“Will the Academy procure me a publisher for my _enlarged_ work? And will they advertise that, having previously done me injustice, by the transfer of my medal, they now, on being convinced of their error, adopt this as the only mode of reparation, the award itself not being to be recalled? “Without some such course as this, it is obvious that the offer which they make, instead of being a _kindness_, would be a _mockery_; and, instead of making amends for _oppression_, would be adding _insult_ to _persecution_! For who, let me ask, would publish a work which a jury have branded with the stamp of _inferior_, doling out their surreptitious twenty pounds as an eleemosynary deodand, while the _darling_ of their adoption, though disfigured by all the imperfections of _blindness_, _lameness_, and _untruth_, and recommended only by a few _painted gew-gaws_, which never entered into the requisites of the original advertisement, _will pass current in Dublin amongst the creatures_ of party! “I have already applied to Mr. ----, and he, intimidated by the vicious state of society in Ireland, declined my proposal; but though his apprehensions were sufficient to deter him from the speculation, they were totally unfounded; for, despite of all corruption, all chicanery, and all cabals, the etc. etc. etc. “This complaint, observe, does not refer to the new papers only, but extends itself equally to the original Essay. Why do the Academy keep it back? Believe me, it is in vain for them to defer ‘the evil day’ of their exposure. Their doom was sealed the very moment they did me injustice! I have watchfully reconnoitred their course, and have proofs of the intricacies of their internal machinery, ample as those before adduced for the solution of the Round Tower enigma, to effect their overthrow; and if the present generation be not virtuous enough to redress my cause, it shall be no fault of mine if any future age shall be ignorant of the names of the individuals who constitute the present _Council_; and in what light they shall be considered, their own conscience can furnish them with a tolerable foretaste! “Was it not a cruelly perverse thing of them, after determining beforehand to award the medal to Mr. Petrie, to inveigle me into the competition by a deceptious advertisement? And then, after signally beating them under all disadvantages, to _manœuvre me off by a beggarly cheat_? Shame, foul shame for ever upon the Academy!