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placed in the safe keeping of this Society the invaluable Collection 

 of Irish antiquities belonging to our late lamented Vice-President, 

 the Dean of St. Patrick's. 



" It was well known to all his intimate friends that one of the 

 principal motives that influenced him in the formation of his Mu- 

 seum, next to the zeal for the preservation and study of antiquities 

 which characterized him, was a wish to have his collection pre- 

 served for public use, under the care of the Royal Irish Academy. 



" As soon as it was ascertained, therefore, that he had died intes- 

 tate, and consequently without making any provision for carrying these 

 his often expressed wishes into effect, many of his personal friends, 

 knowing how deeply he would have deprecated the dispersion of his 

 Collection, felt anxious, were it only as a testimony of respect to his 

 memory, that the Irish part at least of the Museum should be ob- 

 tained for the Academy ; and in this they were warmly seconded by 

 all who were aware of the value of the Collection, and who felt the 

 great importance of a National Museum of Antiquities to the study 

 of our ancient history. 



" Accordingly, at the Stated Meeting of the Academy in No- 

 vember^ 1840, soon after the lamented death of the Dean, the sub- 

 ject was brought forward, and the Committee of Antiqiiities were 

 requested to take immediate steps towards opening a subscription 

 for the purchase of the Irish part of the collection. 



" The Committee met immediately after, and their first act was 

 to publish in the principal newspapers of Dublin a short address, 

 for the purpose of ascertaining the state of public feeling on the 

 subject. A circular was also prepared, and sent to the principal 

 nobility and gentry of Ireland, to all in short, as far as they could 

 be ascertained, who were thought likely to take an interest in the 

 design. 



" This was all that could be done at that time. The absence of 

 Mrs. Dawson on the Continent, and the consequent difficulty of as- 

 certaining the wishes of the Dean's family, rendered it impossible 

 to discover what sura they were likely to accept for that portion of 

 the Museum which the Committee were commissioned to purchase, 

 or indeed whether tliey would consent at all to sejjarate the Irish 

 part of the Collection from the rest. 



