 
provided by the State with a house—first, in our old residence in 
Grafton-street; afterwards, in the fine old mansion, altered and 
enlarged for our purposes, in which we are now assembled. Speaking 
for myself, I own that the prospect of that arrangement being altered 
to a kind of tenemental occupation, even in a much superior building, 
is not a pleasing one. The Royal Dublin Society will always, I trust, 
be a body of sufficient numbers and consideration to occupy to advan- 
tage so much of its old palace as may not be required tor Depart- 
mental purposes; and I think I express the general feeling of the 
Academy in saying that, while we wish the Sister Society the fullest 
enjoyment of that honourable position, we desire on our own part to 
remain self-contained in our lodgings, as we mean to keep ourselves 
independent in our pursuits. Should this prove to be the sense of 
the Academy when the time shall come for carrying out all the 
terms of our compact, we will have strengthened our claim to the 
most favourable consideration of Government for any wishes we may 
then entertain, by services still further enhancing the value of what 
we contribute. 
There have been great delays in providing the intended Museum 
Building; and further delay is likely to arise from what seems, at the 
present moment, to be a miscarriage in the design. Certainly it has 
not been by reason of want of time that your Council and the Board 
of Visitors have remained to so great an extent unconsulted. Had 
either Body been taken into the confidence of the Department to the 
extent of inviting its views as to space and lighting, the possible 
miscarriage, which is likely to leave our Collections here for some 
time longer, could hardly have taken place. It appears to have 
