320 Royal Irish Academy. 



CEKTEI^AET CELEBEATION". 



WEDifESDAT, Mat 12, 1886. 



A Banquet in celebration of the Academy's Centenary, was held in 

 the Libraiy of the Academy on Wednesday Evening, 12tli May, 1886. 



In the unavoidable absence, through, illness, of Sir Samuel 

 Ecrguson, President of tbe Academy, John K. Ingram, ll.d., 

 S.F.T.C.D., Senior Yice-President of the Academy, presided. 



After dinner, the toast of " Her Majesty the Queen, Patron of the 

 Academy," having been duly honoured, the Chairman rose, and said : — 



" I rise now to propose the health of the noble guest who has 

 graced our festival with his presence this evening. It gives me great 

 pleasure to propose the toast, and yet I regret that it has fallen to me 

 to propose it. I regret, and I am sure you all join in the feeling, that 

 the distinguished poet, man of letters, jurist, and antiquary, who pre- 

 sides over this Academy, is not present at our Centenary Celebration, 

 and that we shall not hear from his lips the weighty and well-chosen 

 words which we have often heard from him when he occupied our- 

 Chair. More still than his absence, we lament that illness should be 

 the cause of it. "We tender to Sir Samuel Ferguson our hearty sym- 

 pathy, and we ask him to take with him, as a solace in his retirement,^ 

 which we trust will be of short duration, the assurance that he is not 

 merely honoured in this Academy, but that he is the object of a 

 warmer feeling of affection on the part of all that have been admitted 

 to his friendship. I am sure his Excellency will excuse me for giving- 

 priority to that topic for a few minutes. Turning to his Excellency, I 

 will sav we welcome him here on several grounds. TVe welcome him, 

 in the first place, as the representative of our gracious Sovereign, which 

 would alone be a sufficient passport to our regard, and would secure for 

 him a cordial reception. "We welcome him, in the second place, on. ac- 

 count of his kind feeling towards Ireland and the Irish people. Even 

 at this festival, devoted as it is to Science and Literature, the sacred 

 claims of charity and beneficence cannot be overlooked; and every 



