I had not been many days in Dublin when I was most fortunately furnished with an opportunity of renewing an acquaintance from which many years before I had derived great pleasure; this was with Mr. Weld the ingenious author of Travels in America, and of an excellent description of the Lakes of Killarney. We met by chance in the street; and, though nearly twenty years had elapsed since our last meeting, we had no difficulty in recognising each other. Such an encounter was the more fortunate since Mr. Weld was not an inhabitant of Dublin, he was only come from the country for a few days. He very obligingly expressed great pleasure in the interview; and, to prove that these expressions were not empty sounds, anxiously inquired how he could contribute towards doing the honours of his country to a stranger. Finding that I had not been at the Dublin Society, of which he is a very zealous and active member, he insisted upon carrying me thither at the instant; and thither we accordingly went.
This Society, such as it now is, has varied very considerably from its original institution. So long ago as in the year 1731, a number of gentlemen, at the head of whom was Mr. Prior of Rathdowney in the Queen's County, associated themselves together for the purpose of improving the agriculture and husbandry of their country; and this was the first association ever formed, in the British dominions at least, — perhaps it might be said, all the world over, — expressly for such purposes. Mr. Prior afterwards, in the year 1749, when Lord Chesterfield was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, through his interest
It has however in the lapse of time, by first enlarging the objects it embraced, at length lost sight of its original and primary one; so that while agricultural societies have in the course of a few years started up almost with the rapidity of mushrooms, throughout the British dominions, — this, the father of them all, is scarcely one any longer: — a new society is formed for agricultural purposes, while the original one is principally devoted to the promotion of the arts and sciences. The stipend granted by the Government is not the less continued to it.
The collection of minerals is esteemed one of the most complete and the most scientifically arranged that any country can boast. The Museum Hibernicum — Regnum Minerale — contains, as its title denotes, the minerals of Ireland alone; and few countries yield a more abundant harvest to the mineralogist: they are very judiciously selected, and admirably arranged. Among them is a piece of the Wicklow gold, and with it a model in brass of the largest piece ever found, weighing twenty-two ounces. But the great collection is the Leskean
Among the Irish minerals are specimens of all the different forms assumed by the basaltic columns at the Giants' Causeway; and a meteoric stone which fell in the county of Tipperary, the fall of which is too well authenticated to admit of a doubt. Two men were at work upon the top of a house, when they heard a whizzing noise as if a cannon-ball were passing rapidly over their heads, and in a few instants saw something strike the ground at no great distance. They hastened immediately to the spot, when they perceived that the earth had the appearance of being recently ploughed up; and raking in it with their hands they soon found this stone. It was then so hot that they could scarcely bear to touch it, and retained the same heat for nearly four hours.
A large collection of specimens of different woods forms another very interesting object in this Museum. There is also a piece of wood from a tree, which when cut down was found to have letters carved in it, so far within, as to prove incontestably the truth of Mr. Forsyth's theory, that the bark forms over and over the trunk of the tree in repeated coats. The collection of stuffed birds and other animals is by no means large or very select; there are some remains of the moose deer, but not so good as at the College museum.
Among the relics of antiquity are several heads of axes, which were dug up in the south of Ireland, corresponding exactly with some that have been found in the plain of Cannae and in Egypt, and which are considered as Carthaginian. This seems strongly to corroborate the idea that the Carthaginians, the most adventurous navigators of ancient days, actually traded to Ireland. Here is also a spur found in digging in some remote part of the country, of a size so enormous, and with a rowel so enormous, that it really seems as if it had belonged to a giant. Models of Stone-henge such as it is now, and such as it is supposed to have been when perfect, are among the curiosities shown. With them is a model of a circular erection in some part of Ireland, —
No tradition speaks of this, or throws any light upon the purpose for which it was destined.
The Society has a very good library, particularly in works relative to the arts and sciences; and a collection of casts from some of the most celebrated works of the antique, as the Apollo, the Laocoon, the Gladiator, &c. &c. intended principally for the assistance of students in the beautiful art of sculpture. This collection is always open to any one who shows a taste for the arts and is desirous of improving it, whatever may be his rank and situation in life. I saw some specimens of the works of the pupils very well executed. There is a very complete chemical laboratory, with a theatre for lectures. The board-room, where the meetings of the Society are held, is large and handsomely fitted up: in it are whole-length portraits of Sir John Foster and General Vallancey; the latter is well known for his researches into the antiquities of Ireland.
