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Narrative of a residence in Ireland during the Summer of 1814, and that of 1815 (Author: Anne Plumptre)

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Origin of the City of Dublin and of its Name — Present Extent of the City, — The National Bank — The Custom-House — The Four Courts. — Trinity College — The Library. — The Fagel Library — The Manuscript-Room — The Quin Library. — Curious Work undertaken by Dr. Barret — The College Chapel. — The Examination-Room — Monument to Dr. Baldwin — The Museum — The Moose Deer — The new Botanic Garden.

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It is not my intention to carry my readers through a long discussion of the various opinions concerning the original foundation of Dublin. Like all other great cities its origin is involved in much fable and obscurity; and the sources from which the different opinions are derived being accessible to every one, it would rather be impertinence to dilate upon them. The great antiquity claimed by some writers is disputed by others; but the probability seems that the first establishment of any thing that might be called a town, that is, an assemblage of houses with a number of people congregated together into something approaching to a civilized society, is of very remote date. If the Eblana Civitas mentioned by Ptolemy the geographer, who wrote in the second century of the Christian aera, really designate Dublin, as there seems sufficient reason to believe, it must even then have been a place of considerable note, to be mentioned by one who wrote in so distant a part of the world. The first settlers on the spot appear to have been fishermen, who established their huts on the eminence where now stands the castle: and these men being of a tribe called the Eblani, the town was called after them Eblana Civitas, or the city of the Eblani: the transition from thence to the present name of Dublin will appear obvious and easy. Such seems the most probable derivation of the name; though by others it is derived from Dubh-Leana, which in the ancient Irish language signifies the place of the black harbour, the bay of Dublin being anciently called, as they affirm, the black lake.

By the tenth century the settlement had arrived at so much distinction that it is styled in the charter granted by King Edgar in the year 964, called Oswalds


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Laws, the most noble city of Dublin. Still it does not appear that the buildings were of sufficient consequence to give it, according to our modern ideas, any claim to such an appellation, since two centuries after, at the conquest of the island by Henry the Second, he had a palace erected in the form of a long cabin, and the materials employed in its construction were only smooth wattles. Hence it may fairly be presumed that the general architecture of the country had not risen to any thing superior, but that the houses of the then great were humble as the cabins which now shelter, or scarcely shelter, the common classes of the Irish. But however simple and humble was this palace in its exterior, it was fitted up in the interior with so much taste and splendour as to excite general admiration. Here the victor monarch gave a grand Christmas entertainment to several petty princes of the island who had submitted to him; and here he held a parliament in the year 1173, where he granted his first charter to the city of Dublin, holding out strong encouragement for colonizers from England to settle there. The site of this palace is supposed to have been where now runs the south side of Dame-street.

Before the conquest of Ireland by Henry, the Danes were for a considerable period in possession of Dublin; but the precise time either of their obtaining such possession, or of their being expelled from it, is not accurately ascertained. While there, they surrounded it with a wall and some fortifications; but since this wall is not supposed to have been more than an Irish mile in length, the circuit which it inclosed must have been very small. There are now in the very heart of the city some trifling remains of old wall which were evidently once a part of the city walls: but it is to be presumed they are not fragments of those erected by the Danes, since they must have inclosed a circuit of much greater extent.

The first habitations in Dublin were confined to the south side of the Liffey: when establishments were formed on the north side is not certainly ascertained. It is generally supposed to have been first inhabited by the Danes, who being called by the natives Ostmen, that is Eastmen, this part of the city was called, after them, Ostmenstown, whence is derived Oxmanstown, the more modern appellation given to a certain portion of the north side of Dublin.

Since the time when, from the subjugation of Ireland to the English government, Dublin has become better known in this country, it has been in a progressive


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state of improvement; and within the last century its extension and embellishment have been most rapid, so that it has now a just claim to a high rank among the fine cities of Europe. Its form is nearly a square of two miles and a half each way, which makes its circumference extend to ten miles. The eastern part towards the bay is that which contains the principal public buildings, with the best houses, streets, and squares. Before the Reformation there were a great number of monastic institutions, the buildings of which, on the abolition of the religious orders, were consigned to more useful purposes. The first ever erected was in 1146, consequently not long before the English conquest; but the country had then been for several centuries converted to Christianity.

Among the public buildings by which Dublin is now embellished, the first place must indisputably be allotted to the National Bank. This beautiful edifice was originally erected for the meeting of the houses of parliament; and it must be acknowledged that, while they sat there, the representatives of the younger sister country had a much more splendid place of assemblage than those of the elder. The building was begun in the year 1729 under the administration of Lord Carteret, and was ten years in being completed. At the union of the two countries, when the Irish were no longer to have a parliament of their own, and the edifice was rendered nugatory as to its original destination, it was sold to the bank directors, and after various necessary alterations was opened in the year 1808 for the new purpose to which it was destined.

