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‘WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Session of Parliament hold in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of the Reign of Her Majesty, intituled An Act to provide for the Establishment of a National Gallery of Paintings, Sculpture, and the Fine Arts, for the Care of a Public Library, and the Erection of a Public Museum, in Dublin: And whereas a further Act was passed in the Session of Parliament held in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Years of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act to amend an Act of last Session, to provide for the Establishment of a National Gallery of Paintings, Sculpture, and the Fine Arts, for the Care of a Public Library, and the Erection of a Public Museum, in Dublin: And whereas it is by the said first-reeked Act, amongst other things, enacted, that certain Persons therein named, together with such other Persons as the Lord Lieutenant should approve, should be Trustees for the Building therein-after mentioned, and that it should be lawful for such Trustees to receive such Sum of Money as might be subscribed, given, or contributed, or might from any Source become available, for the Purpose of erecting suitable Building in Dublin, to be devoted in part to the fit Accommodation of a National Gallery of Paintings, Sculpture, and the Fine Arts, and the Remainder to the Reception of a public Library; and it is by the same Act enacted, that “it should be lawful for the Governors and Guardians of Archbishop Marsh’s Library (anything in an Act of the Parliament of Ireland, intituled An Act for selling and preserving a Public Library for ever in the House for that Purpose built by his Grace Nareiseus then Lord Archbishop of Armagh on Parl of the Ground belonging to the Archbishop of Dublin’s Palace near the City of Dublin, passel the Sixth Year of the Reign of Anne, or otherwise to the contrary notwithstanding,) to cause the said Library to be removed to the said Building so to be erected as soon as the same should be completed, and in a Condition to receive the said Library; provided always, that the said Governors and Guardians shall approve of the Plans and Arrangements of that Portion of the said Building to be appropriated to the Reception of a Public Library;” and it was by the same Act further enacted, that certain Persons therein mentioned, and their Successors, as therein-after directed, should be and were thereby constituted a Body Corporate by the Name of the Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, with Power to the said Body Corporate to receive Devises, Bequests, Donations, and Subscriptions (annual or otherwise) of Land, Buildings, Money, and Works of Art, and to hold the same, and to lay out such Sums of Money as they should so receive for the Purposes of the National Gallery of Ireland in the Improvement and Enlargement of the Collection of Works of Art presented to or purchased for the said Gallery, or deposited therein, and the said Body Corporate should have the entire and exclusive Possession, Occupation, and Control, for the Purposes of their Trusts therein mentioned, of those Portions of the said Building so to be erected as therein-before mentioned, which should be, upon the Completion of the said Building, set apart by the Building Trustees for the Accommodation of the National Gallery of Ireland, and of all such other Buildings, Enclosures, and Appartenances as should or might from Time to Time be required and obtained for the Purposes of the said National Gallery or any Part thereof, and that the Building so to be erected should be constructed according to such Plans and Specifications as should have been approved and agreed upon by and between the said Building Trustees, the said Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, and the said Governors and Guardians of Archbishop Marsh’s Library: And whereas it is by the said Act further enacted, that “the Persons who for the Time being should compose the said respective Bodies Corporate, that is to say, the Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Governors and Guardians of Archbishop Marsh’s Library, should be One Body Corporate, under the Name of the Joint Trustees of the National Gallery of Ireland and of Marsh’s Library,” and so soon as the said Building so to be erected as aforesaid should have been completed the said Building Trustees shall declare it to be so by an Instrument under the Hands of them or of any Three of them, and thereupon the said Building, together with the Ground whereon the same should have been erected, should become and be vested in the said last-mentioned Body Corporate for ever, subject nevertheless to the exclusive Possession, Occupation, and Control of those Portions of the said Building respectively to be occupied by the said Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland, and the said Governors and Guardians of Archbishop Marsh’s Library, for the Purposes of their respective Trusts as aforesaid: And whereas by Indenture bearing Date the Fourth Day of August One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, and made between the Right Honourable Sidney Herbert of Belgrave Square in the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, M.P., of the one Part, and the Royal Dublin Society for promoting Husbandry and other useful Arts in Ireland, of the other Part, reciting as therein recited, the said Right Honourable Sidney Herbert, in pursuance of the Power, and Authority for that Purpose given and reserved by the therein and herein-before recited Act of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of Her present Majesty Queen Victoria, and of any other Power in that Behalf enabling him, and for the Considerations therein mentioned, granted and demised unto the said Royal Dublin Society all that and those that Piece or Parcel of Ground lying between the House of the said Society and the Flagway on the Fast Side of Merrion Square (which said Piece or Parcel of Land is commonly called “Leinster Lawn,”) containing in the whole Three Acres Three Roods and Thirty-six Perches Statute Measure, and situate, lying, and being in the Parish of Saint Peter and County of the City of Dublin, and which said Piece or Parcel of Ground is, as to its Contents, Dimensions, Abuttals, and Boundaries, more particularly described in the Map or Plan annexed thereto, together with all and singular the Messuages and Tenements and all Erections and Buildings to be built and erected thereon, and all Rights, Easements, Ways, Paths, Passages, Waters, Watercourses, Profits, Commodities, and Appurtenances whatsoever to the said Piece or Parcel of Ground belonging or in anywise appertaining, to hold the same, with the Appurtenances, unto the said Royal Dublin Society and its Successors for ever, at and subject to the yearly Fee-farm Rent of Two hundred and seventy-seven Pounds Seven Shillings and Ninepence, payable half-yearly, as therein mentioned, and subject to the Performance of the Covenants and Conditions therein contained: And whereas in pursuance of the Provisions in that Behalf contained in the said firstly herein-recited Act the Premises comprised in the said Lease, with the Sanction of the Board of Trade and Navigation, have been divided between the said Society and the said Building Trustees, and a certain Portion thereof has been appropriated for the Purpose of the said National Gallery and Library, and the Rent of One hundred Pounds per Annum has been, with the like Sanction, ascertained as the Amount of the Rent payable in respect of the said Portion so appropriated as aforesaid: And whereas the Building by the said, first-recited Act authorized and intended for the said National Gallery and Library has been erected on the said Portion of the Premises so comprised in the said Lease of the Fourth Day of August One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five at an Expense of Twenty-eight thousand Pounds and upwards, the whole of which (with the Exception of a Sum of Five thousand Pounds received by Subscriptions of Individuals for the Purpose of commemorating the eminent public Services of William Dargan Esquire in founding and sustaining the Great Industrial Exhibition of 1853 in Dublin) has been voted by Parliament: And whereas, in consideration of the said Sum of Five thousand Pounds so raised by Subscription, an equal Sum of Five thousand Pounds has been or is proposed to be voted by Parliament in aid of the Purchase of Pictures, and it is also intended to grant to the said Royal Dublin Society a Sum of Three thousand Pounds, to be applied by them in the Purchase of a certain Piece of Ground adjoining their Premises, in lieu of the Piece of Ground forming the Site of the said Building intended for the said National Gallery and Library as aforesaid, and in consequence of such Grant of Three thousand Pounds the said Royal Dublin Society have agreed to pay the entire of said Rent of Two hundred and seventy-seven Pounds Seven Shillings and Ninepence: And whereas the Governors of Marsh’s Library have declined to remove their Library to the Part of the said Building designed for the Reception of same, and it is expedient that the said Building, with the Ground on which the same has been erected, with the Rights, Members, and Appurtenances thereunto belonging, should be vested in the Public Body herein-after provided:’ Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
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