Minutes of Proceedings. 49 



maticians sho-w that the high reputation which Dr. Casey hohls as 

 a mathematician in this Academy is sustained by the opinion in 

 which he is held by mathematicians all over the world. Under 

 such circumstances, I feel sure the Academy will cordially agree 

 with the Council in conferring upon Dr. Casey the Gold Medal 

 which I now feel honoured in presenting to him. 



In order to bring under the notice of the Academy the grounds 

 upon which the Council hare awarded a Cunningham Gold Medal to 

 Professor Dowden for his literary works, especially in the field of 

 Shaksperian criticism, it is necessary that I should briefly indicate 

 the point of view from which the labours of that gentleman in the 

 field of aesthetic scholarship and psychological analysis may most 

 consistently be considered, with reference to his studies of the life and 

 Avritings of the Great English Dramatist. 



There are two different ways in which the works of some great 

 writers admit of being studied ; we may, according to the ordinary 

 usage of critics, consider their productions separately, examining their 

 characteristic features, appreciating their sesthetic excellence and 

 dwelling on their moral significance ; or again, in the cases of those 

 who have left us sufficiently numerous and varied products of their 

 genius, we may consider the further question, often still more deeply 

 interesting, according to what laws of progression did the genius of 

 the author develope itself, and the firmness and sureness of his 

 execution increase ; how did his views of life gradually form them- 

 selves, and arrive at greater width and clearness ; how were his 

 moral convictions shaped and fixed ; what was the final attitude of 

 his thought and sentiment — in a word, we may seek thi'ough his work 

 in some measure to reach himself, to read in some degree the history 

 of his mind. 



To arrive at even an approximate answer to these questions, in 

 the case of a nature so rich and so many-sided as that of Shakspere, 

 would evidently be an achievement of no ordinary interest and import- 

 ance. 



Now, before any considerable progress could be made in such a 

 research, a previous condition must be satisfied. It was necessary 

 that a chronological arrangement of the poet's work, sufficiently com- 

 plete, and established on satisfactory bases, should be in our possession. 



K. I. A. MINUTES, SESSION 1877-8. TA"! 



