FROM THE CAROLINE REFORM TO THE SETTLEMENT OF WILLIAM III.
_Ruunt agmine facto_
_In me profana turba Roma Genevaque._
PROVOST CHAPPEL’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
The first fifty years of this History passed away without much
apparent advance. The attempt to supply additional room by
providing two residence-halls in the city (Bridge Street and Back
Lane) turned out a complete failure.[38] As the College grew richer
by King James’ gifts of Ulster lands, the quarrels of the Fellows
and Provost were increased by this new interest. They were also
still constitution-mongering, and we do not find that the only
Dublin man, Robert Ussher, who was Provost during this period,
was more successful than the imported Cambridge men. Among the
Fellows appointed, if we except the remarkable group of founders,
not a single name of note appears save Joshua Hoyle, who came from
Oxford, and who was afterwards Professor of Divinity, and Master
of University College, Oxford. The rest supplied the Church of
Ireland with some respectable dignitaries, but nothing more. We
know that these things were weighing on the mind of the great
Primate, who could remember the high hopes and the enthusiasm of
Dublin when the College was founded. He was convinced that the
Fellows wasted their energies in College politics, and that the
Provost had insufficient powers to control them. Laud surely speaks
the words of Ussher when he says that the College is reported to
him as “being as ill-governed as any in Christendom.” Archbishop
Ussher must have been determined to take from the Fellows the
management of their own affairs, and entrust it to a Provost
nominated by the Crown, administering Statutes fixed by the Crown,
and only to be altered with its sanction. This great reform
he carried out by having his friend Archbishop Laud appointed
Chancellor, and so having a new Charter forced, in 1637, upon the
College--the Caroline Statutes.[39] It was indeed a strong measure
to take from the College its self-government, but it was done
after due deliberation by wise men; and the results have certainly
answered their expectations. It should, however, be added, in
fairness to those who failed during the first 45 years to maintain
order, that the Crown, while professing to give absolute liberty by
Statute, had constantly interfered in appointments, and violated
the privileges granted by Elizabeth. Nor indeed did the Caroline
Statutes, which much internal evidence shows to be the work of
Ussher as well as Laud, succeed forthwith. The experiment was
baulked at the outset by the unfortunate appointment of Chappel as
Provost, a famous logician, but a weak and not very honest man,[40]
whose conduct was about to be impeached by the Irish Parliament,
when the Rebellion of 1641 burst upon the land. Chappel was then
Bishop of Cork, but had refused to resign the Provostship. Ten
years of misery supervened, when Chappel and the next Provost,
Wassington, fled home to England, when Faithful Tate and Dudley
Loftus strove as vice-regents to hold together the affairs of the
starving College; when the estates were in the rebels’ hands,
the valuable plate was pawned or melted, Provost Martin dying
of the plague which followed upon massacre and starvation:[41]
the intellectual heart of Ireland suffered with its members, and
responded to the agonies of the loyal population with sufferings
not less poignant.
Nevertheless, the appointment of the Lord Deputy, Ormonde (a great
benefactor to the College at the worst moment), as Chancellor is
dated the 12th March, 1644. He was chosen to succeed Laud. The
actual deed is now at Kilkenny Castle.[42] The appointment of the
Chancellor was made by the Provost (Anthony Martin, Bishop of
Meath) and a majority of the Senior Fellows. Ormonde came back with
the Restoration, and in high favour.
The horror of civil war in England was added to make the cup
flow over. Charles, Laud, and Ussher were too engrossed with
their own troubles to promote the regeneration of the College
which they had commenced, and so we find that this decennium
of anarchy was only ended by the strong hand of Cromwell, who
undertook to establish order in Ireland. The “crowd of Geneva”
were accordingly established in the College; but justice must
admit that Henry Cromwell as Chancellor, and Winter as Provost,
behaved with good sense and zeal in promoting the interests of
learning. They, of course, pressed home their doctrines upon the
students; Winter called to the College zealous controversialists
of distinguished piety;[43] private Christian meetings among the
students were encouraged rather than official Chapels. Such of the
former officers as acquiesced in these things--the Vice-Chancellor
Henry Jones, who dropped his title of Bishop, and Stearne the
physician--were continued for the sake of their learning. The care
of outward neatness appears from the entries forbidding linen to
be dried in the courts; they had washed it there long enough. The
Provost undertook several journeys to the remote parts of Ireland,
to recover the abandoned properties and collect the rents of the
College. To the Commonwealth, moreover, is due the foundation
(1652) of the School of Mathematics, which has since become so
famous. This initial step was advanced by the bequest of Lord
Donegal (1660), whose Lecturership is still known by his name.
When the Restoration supervened, Winter and his intimates were
expelled as intruders, and a new governing body and scholars
appointed. But as Cromwell had taken care to keep up the traditions
of the College by continuing some of the previous Fellows, so the
Government of Charles II. reappointed several men who had stood by
the College all through the interregnum, and saved the continuity
of its teaching. Above all, the framers of the well-known Act of
Settlement took special care of the College, securing to it all
the estates to which it had a claim, and even endowing the Provost
with charges upon forfeited lands in the Archbishopric of Dublin.
