society. He was a great lover of fine scenery, and had a keen appreciation of the beauties of nature.
In 1831, he became a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, on the Council of which he afterwards served, and was a Vice-President. In 1834, he became a Fellow of the Royal, and, in 1837, of the Royal Geographical Society. In the latter year he contested Glamorgan, as Lord Adare, and was returned at the head of the poll.
Among his early geological friends were some who, like Dean Conybeare, were also advanced students in archæology, and to this pursuit, then in its infancy, Lord Adare also paid great attention, which was much encouraged by his acquaintance with Dr. Petrie, who ever after remained one of his most attached friends. Mis regard for Petrie was, no doubt, much strengthened by the part they took, in 1840, in the formation of the Irish Archæological Society; and, indeed, to know Petrie intimately was necessarily to love him.
In 1843, Lord Adare, in common with many eminent Irishmen, united to remonstrate with the Government for their ill-timed parsimony in stopping the Irish Ordnance Survey, as then conducted, and he took a lead in forcing upon Sir Robert Peel the appointment of a commission of inquiry into the question. Upon this commission he sat, and took an active part in the composition of their very able report. In 1845, he joined in founding the Celtic Society, and took a lively interest in the publication of the Irish historical records, of which 'The Annals of the Four Masters' was dedicated to him by O'Donovan, as was the 'History of the Ancient Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland,' by Dr. Petrie. Such of his time as was not absorbed by his public duties he gave up to the study of Irish antiquities, both in the field and in the closet, and this led him to visit the earlier ecclesiastical architectural remains of France and Italy, and especially of Ravenna.
In 1849, the Cambrian Archæological Society met at Cardiff, and Lord Adare presided. The meeting was an exceptionally good one. Those who took part in it and yet survive, are not likely to forget the combination of profound learning, with Irish wit and humour, brought to bear upon the antiquities of Glamorgan by Dr. Todd, Dr. Graves, and the other eminent men who came over from the sister island to do honour to the President.