Over this building I was shown very completely, through the obliging attentions of Sir Arthur Clarke, who, being connected with some of the proprietors, procured me entrance to places not commonly shown. In one room is a model of the building on the scale of an eighth of an inch to a foot, which shows it, as it is, almost a little town of itself. A considerable part of the roof constitutes a platform, on which a whole regiment might be stationed if necessary for the defence of the place, while a large armory within would abundantly furnish arms for their equipment. The room where the House of Lords sat remains in its original state; it is ornamented with two well executed pieces of tapestry representing the siege of Londonderry and the battle of the Boyne; they are the production of a Dutch artist. To these decorations has lately been added a very vilely executed statue of King George the Third by Bacon. Why it was


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placed in a room now wholly neglected, and where it is scarcely ever seen, those who placed it there best can tell: perhaps they thought — and if so they thought justly — that this would be more for the credit of the artist. There is certainly no building in London to be compared for architectural beauty with the Bank of Ireland. It is built of Portland stone, as are most of the modern buildings of note in Dublin.

Next to it must be mentioned two other very handsome modern buildings, the Custom-house, and the Four-Courts, as it is called, where the principal courts of law are held. The former stands on the quay, thence called Custom-house Quay, on the north side of the river, and almost at the eastern extremity of the town. It was begun in the year 1781, and finished in 1791. It is said to be no less commodiously arranged in the interior for transacting business, than it is handsome in the exterior. One defect, however, must not pass unnoticed, since it is very striking — that it is placed much too near the river; had it been thrown backwarder, it would have been seen to tenfold advantage. Situated as it now is, no good view of it can be obtained but from the other side of the water; and that, unfortunately, is a dirty disagreeable badly inhabited part of the town, abounding with those minor public-houses which are the great resort of the sailors.

The Four-Courts stands also on the north side of the Liffey, much more to the west, on a part called King's Inn Quay. The same defect which has been noticed at the Custom-house is no less striking here — that it is placed much too near the river; a spacious area before it is wanted for the architecture to be seen to advantage. It is also, unfortunately, no less to be remarked, that while no good view of the building can be obtained but from the other side of the water, that other side is a very dirty disagreeable part of the town. The first stone of this building was laid by the Duke of Rutland when he was Lord Lieutenant, in March 1786, and the courts were opened for the administration of justice in November 1796. The four courts are those of the King's Bench, Chancery, Exchequer, and Common Pleas; but there are many other law offices here.

Trinity College is not less one of the great ornaments of Dublin as a public building, than as a learned institution. Among a great deal of most pleasing and agreeable society to whom I was introduced during my stay in this city,


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must be mentioned Mr. Hamilton Rowan and his family. Upon this gentleman's political character and opinions a diversity of sentiments may be entertained: a man who has taken the warm and decided part in the political world which he has done, will of course be an object of eager admiration among those whose opinions coincide with his own, while those who differ from him will regard him with almost equal reprobation. Of his manners in private life I should think but one opinion can be entertained, — that he is most truly the polished gentleman, a character not very common even in the sphere where most it might be expected to abound. To his and Mrs. Hamilton Rowan's polite attentions I was indebted for seeing the college much more completely than would have been possible without such patronage. At their request Dr. Magee, at present dean of Cork, one of the Fellows of the college, whose name it is almost superfluous to mention as one of high note in the literary world, went over the library with us, and introduced to my notice every thing most deserving the attention of a stranger.

The principal room is a very fine one, two hundred and seventy feet in length by forty in breadth; a length exceeding any other single room for the reception of books in the United Kingdoms. It is fitted up entirely with the dark old Irish oak, which gives it a truly dignified and venerable appearance. A gallery with a balustrade of the same oak runs round it, which is decorated with a profusion of busts. Down one side are those of celebrated characters of antiquity, as Homer, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Demosthenes, Cicero, Euripides, Sophocles, &c. &c. Along the other side are modern characters, as Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, Mr. Locke, Dean Swift, Shakespeare, Milton, Dr. Baldwin, Dr. Delaney, Archbishop Usher, and many others. The latter was a very liberal contributor to the library. This room contains about forty thousand volumes of the best works in all branches of literature. At the upper end it is crossed by a smaller room, the two making together the form of a T, where is now deposited the celebrated Fagel library from Amsterdam. This library was among the spoils brought over to England at the revolution in Holland when the Stadtholderian government was overthrown. It was offered for sale to both the English Universities at the price of fourteen thousand pounds, but the purchase was declined by both as too expensive; it was then proposed to the University of Dublin, and at first declined by them upon the same grounds.


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But very soon after a discovery was made of a large sum of money due to the College, till then unknown to them, and it was agreed to appropriate this sort of deodand to a purchase which had not been declined without great reluctance and regret.