Provisions were made for the founding of a second College under
the University; presently Dr. Stearne obtained a Charter for the
College of Physicians at Trinity Hall, close to the Green, in
connection with the College. Ussher’s books, which were still
lying in Dublin Castle, though long since purchased by Cromwell’s
soldiers for the College, were now formally handed over to it; and
in every way its interests were fostered and promoted. The Duke of
Ormonde as Lord Deputy, and also as Chancellor of the University,
and Bishop Jeremy Taylor as Vice-Chancellor, may be regarded as the
main movers in this policy; whether other secret influences were
at work I have not been able to ascertain.[44] How firm and wise
a friend of the College Ormonde was, appears from the following
protest he made to the then Secretary of State. An Englishman had
just been nominated to an Irish bishopric. “It is fit that it
should be remembered that near this city there is an University
of the foundation of Queen Elizabeth, principally intended for
the education and advantage of the natives of this kingdom, which
hath produced men very eminent for learning and piety, and those
of this nation, and such there are in the Church: so that, while
there are such, the passing them by is not only, in some measure,
a violation of the original intention and institution, but a great
discouragement to the natives from making themselves capable
and fit for preferment in the Church, whereunto, if they have
equal parts, they are better able to do service than strangers;
their knowledge of the country and relations in it giving them
the advantage. The promotion, too, of the already dignified or
beneficed will make room for, and consequently encourage, students
in the University, which room will be lost, and the inferior clergy
much disheartened, if, upon the vacancy of bishopricks, persons
unknown to the kingdom and University shall be sent to fill them,
and be less useful there to Church and kingdom than those who are
better acquainted with them.”[45] The scandalous policy of setting
obscure and careless Englishmen to govern competent Irishmen,
which reached its climax under Primate Boulter’s influence, has
now veered round so completely that there is an outcry if an
incompetent Irishman is not preferred to any Englishman, however
competent. Both extremes lead to the same mischief--estrangement in
sentiment from England, and in consequence narrow provincialism,
which lowers the standard to be expected in important posts, by
selecting the best local man, instead of the best man in Great
Britain and Ireland, or even (for scientific appointments) in
Europe.
But though the College was thus secured in ultimate material
prosperity, there was for some years great difficulty in realising
property, and we find elections postponed for want of funds in 1664
and 1666. A Fellow, William Leckey, was executed in Dublin for
participation in the plot of 1663 against the King. Still worse,
we still find in what Jeremy Taylor describes as “the little, but
excellent University of Dublin,”[46] great poverty in profound
scholarship. Two eminent men had indeed come out of Trinity College
in this generation. Dudley Loftus and Henry Dodwell were second to
none of their contemporaries in learning. Dodwell was offered a
Chair at Oxford solely upon his general reputation. The catalogue
of his and Loftus’ extant works is still astonishing. Loftus
combined in him the blood of the talented adventurer Adam Loftus
with the far sounder blood of the Usshers.[47] But these men would
not or could not be Provosts--so that high office fell to such men
as Seele, the son of a verger at Christ Church, esteemed highly by
his contemporaries,[48] and Ward, who was of the old Loftus type,
having come over from England, and obtained five great promotions,
ending with the See of Derry, in which he died, at the age of 39!
No wonder that clever lads sought their fortune in Ireland. Ward
“was esteemed a person of fine conversation and of great sagacity
in dextrously managing proper conjunctures, to which qualities his
rise to so many preferments in so short a time was ascribed.”[49]
It was a very great improvement, and of great service to the
College, when the Duke of Ormonde reverted again to Oxford, and
brought over as Provost Narcissus Marsh, whose Library at S.
Sepulchre’s still attests the learning and wide interests of the
man. Like every Provost in those days, he was promptly advanced to
the Episcopal Bench; the College then afforded a stepping-stone
to the episcopal as it now does to the judicial Bench; and if its
rulers are now usually very old, they were then very young. Marsh
was only five years Provost before his promotion, and yet even in
that short time he produced a lasting effect upon the College. What
would such a man have accomplished in a lifetime of enlightened
government! But he was essentially a student, and the duties of the
Provost were not then, as they now are, compatible with a learned
leisure.
January 1678/9.--Finding the place very troublesome, partly by
reason of the multitude of business and important visits the
Provost is obliged to, and partly by reason of the ill education
that the young scholars have before they come to the College,
whereby they are both rude and ignorant, I was quickly weary of
340 young men and boys in this lewd, debauched town, and the more
so because I had no time to follow my dearly beloved studies.[50]
I have already noted that this enterprising Englishman was bent on
promoting the study of the Irish language. Let me quote what Dr.
Stubbs says--
“Among the Smith MSS. in the Bodleian Library is preserved a
letter[51] from Marsh when Primate, in which he gives some
account of the condition of the College during his residence as
Provost. He was particularly anxious, as he states, that the
thirty Irish-born Scholars, who then enjoyed salaries equal to
those of the Junior Fellows, should be thoroughly trained to
speak and write the Irish language. He desired that these should
be a body from which the parochial clergy of Ireland might be
recruited, in order that the people should have the ministrations
of religion in their own language. The majority of the Natives
knew nothing of the grammar of the language, and could make
no attempt to read it, or to write it. In order to counteract
this ignorance, Marsh determined that he would not elect to
a native’s place any scholar who was not ready to learn the
Irish language thoroughly, and that he would not allow them to
retain their places unless they made satisfactory progress. To
enable them to do this, he employed a converted Roman Catholic
priest, Paul Higgins, who was a good Irish scholar, and who had
been admitted as a clergyman of the Irish Church, to reside
in his house, and to give instruction to the Scholars of the
College,[52] at a salary of £16 a-year and his board. He had also
the Church Service read in Irish, and an Irish sermon preached by
Higgins in the College Chapel on one Sunday afternoon in every
month, at 3 P.M. These services seem to have been open to the
public; and we learn from Marsh’s letters that the ancient Chapel
was crowded by hearers on the occasion of the Irish sermons,
the congregation numbering as many as three hundred. We have no
record of the continuance of these Irish services after Marsh
ceased to be Provost.”
