Mr. Lowe's amusing story about the Irish Parliament's subven- tion
to Achmet's Dublin baths has been declared absolutely un- authentic this week by Mr. E. B. Hamilton in Tuesday's Tine, but it seems that the corrector needs correction, for whatever may be the truth or falsehood about the involuntary immersion of the Irish Members in the bath, and the consequent withdrawal of the annual grant, there seems to be no doubt that such a grant was actu- ally made, and that the formal record of it exists. A correspondent of yesterday's Times, signing himself " R.," says that in 1773 a committee was appointed to consider Achmet's petition ; that it reported that physicians and others had given evidence as to the utility of the baths, and a grant was recommended and given for " Barumbadad Achtnet's Baths." "H." quotes one of the resolu- tions in Supply, dated 10th November, 1781 :—" Resolved, that it is the opinion of this Committee that the sum of £1,100 be given to Dr. Achmet to enable him to discharge the debts contracted by him in erecting and finishing the Dublin Baths, and towards supporting the same for the use of the poor." That, if a correct extract, is decisive as to the grant in aid to this Achinet,—or Kearns, for he is said to have been an Irishman feigning Turk ;- nor is there the least reason to suppose that the Irish Parliament was scrupulous about such grants. Of course, the story of the immersion of Parliament and the immediate withdrawal of the grant was but a good joke.
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