Bonaparte, who was then at the head of the French government, had just about the same time sent over a commission to have the most select works in this collection purchased for the National Library at Paris; but the University of Dublin proposing to take the whole, the bargain was concluded with them for the sum originally proposed. The collection consists of about twenty thousand volumes, among which are a number of very valuable classical and historical works in a great variety of languages. There is a very fine copy of Madame Merian's celebrated drawings of the insects and plants of Surinam. This collection was made by three successive heads of the family of Fagel: the son of the last, whom the necessity of the times compelled to part with it, has visited Dublin since the books were transferred thither. He expressed himself greatly consoled, under the mortification which he could not but feel at seeing this monument of the taste of his forefathers transferred to a foreign country, in reflecting that the collection was preserved entire, and occupied so conspicuous a station in so noble an university.

Before the purchase of this library the apartment which it occupies was appropriated to manuscripts; they are now removed into a room over it. Here I saw some fine specimens of ancient penmanship, among them a beautiful Missal the writing and splendid illuminations of which were all executed by nuns. Another remarkable work is a topographical description of all the provinces in France, in manuscript, in thirty-two volumes folio. In this room is a small collection of very curious books bequeathed to the College by a remarkable character of the name of Quin, and called after him the Quin Library: among them are some of the most choice editions of the Classics, in the most expensive and elegant bindings. I was also shown some curious old Irish manuscripts, which of course were not intelligible to me, and indeed there are very few persons now in existence to whom they are so; but as relics of remote antiquity I could not but regard them with extreme veneration. One of them was a copy of the old Brehon laws.

But among the greatest curiosities in the library is a work executed by Dr.


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Barret, one of the Fellows of the college, a very remarkable character, in whom a passion for books and learning even rises above another very prevailing feature, the love of money. In looking over the manuscripts he discovered one which upon a close inspection he perceived to be written over another of much older date, the former writing having been effaced, though not so effectually but that faint traces of it were discernible. He immediately applied himself to making out as much of the original manuscript as could be deciphered, and succeeded so far as to ascertain it to be a Greek manuscript of St. Matthew's Gospel. He has since had the text printed as far as sufficient remains of the characters can be traced to admit of it, for some are wholly effaced, supplying the blanks with points. In front of the page it is printed in a fac-simile of the original characters, and on the back in those of the modern Greek. The whole has been a work of immense labour, but from the peculiar turn of the Doctor's mind has afforded him no less gratification than toil. This gentleman never stirs beyond the college walls excepting twice in the year to the Bank, which is close by, to receive his half-yearly dividends, an office which he would not on any consideration depute to another; and on an annual visit with the Board to the College Observatory at Dunsink four miles from Dublin. The consequence of this secluded life is excessive simplicity of manners and utter ignorance of the world. He has been forty years Fellow, and for many years his fellowship has produced an income of 2000 l. a year, of which he perhaps scarcely spends twenty pounds, excepting in books; of these he buys a great number, and often very expensive ones. At the same time his penuriousness in other respects is such, that were not his dinner provided free of expense by the College, he would run some hazard of being starved. His memory is astonishing: not long since, in answer to some question which was asked him, he not only ran over a list of all the gentlemen who had been provosts and vice-provosts of the college since its foundation, but gave every circumstance attending the election of each individual. He knows every book that has been brought into the library since he became Fellow.

The college is divided into two courts, the library occupying one entire side of the interior court; a piazza runs underneath it, which affords a sheltered walk in wet weather. This building is of stone, but unfortunately of such a soft and mouldering nature that though not a hundred years old it seems falling


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rapidly to decay. In the first court are the chapel and the theatre, standing opposite to each other, both very handsome buildings; the interior of the chapel, like the library, is fitted up with old Irish oak. The theatre, or examination-room, where the principal college exercises are performed, is eighty feet in length by forty in breadth. On one side is a marble monument to the memory of Dr. Baldwin, formerly provost of the college and a great benefactor to it, leaving it by his will property to the amount of eighty thousand pounds. The monument represents the Doctor expiring, having a scroll in his hand intended as his will, and bending over him is an allegorical figure of Learning in deep affliction at the loss of one of her favourite sons. The monument was executed at Rome by a Mr. Hewetson a native of Ireland, but who deserted his own country for that centre of the arts, Italy. Round the room are whole-length portraits of Queen Elizabeth (the foundress of the college), Archbishop Usher, Archbishop King, Bishop Berkeley, Dean Swift, Mr. Molyneux, Dr. Baldwin, Lord Clare, and the Right Honourable Sir John Foster.