He also promoted the study of mathematics, hitherto of little
moment in the College. He founded a Philosophical Society, as
a sort of offshoot of the Royal Society of London, to which
he contributed a learned paper on Musical Sounds. The curious
collection of ancient music still extant in his Library (bequeathed
for the use of the City of Dublin, but mainly intended for a
Diocesan Library) shows that he had a special interest in this
subject. He wrote for the students a sensible text-book of Logic
(_see fac-simile of title-page, p. 37_). He got a new and larger
Chapel built, which lasted till 1798. But he was still in the era
when the College authorities had no idea of building ornamentally.
The houses and halls were merely modest constructions for use, and
Dr. Campbell is quoted as describing them:--
The Chapel is as mean a structure as you can conceive; destitute
of monumental decoration within; it is no better than a
Welsh Church without. The old Hall, where College exercises
are performed, is in the same range, and built in the same
style.--_Op. cit._ p. 117.
This is, I think, to be said of all the buildings in Dublin during
the seventeenth century. So far as I know, the earliest, and
perhaps the best attempt at artistic architecture is the Library,
which was not commenced till 1709.[53] All the handsome houses in
Dublin date from after the middle of the eighteenth century.
[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE, ARCHBISHOP MARSH’S “LOGIC.”
Institutiones LOGICÆ.
IN USUM JUVENTUTIS ACADEMICÆ DUBLINIENSIS.
DUBLINI, Apud S. HELSHAM ad _Insignia Collegii_,
in vico vulgò dicto _Castle-street_. 1681.]
When Marsh was promoted--he became ultimately Archbishop of
Dublin and then Primate--Ormonde, the Chancellor, chose another
Orientalist, Huntingdon of Merton College, to succeed him. But he
was by no means so able a man; he came over with great reluctance
(1686), and immediately decamped upon the outbreak of the second
great tumult, which turned out even worse for the College than
1641--the Revolution under James II., and the war which was only
concluded by William’s victory at the Boyne. The Revolution was
a sore blow for the College, which was now rapidly rising both
in wealth and in intellectual position. The Senior Fellows did
all they could to conciliate James II., without, however, denying
their own Protestant character. The King, a weak man, gave them
civil words; but they had to deal with his advisers, who varied
widely in their aims and hopes from those of moderate men. The Acts
passed by the brief Parliament of James II. have been recently
brought into clear light by historians,[54] and the only wonder to
be explained is the escape of the College from the secret Bill of
Attainder which was to affect the liberties and properties of all
Protestants, and from which not even the power of the Crown could
grant remission. The anecdote how the members for the University
kept out of the way, or sent the College butler out of the way,[55]
and managed to have the College names omitted, seems to be a
romance invented to explain an accidental omission, and to gain
credit for some worthy people who did not fly to England or betray
their public trust.
The first acts of aggression were demands to appoint creatures of
Tyrconnell’s either to an Irish Lecturership which did not exist,
or to Junior Fellowships, which required an oath of allegiance to
the Crown and of adherence to the Church of England, as ordered
by Charles II. in his _Act of Uniformity_. The Crown had been
in the habit of appointing Fellows by mandamus, so that this
proceeding was not so high-handed as it would be now-a-days. But
the plain intention of James II.’s advisers, and especially of
Tyrconnell, the Lord Deputy, was to force Roman Catholics into
power and to dispossess Protestant interests. It is to the credit
of the adventurers sent down to the College by Tyrconnell that
they objected to take the oath. The Lord Deputy then stopped the
Concordatum Fund of £400 a-year. It was a moment when the College
so clearly felt its increasing numbers, that there was a proposal
to sell some of the fast-accumulating plate to find funds in aid
of new buildings. Apart from gifts made by the parents of pupils,
there was a charge at matriculation for _argent_, as there still
is in some Colleges at Oxford, and it seems to have been thought a
convenient way of laying by money which could be easily realised
in times of danger. How fast this plate had accumulated since the
disasters of 1641 may be inferred from the fact that the College
actually embarked 3,990 ounces of silver to be sent to London (7th
February, 1687). On the 12th, Tyrconnell was sworn in Lord Deputy,
and had the plate seized. The College reclaimed it, and ultimately
recovered it on condition of laying out the money in the purchase
of land. It seems to have brought 5s. per ounce, and is said to
have been “profitably” invested. If the College now possessed it,
the money value would not be less than £5 per ounce; its value in
adding dignity to the establishment is not easily estimable. As Dr.
Stubbs says, the succeeding events are best told from the College
Register, which he quotes:--
_January 9, 1688/9._--The College stock being very low, and there
being little hopes of the coming in of the rents, the following
retrenchment of the College expenses was agreed upon by the
Vice-Provost and Senior Fellows.
_January 24, 1688/9._--The Visitors of the College did approve
of the said retrenchment, which is as follows:--Ordered by
the Vice-Provost and Senior Fellows, because the College is
reduced to a low condition by the infelicity of the times (no
tenants paying any rents, and at present our stock being almost
exhausted), it was ordered that there should be a retrenchment of
our expenses according to the model following; the approbation of
our Visitors being first obtained:--
_Inp._--That there shall be but one meal a-day in the Hall, and
that a dinner, because the supper is the more expensive meal by
reason of coals, &c. 2. That every Fellow be allowed but three
pence in the Kitchen per diem, and one penny in the Buttery.
