466 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 
was Prior in a. D. 1328, and John Bebe, in 4. p. 1357, filled the office 
of Vicar-General of his Order. 
Possession of the Church, with the monastic buildings and grounds. 
attached to it, when it became suppressed under Henry VIII., passed’ 
to Walter Tyrrell, a Dublin merchant. His heirs assigned it to Walter 
Crowe, who, in the year 1597, held the appointments of Chalcographer 
and Chief Prothonotary to the Irish Court of Common Pleas, and here 
he erected his ‘‘ Crowe’s Nest,” for such he quaintly termed his 
residence. Sir William Petty became its tenant in 4. p. 1654, and set 
to work with unwearied energy to accomplish his Survey of the For- 
feited Estates. He completed his series of maps within the brief 
period of thirteen months, and commenced the sale and distribution of 
Irish lands to the soldiery of Cromwell and the English adventurers. 
The Dublin Philosophical Society, a venerable predecessor of our 
Royal Irish Academy, in 1684, took rooms in the ‘‘ Crowe’s Nest” 
for the purpose of holding scientific meetings. They established our 
first Botanic Gardens, a Museum, a Laboratory, and, like ourselves, 
read papers on literature, on scientific questions and antiquities, for 
which a comprehensive scheme of procedure was drawn up by Primate 
Marsh, Sir William Petty, Dr. Willoughby, and William Molyneux. 
Tempora mutantur. In 1731, a music hall is erected to replace 
alike the old monastery and society of learned academicians; instead 
of lectures, fashionable assemblies are held and riddotos. The change 
proves a decided success, and the delighted supporters, sympathising 
with the sufferings of the poorer classes in our city, founded, in the 
year 1743, the Hospital for Incurables, which excellent institution 
has up to the present time continued to carry on the charitable work 
thus inaugurated. Then Spranger Barry took a lease of the ground 
and erected Crow-street Theatre. On its stage appeared Sheridan, 
Mossop, Macklin, Ryder, Miss O’ Neil, Edmund Kean the Elder, anda 
host of other theatrical notabilities. In turn it fell into decay, and 
on its ruims rose a medical school belonging to the Apothecaries Hall 
of Ireland. Finally these premises passed into possession of the 
Catholic University, and are occupied at present by their Medical 
School. 
Such is a rapid sketch of the chequered history, during six hundred. 
years, of a piece of ground situated almost in the centre of our city; 
and as a justification for my having recalled these circumstances, I 
submit to the Academy the matrix of a brass ecclesiastical seal of 
early date, almost as early as the commencement of my tale, which 
belonged to Augustinian Hermits, and was placed in my hands to 
describe, through the kindness of Rev. Canon Leeper, Incumbent of 
St. Audeon’s parish, and of Rey. C. T. M‘Cready, M.R.1.A. 
This matrix consists of a circular plaque of brass (Pl. XXIYV., fig. 1). 
It is unusual for ecclesiastical seals to be made in this shape; they are 
more often of compressed oval form. In transverse measurement it is 
almost 2 inches across, its exact size being 1°85 of an inch; attached is 
a short thick handle of elegant outline, perforated by a trefoil. The 
