220 Royal Irish Academy. 



which would puzzle evea Dr. Mahaffy as to their origin and the date 

 of their execution. 



I pass on from that to what after all is at the present moment of 

 the greatest interest to us. There is an amari aliquid which we 

 must all feel in passing a vote of thanks to our distinguished Presi- 

 dent, because, as he has told us, within a very few days he is about 

 to resign the presidential chair which he has adorned, and to ask a 

 successor to fill his place. Again, I say, that probably no one is less 

 qualified here than I am to properly enumerate the various services 

 for which this Academy has to thank its distinguished President ; but 

 I do hope he will allow me to express my deep and sincere regret 

 that we are about to lose him as President of the Irish Academy. 



The President then passed on to some remarks on the subject 

 of the general position and prospects of the Academy ; and I think 

 we may all say that, coming from so high an authority, these state- 

 ments are eminently satisfactory to those who wish well to that 

 distiaguished society. 



With regard to the most eloquent words with which the President 

 concluded his address, he quoted some well known lines of Schiller's, 

 in which the great poet, while OAvning the inferiority of his nation in 

 matters of material prosperity, business, and commerce, yet declared 

 that their hearts 



Are still the home of Science and the Arts, 

 And glow and gladden in the light they give. 



Well, I venture to think that the study and the consequent success of 

 the culture of science and art in any country cannot be entirely 

 divorced from the material resources, business, and commerce of 

 this life. And, indeed, I notice that Dr. Haddon appears to be 

 of the same opinion, for, in a passage quoted by the President, he 

 says — 



" It is observed that the abundance and richness of art is con- 

 ditioned also by the material prosperity of the tribe. A poor miserable 

 people has a poor miserable art. A certain freedom from the cares of 

 life is necessary for aesthetic culture." 



I believe that these two passages taken together sum up the 

 conditions under which alone science and art can continue to thrive 

 in any country. But I am not prepared to admit, as Schiller did of 

 his country, that Ireland is to continue in a position of inferiority in 