3. That the Scholars be allowed their full allowance according
to the Statutes, but after this manner, viz.:--To each Scholar
in the Kitchen two pence per diem, except on Friday, on which
but three half pence. To each Scholar in the Buttery his usuall
allowance, which was one penny half penny per diem. To each
Scholar at night shall be allowed out of the Buttery one half
penny in cheese or butter, except on Friday night, and that will
compleat the Statute allowance. 4. That whereas the Statute
allowance to each Fellow in Buttery and Kitchen is five shillings
and three pence per week, and the present allowance comes but
to two shillings and four pence, therefore it is ordered that
whenever the College is able, the first payments shall be made to
the Fellows to compleat their Statute allowance in Commons. All
these clauses above mentioned are to be understood in relation to
those that are resident. And if it shall happen that the Society
shall be forc’t to break up, and quit the place through extreme
necessity, or any publick calamity, that then all members of the
said Society shall for the interim have full title and claim to
all profits and allowances in their severall stations and offices
respectively, when it shall please God to bring about a happy
restoration. 5. That proportionable deductions be made from what
was formerly allow’d to the Cooks for decrements, furzes, &c. 6.
That the additional charge of Saturday’s dinners be laid aside.
7. That for the future no Scholar of the House be allow’d Commons
that is indebted to his Tutor, and that no Master of Arts, Fellow
Commoner, or Pensioner, be kept in Commons that has not deposited
sufficient caution money in the Bursar’s hands. 8. That whereas
we are resolved to keep up the Society as long as possibly we
can, therefore ’tis ordered that as soon as the College money
shall fail, all the plate now in our custody be sold or pawned
to defray the charges above mentioned. We, the Visitors of the
College above mentioned, having considered the expediency of the
above retrenchment, do allow and approve thereof.
FRANCIS DUBLIN. DIVE DOWNES.
ANT. MEATH. JOHN BARTON.
RICHARD ACTON, _Vice-Provost_. BEN. SCROGGS.
GEORGE BROWN.
_January 24, 1688/9._--It was agreed upon by the Vice-Provost and
Senior Fellows that the Manuscripts in the Library, the Patents,
and other writings belonging to the College, be transported into
England. At the same time it was resolved that the remainder
of the plate should be immediately sold, excepting the Chappel
Plate. The same day the College waited on the Lord Deputy, and
desired leave to transport the remainder of their plate into
England, because they could not sell it here without great loss.
The Lord Deputy refused leave.
_February 19, 1688/9._--It was agreed on by the Vice-Provost
and Senior Fellows that two hundred pounds of the College money
should be sent into England for the support of those Fellows that
should be forc’t to fly thither. At the same time the dangers
of staying in the College seemed so great that it was judged
reasonable that all those that thought fit to withdraw themselves
from the College for their better security might have free
liberty so to do.
_February 25, 1688/9._--All the Horse, Foot, and Dragoons,
were drawn out and posted at severall places in the town, from
whence they sent parties, who searcht the Protestant houses for
arms, whilst others were employed in breaking into stables and
taking away all their horses. Two Companies of Foot, commanded
by Talbot, one of the Captains in the Royal Regiment of Foot
Guards, came into the College, searcht all places, and took away
those few fusils, swords, and pistols, that they found. At the
same time a party of Dragoons broke open the College stables
and took away all the horses. The Foot continued in the College
all night; the next day they were drawn off. On the same day it
was agreed on by the Vice-Provost and Senior Fellows that the
Fellows and Scholars should receive out of the College trunk (the
two hundred pounds not being sent into England as was design’d)
their salaries for their respective Fellowships, Offices, and
Scholarships, which will be due at the end of this current
quarter, together with their allowance for Commons for the said
quarter.
_March 1, 1688/9._--Dr. Browne, Mr. Downes, Mr. Barton, Mr. Ashe,
and Mr. Smyth, embark’t for England; soon after follow’d Mr.
Scroggs, Mr. Leader, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Sayers, and Mr. Hasset. Mr.
Patrickson soon after died; and (of ye Fellows) only Dr. Acton,
Mr. Thewles, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Allen, continued in the College.
_March 12, 1688/9._--King James landed in Ireland; and upon the
24th of the same month, being Palm Sunday, he came to Dublin.
The College, with the Vice-Chancellor, waited upon him, and Mr.
Thewles made a speech, which he seemed to receive kindly, and
promis’d ’em his favour and pretection;[56] [but upon the 16th of
September, 1689, without any offence as much as pretended, the
College was seized on for a garrison by the King’s order, the
Fellows turned out, and a Regiment of Foot took possession and
continued in it.[57]]
_June 13, 1689._--Mr. Arthur Greene having petitioned the
King for a Senior Fellowship, the case was refer’d to Sir
Richard Nagle; upon which he sent an order to the Vice-Provost
and Fellows to meet him at his house on Monday, the 17th, to
shew reason why the aforesaid petition shud not be granted.
The reasons offer’d were many, part of ’em drawn from false
allegations in the petition, part from the petitioner’s
incapacity in several respects to execute the duty of a Senior
Fellow; and the conclusion was in these words: There are much
more important reasons drawn, as well from the Statutes relating
to religion, as from the obligation of oaths which we have
taken, and the interests of our religion, which we will never
desert, that render it wholly impossible, without violating our
consciences, to have any concurrence, or to be any way concerned,
in the admission of him.
_July 24._--The Vice-Provost and Fellows, with consent of the
Vice-Chancellor, sold a peece of plate weighing about 30 ounces
for subsistence of themselves and the Scholars that remained.
_September 6._--The College was seized on for a Garrison by the
King’s order, and Sir John Fitzgerald took possession of it. Upon
Wednesday the 11th, it was made a prison for the Protestants of
the City, of whom a great number were confined to the upper part
of the Hall. Upon the 16th the Scholars were all turned out by
souldiers, and ordered to carry nothing with ’em but their books.
But Mr. Thewles and some others were not permitted to take their
books with ’em. Lenan, one of the Scholars of the House, was sick
of the small-pox, and died, as it was supposed, by removing. At
the same time the King sent an order to apprehend six of the
Fellows and Masters, and commit ’em to the main guard, and all
this without any provocation or crime as much as pretended; but
the Bishop of Meath, our Vice-Chancellor, interceded with the
King, and procured the last order to be stopt.