The Exhibition-room is spacious and handsome. It was originally appropriated solely to exhibiting the works of living artists; but this year for the first time, in imitation of the British Institution in London, the principal noblemen and gentlemen of the country, who had in their possession good pictures by the ancient masters, had lent them to form an exhibition, for the benefit of young students. The pictures were to remain for three months. To students this gallery was open gratis till eleven in the morning: from that time till five in the afternoon it was open for the reception of company; each person paying an English shilling admittance, that is thirteen pence Irish money. There were some very fine pictures: particularly a St. Sebastian by Guercino, a St. Jerome by Spagnoletto, a landscape by Claude Lorraine, and one by Cuyp; from the duke of Leinster's collection: a portrait of Caesar Borgia by Titian, from the
Added to all these things the Society have a most noble botanic garden at Glasnevin, a village just out of Dublin to the north. It is much larger than any other that I have seen either in the British dominions or in France, beyond which my knowledge does not extend; comprising more than sixteen Irish acres of ground, or about twenty-two English acres, and is laid out with great taste and judgement. The conservatories, however, and the collection of exotic plants, are not so good as in the King's garden at Kew. It stands very high; and there is a fine view from the eminence, over the city and bay. Nothing, in short, can be conducted upon a more complete and liberal plan for the promotion of its various objects, than this Society is. The number of members at present is about five hundred: they are elected by ballot; each member, the honorary ones excepted, paying 50l. on admission, which constitutes them members for life. By these deposits, and the grant from Government, the institution is supported. There are no annual subscribers.
The house in which I saw it in 1814 was in Hawkins-street, near the College. Before my second visit to Ireland in the following year, Leinster-house, in Kildare-street, the town-residence of the Duke of Leinster, had been purchased by the Society, and the collections were all removed thither, but not arranged; so that, to my great regret, I could not renew and enlarge my acquaintance with objects so multifarious and well deserving the attention of every one visiting Dublin.
The Dublin Institution in Sackville-street has a very good library, which is open to the proprietors and members from seven in the morning till ten at night, with a second collection of books for circulation among the members, from which each may have two out at a time. There is also a news-room, where are English, Irish, Scotch, and French newspapers. It was originally
The Royal Irish Academy was founded by the late Earl of Charlemont, and was incorporated by charter in the year 1786. Its objects are the advancement of science and polite literature, and the study of antiquities. In each of these departments there is a committee of seven, chosen for carrying on the purposes of the Academy. That for science meets on the first Monday in every month; that for polite literature on the second Monday; that for antiquities on the third; and a meeting of the Academy at large is held on the fourth. The Council, which consists of the three committees, meet from time to time by adjournment. An annual prize of a gold medal worth 50l., or that sum in money, is given by the Academy on a subject which is agreed among themselves. Twelve volumes of the Transactions of this Academy have already been published.
I was favoured by a gentleman, with whom I had the pleasure of passing many very pleasant hours in my second visit to Dublin, Mr. Kernan, a person of very extensive knowledge and science, with a copy of an essay by his sister which had obtained a prize from the Academy. The subject is The Influence of fictitious History on modern Manners. It is a work of great erudition and sound reasoning; and though the modest author, in printing the work, has not affixed her name to it, she has proved that name deserving of a high place among the
The Castle, as it is called, the seat of government, and town-residence of the Lord-lieutenant, was in former times actually a fortress, flanked with bastions, and having a ditch round it. The latter has long been filled up, and no vestige now remains of a castellated appearance, except one tower used as a repository for keeping the national archives, records, &c. The wall of this building is said to be fourteen feet thick. This loss of the venerable remains of antiquity is not compensated by any beauty of modern architecture. The deputy's residence in this country bears indeed a striking affinity in its outward appearance with that of the principal in London; — neither of them possesses a single one of those features which the idea of a palace immediately presents to the imagination. Dublin Castle is an ugly, shabby, red-brick building; and an uglier material for building was never invented by the ingenuity of man, till the architects of Brighton thought of using the still more hideous black composition of which so many houses in that town are constructed.
The whole range of building is divided into two courts. In the interior court, which is called the Upper Castle-yard, are the state apartments, with the private apartments of the Lord-lieutenant, and those of most of the great officers of state. In the outer court, or Lower Castle-yard, are the treasury, the offices of the board of ordnance, of the quartermaster-general, of the secretary-at-war, and other public offices, with an arsenal, and an armoury containing arms sufficient for eighty thousand men. But the most beautiful part of the castle is the new Gothic chapel, which occupies a conspicuous place in the Lower Castle-yard. It was not completed at the time of my first visit to Dublin, but was so at my second; and though not open promiscuously to all, through the politeness and patronage of Sir William Betham, the herald-at-arms, I was shown all over it. It is in the true Gothic style of the days when that mode of building was arrived at its highest perfection; and is indeed a beautiful specimen of modern taste and industry. The ornaments are copied principally from York cathedral.
The Exchange is a handsome but not large modern building, close to the
The Post-office has at present nothing to boast of as to outward show; but the first stone of a new one in Sackville-street was laid this year by the Lord-lieutenant on the twelfth of August, the centenary of the Hanover accession to the throne of England. The plan is said to be of equal beauty with the other modern buildings of Dublin; and being placed in the widest street of the city, where it will be seen with every advantage, it will be a great additional ornament.