The museum is a good room, and contains a tolerable collection of Irish minerals, with some specimens of the basaltic columns from the Giants' Causeway. Of other natural curiosities the most conspicuous and rare is a stuffed giraffe or camelopard. Among the most interesting objects of art are a model of the Giants' Causeway, as it is called, and the harp of the celebrated Irish patriot king, Brian Boroimhe, or Brian Boru as the name is commonly pronounced. This object is alike interesting from having belonged to so noted a character, and from being an undoubted specimen of the true ancient Irish harp. The model called that of the Giants' Causeway I afterwards ascertained to be, as I then suspected, not of that extraordinary natural phaenomenon itself, but of the promontory of Pleaskin in its vicinity. It is carved in wood, and very well executed.

At the bottom of the staircase leading up to the museum, there are among other objects a curious model, in plaster of Paris, of an ancient Roman galley, and a pair of horns with the skeleton of the head and some other bones of the moose deer. This is the name given to an animal now only known, like the mammoth, by the remains of him occasionally discovered in digging in the earth; in the Irish language he is called vamh-alca, or the wild ox, but the form of the head and the horns are those of the deer not the ox species. These


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remains are generally found at a great depth, in a stratum of marle covered with bog. About forty or fifty years ago a pair of these horns with the skull were dug up in some lands belonging to the see of Dromore, the largest ever discovered, they measured fourteen feet from tip to tip: the bones of a fore leg were also discovered, from which it was conjectured that the animal to which they belonged must have been twenty hands high. The horns at the college museum cannot approach near to this measurement; still they are very large, and the weight of them must be prodigious, while the size of the head seems wholly incompetent to supporting them. No entire skeleton of this animal, any more than of the mammoth, has ever been found. When it existed in Ireland, or when the race disappeared, no tradition pretends to determine, though some people will take upon themselves decidedly to affirm that it disappeared at the deluge: these must forget the command given to Noah, to carry with him into the ark two of every species of living creature, or must charge the patriarch with negligence in obeying the command. That a creature wearing these enormous horns did once exist, the horns themselves attest, and this is all that is known about him: they are seldom found singly, — that is, if one pair are found, it has rarely happened but that by digging near more have been discovered. Sir Edward Bellew is said to have at his seat near Dunleer in the county of Louth, the best preserved pair that have ever been found.

The College park is spacious, and is a great advantage to the young students, to whom it is open. The Fellows have a garden to themselves, which affords such as love retirement a nice secluded walk. But I must observe, that the same attention is not paid as in England to keeping the gardens, lawns, and shrubberies neat, and in nice order: this is more particularly the case in and about the capital; in the remoter parts of the country I found much more attention to this object; indeed in the neighbourhood of Dublin I never saw any thing that could fairly be called a lawn. The grass in the college garden was long and straggling, as if left growing for hay, and the borders were full of weeds. The gravel of the country is besides of a dark hue, unpleasant to the eye, and at the first glance appearing scarcely better than cinder ashes; yet it is fine, binds well, and is firm and pleasant to the foot.

The foundation of the College consists of a provost and twenty-two fellows, seven seniors and fifteen juniors. By an old statute the Fellows were not allowed


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to marry; but this they had for a long time found the means to evade, till in the year 1812, at the suggestion of Dr. Hall the provost, and Chief Justice Downes the vice-chancellor, an order was made by the Government that in future the Fellows should at their election take an oath that, in case of their marrying, notice of the marriage should be given to the provost within fifteen days; the consequence of which is, that the fellowship is immediately vacated. There are a great many livings in the gift of the College, some very valuable ones, as much as 2000l. a year, which must be given to the Fellows. Five royal professorships also belong to this foundation, viz. for divinity, common law, civil law, physic, and Greek; with three medical ones, established by the will of a Sir Patrick Dunn, for the theory and practice of physic, for surgery and midwifery, and for pharmacy and the materia medica. Besides these there are professors of mathematics, astronomy, the Oriental tongues, the Irish language, oratory, history, and natural philosophy: also a great number of scholarships and exhibitions for the encouragement and assistance of the young students. The number of students is generally from six to seven hundred. The former buildings having been found insufficient for the purposes of the College, new ones are now erecting to a considerable extent. The provost's house is detached from the college, but standing close by it. The students wear a black gown and square cap, as at the English universities, but at present only in college; formerly they were obliged to wear them at all times, but that practice has been gradually laid aside.

There is a very fine Observatory belonging to the College, at Dunsink four miles from the city. It contains an astronomical circle eight feet in diameter, the work of Mr. Ramsden, the finest instrument of the kind ever made, with a remarkably fine transit instrument. The present professor of astronomy, Dr. Brinkley, is considered as one of the first mathematicians of the age, and is no less remarkable for the mildness and urbanity of his manners than for his profound learning and deep scientific knowledge. By the assistance of the noble apparatus here, he has been enabled to solve some very important problems in astronomy, which had for a long time been the subject of research among the most distinguished mathematicians all over Europe — A piece of ground just out of Dublin has been recently purchased by the College for a botanic garden; but it was at this time too much in its infancy to be worth seeing.


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