_September 28._--The Chappel-plate and the Mace were seized on
and taken away. The plate was sent to the Custom-house by Colonel
Lutterel’s order; but it was preserved by Mr. Collins, one of the
Commissioners of the Revenue.
_October 21._--Several persons, by order of the Government,
seized upon the Chappel and broke open the Library. The Chappel
was sprinkled and new consecrated and Mass was said in it; but
afterwards being turned into a storehouse for powder, it escaped
all further damage. The Library and Gardens and the Provost’s
lodgings were committed to the care of one Macarty, a Priest and
Chaplain to ye King, who preserved ’em from the violence of the
souldiers, but the Chambers and all other things belonging to ye
College were miserably defaced and ruined.[58]
We find in the _Dublin Magazine_ for August, 1762, p. 54, the
following petition of the Roman Catholic Prelates of Ireland,
which was probably presented to James II. at this time:--
“HUMBLY SHEWETH
“That the Royal College of Dublin is the only University of this
Kingdom, and now wholly at your Majesty’s disposal, the teachers
and scholars having deserted it.
“That before the Reformation it was common to all the natives of
this country, as the other most famous Universities of Europe
to theirs, respectively, and the ablest Scholars of this Nation
preferred to be professors and teachers therein, without any
distinction of orders, congregations, or politic bodies, other
than that of true merit, as the competent judges of learning and
piety, after a careful and just scrutiny did approve.
“That your petitioners being bred in foreign Colleges and
Universities, and acquainted with many of this Nation, who in the
said Universities purchased the credit and renown of very able
men in learning, do humbly conceive themselves to be qualified
for being competent and proper judges of the fittest to be
impartially presented to your Majesty, and employed as such
directors and teachers (whether secular or regular clergymen) as
may best deserve it, which as is the practice of other Catholic
Universities, so it will undoubtedly prove a great encouragement
to learning, and very advantageous to this Nation, entirely
devoted to your Majesty’s interest.
“Your petitioners therefore do most humbly pray that your Majesty
may be graciously pleased to let your Irish Catholic subjects
make use of the said College for the instruction of their youth,
and that it may be a general Seminary for the clergy of this
Kingdom, and that either all the bishops, or such of them as your
Majesty will think fit (by your Royal authority and commission),
present the most deserving persons to be directors and teachers
in the said College, and to oversee it, to the end it may be well
ruled and truly governed, and pure orthodox doctrine, piety and
virtue be taught and practised therein, to the honour and glory
of God, propagation of his true religion, and general good of
your Majesty’s subjects in this realm, and as in duty bound they
will ever pray,” &c.
And the following petition from the heads of the College appears
upon the Register:--
“TO THE KING’S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
“THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE VICE-PROVOST, FELLOWS, AND SCHOLARS OF
TRINITY COLLEGE, NEAR DUBLIN,
“HUMBLY SHEWETH
“That your Petitioners have continued in the College under your
Majesty’s most gracious protection, acting pursuant to the
Statutes and Charters granted by your Majesty’s Royal Father
and others your Royal Ancestors, And during your Majesty’s
absence upon the 6th day of September last, by orders pretended
to be derived from your Majesty, Guards were placed in the said
College, That upon ye 16th of ye said month Sir John Fitzgerald
came with a great body of armed men, and forceably dispossest
your Petitioners, and not only dis-seized them of their tenure
and freehold, but also seized on the private goods of many
of your Petitioners, to their great damage and the ruin and
destruction of that place; that upon the 28th of the said month,
under pretence for a search for arms, seizure was made by one
Hogan of the Sacred Chalices and other holy vessels belonging to
ye Altar of the Chappel, and also of the Mace; that upon the 21st
of October several persons pretending orders from the Government
broke open the door of the Library, and possest themselves of
the Chappel: by all which proceedings your Petitioners conceive
themselves totally ejected out of their freehold, and despoiled
of their propertyes and goods, contrary to your Majesty’s laws,
tho’ your Petitioners have acted nothing against their duty
either as subjects or members of ye College. May it therefore
please,” &c.
_November 20, 1689._--The Vice-Provost and Fellows met together
and elected the same officers that were chosen the year before.
Facta est hæc Electio a Vice Præposito et Sociis Junioribus
locum Sociorum Seniorum supplentibus, quam Præposito et Sociis
Senioribus (cum conveniat) vel confirmandam, vel irritam
reddendam reliquimus. R. Acton, G. Thewles, Js. Hall, J. Allen.
_December._--About the beginning of this month Dr. Acton died of
a fever.
At the Court at Dublin Castle, April 11th, 1690. Present the
King’s Most Excellent Majestie in Council.
“Whereas His Majestie has been gratiously pleased to appoint
the Right Honorable the L^d High Chancellor of Ireland to visit
and view Trinity College, near Dublin, and the Records and
Library thereunto belonging, and whereas his Majestie is given
to understand this day in Council that Mr. George Thewles and
Mr. John Hall have several Keyes belonging to ye said College in
their custody, and refuse to deliver the same to his Lordship in
order to view the said College records and Library; his Majestie
is gratiously pleased to order, and doth hereby order the said
Mr. George Thewles and John Hall, or either of them, forthwith to
deliver the said Keyes to the L^d High Chancellor, as they shall
answer the same at their peril.
“HUGH REILY, _Copia Vera_.”
Upon receipt of this Mr. Thewles and Mr. Hall consulted the
Vice-Chancellor and delivered the Keyes.
_April 15, 1690._--Received from Mr. George Thewles and Mr. John
Hall, by his Majesties order in Council, ten Keyes belonging to
the trunks and presses in the repository of ye College of Dublin
by me.
FYTTON, _C._
_June 14, 1690._--King William landed at Carrick Fergus, and the
same day Mr. Thewles died of a fever.
_July 1, 1690._--The armies of the English and Irish engaged at
the Boyne, and the Irish being routed, King James returned that
night to Dublin, and commanded his army not to plunder or do any
harm to the city, which order was observed by ye Irish.
_July 15, 1690._--Mr. Scroggs landed, and immediately after Dr.
Browne, and then Mr. Downes, Mr. Reader, the Provost, &c.[59]
The Fellows and Scholars that returned were allowed their
Commons, but their salary was reduced by agreement to the old
Statute allowance, both for Fellowships and places, till the
College revenues shall increase.
Before King William left Ireland he gave order to ye College to
seize upon all books that belonged to forfeiting Papists; but the
order not being known till about half a-year after, the greatest
part of the books were lost, but those which were recovered, and
worth anything, were placed in the Countess of Bath’s library.[60]
The interesting features in this crisis were, first, the steadfast
and courageous behaviour of Dr. Acton and his three colleagues,
two of whom sacrificed their lives for the good of the College;
secondly, the excellent conduct of the two Roman Catholic priests,
Moore and Macarthy, who not only exerted themselves with great
humanity to save the Fellows and scholars and their property
from outrage, but showed a real love and respect for learning,
and a desire to maintain the College for the real objects of its
foundation.[61] Thus, if it had not been for the narrowness of
controversialists and the violence of soldiers, the assaults of
Rome and Geneva were by no means so disastrous as might have been
expected. Nevertheless, the College came out of the crisis of
James II. with great loss of books, furniture, plate, rents--in
fact, for the moment in great distress--but still the buildings
were safe;[62] the character of the College must have been greatly
raised by the conduct of its Fellows; there had been no time to
occupy the estates with new adventurers; and the policy of the
new King, in spite of his well-known Liberal instincts, must
necessarily be strongly Protestant after the recent outburst of the
opposite party under his opponent, and therefore made him a firm
friend of the persecuted College.
[Illustration: CHAPEL PLATE. (DATED 1632 AND 1638).]
Before closing this chapter, we may say a word upon the changing
aspect of the College and its surroundings, especially College
Green. The foundation of the College soon brought with it a desire
to build houses in its neighbourhood. But in Bedell’s diary we find
that the first permission given by the Corporation to build houses
close to the gate was frustrated by the students raiding upon
the works, and carrying the building-plant into the College. The
builder, indeed, recovered it by the interference of the Provost,
but whether the building proceeded is doubtful. Still, we hear of
Archbishop Ussher lodging in College Green in 1632, a very few
years after; and a lodging fit for the Primate can have been no
mean dwelling. There were several sites granted on the north side
of Dame Street by the Corporation to gentlemen of quality, who
built houses, with gardens stretching behind them to the river. I
have found mention of three of these before 1640. Presently two
larger mansions were erected there--Clancarty House, at the foot
of the present S. Andrew’s Street, and opposite it Chichester
House, always a large mansion, often used for Courts, and even
Parliaments, till the present remarkable building was set upon its
site. It was one of the objections urged in 1668 to Trinity Hall
(the site of the present S. Andrew’s Church) for holding students,
that they could not hear the College bell owing to the number of
intervening houses. Thus Dublin must have been rapidly growing
out in this direction.[63] There are houses in Dawson Street and
Molesworth Street whose gables show them to belong to the 17th
century. So likewise in the streets off South Great George’s Street
there are still many houses which bear the clear character of
Dublin building from 1660 to 1700. All the churches were remodelled
or rebuilt in the end of this or in the succeeding century. But,
as I have already said, there was as yet no thought of stately or
ornamental house architecture. The existing blocks of that date
in Trinity College (Nos. 22-31) show what was accomplished, and
though far better than the buildings of “Botany Bay,” which came
a century later, are nevertheless mainly interesting from their
date as marking an epoch in this History. There is no hint that the
other lodgings for students, since taken down, were in any sense
ornamental.
I turn, in concluding this chapter, to the interesting question
of the recognition of sports and games among the students--a
recognition which reached its climax under Provost Hutchinson. The
following passage gives us some facts and dates:--
There does not appear to have been any arrangement for the
recreation of the Students inside the College until 1684, when
we find the following entry on August 13:--“The ground for the
Bowling-green was granted, and the last Commencement supper fees
were allowed towards the making of it.” The bowling-green, which
was near the present gymnasium and racquet-court, and probably
on the site of the existing [lawn] tennis-courts, was maintained
until early in this century, and a portion of the entrance fees
of Fellow Commoners was applied to maintain it. On July 28, 1694,
leave was given to build a fives-court at the east end of the
Fellows’ garden. In Brooking’s map of Dublin there appears to
have been, in 1728, a quadrangular walled-in court on the site of
the present New Square, for the recreation of the Students. There
were two gates giving access to this in the arches under numbers
23 and 25 in the Library Square, which is the oldest existing
part of the College, and which was erected after [about] 1700. As
the Students were prohibited from going out into the city without
leave, it was obviously necessary that opportunities should be
given for out-door amusements within the bounds; and the College
Park had not been at this time laid out and planted. A number of
small paddocks occupied at this period the site of the present
Park; and the College Park, as we have it now, was first formed
and planted with trees in 1722.[64]
Some comment upon this passage seems desirable. In the Elizabethan
and Jacobean College recreations for the students were not only
ignored but forbidden. Young men came there and were maintained
at the expense of the Institution, not to play, but to work, as
I have above explained. This strictly theological notion was now
giving way to a secular aspect of things, which tolerated the
residence of students in the city,[65] and received wealthy young
men, who came to spend, not to earn money. The facts just quoted
are therefore interesting in showing that this change of spirit was
now accomplished. For in colleges outward acts follow slowly upon
new convictions.
[Illustration: (Decorative chapter ending)]
FOOTNOTES:
[38] At the moment that Sir William Brereton visited Dublin (July,
1635), the College and Church of the Jesuits in Back Lane, with its
carved pulpit and high altar, had lately (1633) been annexed to
Trinity College, and lectures were held there every Tuesday, Lord
Corke paying for the Lecturer. Brereton also saw a cloister and
Chapel of the Capuchins, which had been turned into S. Stephen’s
Hall, in which 18 scholars of the College were then accommodated.
It is remarkable that all attempts, whether promoted by the College
or not, to shape the University of Trinity College according to the
peculiar model of Oxford and Cambridge have failed.
[39] It is, indeed, rehearsed with great care in these Statutes
that they are approved of by the Provost and Fellows, and imposed
with their consent; but that consent was extorted by interfering
with the appointment of Provost, and choosing Chappel to carry out
the new policy.
[40] He was Milton’s College Tutor, and is said to be the Damœtas
in _Lycidas_. All the histories tell the anecdote of his pressing
his adversary in a public disputation at Cambridge so keenly that
the unfortunate man swooned in the pulpit, when King James, who
was present, took up the argument, and presently confessed himself
worsted. This kind of subtlety may have enabled him to reconcile
his various breaches of statute with his sworn obligations. His
holding of the Bishopric and Provostship together was, however,
openly sanctioned by Laud. His Latin autobiography gives us a
picture quite inconsistent with the complaints of the Fellows and
the resolutions of the Irish Parliament against him. It is a string
of pious lamentations, _e.g._--
“Jam quindecim annos corpus vix ægrum traho
Estque jubilæum hic annus ætatis meæ.
* * * * *
Subinde climactera nova vitæ meæ
Incipit et excutit reliquias dentium
Ante putrium, monetque mortis sim memor.”
[41] Martin seems to have been the best of the early Provosts. But
he had special qualifications, being a Galway man, educated first
in France, then at Cambridge, and then appointed a Fellow of the
College, by competition, in 1610. Thus he added to his Irish blood
and knowledge of the country a wide and various experience. But
the terrible insurrection which swept over the land made these
qualities of little import beside his moral strength. When driven
from his Diocese of Meath, he was made temporary Provost, according
to the petition of the Fellows, who found fault with Faithful
Tate (Stubbs, appendix). He suffered further persecution from
the Parliamentary Commissioners, but through all his adversities
maintained the same constancy. “Is est qualis alii tantum videri
volunt, et in humaniori literatura, et in vitæ integritate
germanissimus, certe Nathaniel sine fraude.”--Taylor, p. 238.
[42] The reader will be glad to see the text of this document,
which I have copied from the original in Lord Ormonde’s
possession:--
“CUM PER MORTEM Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Guilielmi nup.
Archiepi
“Cantuariensis et totius Angliæ primatis Dubliniensis nostra
Academia Cancellarii necessario et nobili præsidio immature
“Sit orbata: nos Anthonius providentia divina Midensis E[=pus]
Præpositus, et Socii Seniores Collegii [=sctæ] et individuæ
“Trinitatis Reginæ Elizabethæ juxta Dublin, secundum licentiam et
potestatem nobis per Chartam fundationis
“Concessam, Honoratissimum Dominum, Dominum Jacobum Marchionem
Ormoniæ, Comitem Ormoniæ et Ossoriæ, Vice-Comitem Thurles, Baronem
de
“Arcloe, Dūm Locumtenentem, et generalem Gubernatorem Regni
H[=ibni]æ et Regiæ Majestati a secretioribus conciliis, Virum
“Nunquam satis laudatum, de quo quicquid in laudem dicitur,
infra meritum dicitur, Virum spectatæ integritatis et fidei erga
principem et
“Patriam veræ Religionis acerrimum Vindicem, Literarum et
Literatorum Mæcenatem amplissimum et de nobis imprimis et Collegio
[=nso] in hisce
“Temporis angustiis optime meritum, quippe qui nos, et res nostras
ad ruinam inclinantes adjutrice manu sustinuit, et ab internecione
et
“Interitu sæpius vindicavit, ut antehac dignissimum semper
censuimus, qui ad Clavem Academiæ sederet, ita nunc Academiæ p’dictæ
“Cancellarium junctis Suffragiis et Calculis eligimus, nominamus,
et admittimus, Hancque dictionem nominationem et admissionem
“Subscriptis nominibus et communi Sigillo, et per litt p’ntes
confirmamus. Datum e Collegio nostro duodecimo die Martii, Anno
Dni. millesimo
“Sexcentesimo quadragesimo quarto.
“THO: SEELE. ANT: MIDENSIS, JO: KERDIFF.
“GUL. RAYMOND. Coll: p^{r.} p^{o.} THO: LOCKE. JA: BISHOPP.”
There is appended the common seal--viz., on thick red wax the
College Arms as usual, but with towers domed and flagged, each
flag blowing outwards, the harp much larger than usual, and shield
surrounded by an oval, and round it the usual legend, with APRILL
added, and the date (1612) in the space over the shield. See page
11 for seal, with some of the signatures of the Senior Fellows.
Three of them who had been driven from their livings had petitioned
the Lord Deputy to be restored to their Senior Fellowships, and
accordingly now show their gratitude. Seele was afterwards Provost.
[43] Several are mentioned by Dr. Stubbs, _op. cit._ p. 95.
[44] As regards the estates, _cf._ Stubbs, p. 111. I add the copy
of the appointment of Jeremy Taylor by Ormonde, preserved among
the Ormonde MSS.:--“To all Xian people to whom these presents
shall come, greeting. Know yee that I James Marquis of Ormonde
Earle of Ormond Ossory and Brecknock Visct Thurles Lord Baron of
Arcloe and Lanthony Lord of the Regalities and Libertyes of the
County of Tiperary one of the Lords of his Ma^{ties} most Hon^{ble}
privy Councell of both Kingdoms of England and Ireland Lord [&c.,
&c.] and Chancellor of the University of Dublyn considering the
great learning the eminent Piety and the exemplary good life and
conversacon of the Reverend Father in God Jeremy Taylour Doctor of
Divinity and now Lord Bpp Elect of the United Bishoprick of Downe
and Connor and his wisdome ability and experience in manageing and
governing all affaires incident to the office of a Vice-Chancellor
of an university and necessary for the advancement of Piety and
Learning doe therefore hereby nominate constitute and appoint the
said Reverend Father in God Doctor Jeremy Taylour Vice-Chancellor
of the University aforesaid and doe by these presents authorize him
to doe execute & performe all such act & acts Thing and Thinges
& to exercise such powers & authorityes & to receive all such
proffitts & benefitts as to the said office of Vice-Chancellor
appertaineth & that as fully amply and beneficially to all intents
& purposes as any person or persons formerly holding or exercising
the said office of Vice-Chauncellor held enjoyed or exercised,
or ought to have held enjoyed or exercised the same. In witness
whereof I have to these presents sett my hand and fixed my seall
the one & thirtieth day of August in the yeare of our Lord God 1660
& in the twelfth year of the Rainn of our Soveraine Lord Charles
the 2^{nd} by the Grace [&c.].--ORMONDE.”
[45] Taylor’s _History_, p. 43.
[46] Preface to the London edition of his University Sermon, 1661.
[47] _Cf._ the interesting article on this eminent man by Professor
G. Stokes in the _Jour. R. S. of Antiq., Ireland, for 1890_, pp.
17, _seq._
[48] In the MS. preserved at Armagh, containing an account of Adam
Loftus’ eloquence on the subject of Trinity College, the writer,
who lived about the centenary of its foundation, says (p. 227)--“Of
the old structure there remains no more than the steeple, which
belonged to that said monastery [All Hallowes] which was lately
restored and beautified under the Government of Thomas Seele, late
Provost of this Colledge.” Seele began the enlargements of the
College, which succeeded one another rapidly for the next century
and a-half.
[49] Harris’ _Ware_. Loftus was made Archbishop of Armagh at the
age of 28!
[50] In his MS. autobiography, preserved in his Library. For an
interesting account of Archbishop Marsh, see _Christian Examiner_,
vol. xi., p. 647. 1831. The ill education of the young scholars
has again become a grave difficulty in Trinity College, since the
establishment of the so-called system of Intermediate Education.
The old hedge-school masters sent us better pupils.
[51] Printed in the _Christian Examiner_, vol. ii., p. 762, 2nd
series (1833).
[52] Bishop Dopping, in his letter to the Hon. Robert Boyle
(Boyle’s _Life and Correspondence_, vol. i.), gives an interesting
account of these classes, at which he states Fellows and Students
attended to the number of eighty, and that they, following the
Provost’s example, made considerable progress in the Irish language.
[53] Dunton speaks of it in 1699 as about to be built. The present
Royal Hospital at Kilmainham is the oldest secular building of any
importance about Dublin. It was finished shortly before 1700, when
it must have been quite unique.
[54] _e.g._, Mr. Dunbar Ingram.
[55] It may be read in Taylor’s History (pp. 55, _seq._) or in Dr.
Stubbs’, who gives Archbishop King as the original authority. Mr.
Heron tells us that one of these members was a Roman Catholic.
[56] “He promised that he would preserve them in their liberties
and properties, and rather augment than diminish the privileges
and immunities granted to them by his predecessors.”--Abp. King’s
_State of Protestants_, sec. lxxix.
[57] This entry must have been made subsequently and separately.
[58] “Many of the chambers were turned into prisons for
Protestants. The Garrison destroyed the doors, wainscots,
closets, and floors, and damnified it in the building and
furniture of private rooms, to at least the value of two thousand
pounds.”--_King_, sec. lxxix.
[59] This entry requires further verification, for Huntingdon never
resumed the office after his flight, and the new Provost was not
yet appointed. On the piece of plate presented to the College in
1690 he calls himself _nuper Præpositus_, lately Provost.
[60] Stubbs, pp. 127-133.
[61] Moore, who retired to the Continent with James II., was
important enough to be afterwards appointed Rector of the
University of Paris.
[62] Wonderful to relate, the chalices which ran these and other
terrible risks, and the flagons of the same date, figured on p. 44,
escaped, and are still in constant use in the College Chapel. They
will be more fully described in another chapter.
[63] Brereton says in 1635 (_Travels_, p. 144)--“The cittie
of Dublin is extending his boundes and limits very farr, much
additions of buildings are lately made, and some of these very
fair, stately and complete buildings. Every commodity is grown very
dear.”
[64] Stubbs, pp. 144, 145. The author does not explain what the
supper Commencement fees were, nor does he state that some land was
bought by the College to complete the Park.
[65] The proposal to recognise as students those who had
matriculated, but lodged in the city of Dublin, is as old as
Bedell’s time, who favours it. _Cf._ _College Calendar_ for 1833,
Introd., p. xxvi.
[Illustration: (Decorative chapter heading)]