Such are the associations connected with Saint Patrick's cathedral, that no one can visit Dublin without feeling his attention early and eagerly directed towards it. I have mentioned that I had a letter of introduction to Sir Charles and Lady Morgan; to their politeness I was obliged for several other very agreeable acquaintance to whom I was introduced. Among them was that distinguished scholar and zealous antiquarian, Mr. William Monk Mason, with his beautiful and amiable wife. When I talked of going to Saint Patrick's, Mr. Mason, with the same disposition that I every where found to do the honours of the country in the politest manner to a stranger, proposed accompanying me thither the next Sunday, when he would explain all the antiquities, and would speak to the Dean that I might hear the best voices in the choir; — the party was joined by Sir Charles and Lady Morgan. A very fine Cantate Domino and Deus misereatur were performed, with an anthem from the hundred-and-thirty-ninth Psalm, by three voices. The first singer, Mr. Spray, is indeed a very fine one; and the other two, though not perhaps equal to him, were such as would be an ornament to any choir.
Saint Patrick's is a Gothic building of the twelfth century: it is not large, and is very plain, devoid of that profusion of ornament bestowed upon the generality of our Gothic buildings in England, and which renders them so magnificent. Indeed none of the Gothic remains in Ireland are to be compared with those in England. I believe some of the latter are allowed to be the best in existence in any part of the world; I saw none in France equal to them. The
Besides these there is in the nave a monument to Dr. Marsh, formerly archbishop of Dublin, who bequeathed a very valuable library to the use of the public. This library is kept in a room near the cathedral. The Doctor's intention appears to have been that it should be perfectly free to every-body: but this valuable privilege being, as is but too often the case with such institutions, in some instances greatly abused, it has been found necessary to lay certain restrictions upon the use of the books. The library is open every day from eleven to three o'clock, Sundays and holidays excepted, when all graduates and gentlemen are admitted to read; but no one is allowed to take a book down himself, he must apply to the librarian for what he wants. Since this donation, the access to books has become so much more easy by means of reading-societies and other literary establishments, that it is now but little resorted to: not having a fund to add new publications to the present stock, it is become rather more an object to the learned few than to the general mass of readers.
Opposite to Dr. Marsh's monument is one to Dr. Smith, another archbishop of Dublin, who died in 1771; and on one side of the great west door is a very curious old monument again to an archbishop of Dublin, but at a much earlier period, a Dr. Michael Tregury, who died in 1471. The prelate is represented in the full canonical dress of those times, with his crosier, and an
The Chapter-room forms the south transept. In it are suspended the banners with the other insignia of the deceased knights of St. Patrick; those of the living knights are suspended in the choir of the church. Near the chapter-room, in a niche in the south wall of the church, is a little basin of water called St. Patrick's well, to which are ascribed so many virtues, that it is very much frequented by the lower classes of the people. The Chapter consists of twenty-six members; the dean, twenty prebendaries, two archdeacons, the chancellor, the chanter, and the treasurer. One of the prebendal stalls, that of Cullen, is annexed to the archbishopric.
Though this edifice has no peculiar beauty of architecture to be displayed, yet as a venerable relic of antiquity, and as being rendered still more venerable by the revered name of Swift now attached to it, so indissolubly that the church cannot be adverted to without the idea of that extraordinary and comprehensive mind presenting itself; — for these reasons it is much to be regretted that it stands in so bad a part of the town, and that there is no good access to it from any quarter. The best is by the west door; but this is never opened except on extraordinary occasions, such as an installation of the knights of St. Patrick, or some other grand ceremonial. Added to this, it is so inclosed round with miserable houses, that it is really difficult to make out where the walls of the church are. This is a fault also to be regretted in some of our most magnificent cathedrals in England. Something has of late been done towards removing the nuisance, for so it must be termed, from Westminster Abbey, honour and praise be to those who have presided at the improvement! but much still remains to be done. St. Patrick's cathedral would make an infinitely more respectable appearance standing in a large area.
After we had looked over the church, the Dean obligingly carried us into the
Another very high treat was afforded me by Mr. Mason during my stay in Dublin, in looking over his most extensive and valuable library. Ardent almost to enthusiasm in his researches into the antiquities of his country, particularly the ancient literature, he has amassed a very large collection both of printed books and manuscripts relative to them; among them are several manuscripts relating to the Brehon laws. But one great object of his ardour is collecting all the old manuscript pieces of poetry in the Irish language which he can possibly procure. Of these fragments he has already a considerable number, and he is confident that he shall at length prove irrefutably the claims of Ireland to the Ossianic heroes, which Scotland has so long arrogated to herself, since he will be able to produce poems in manuscript to substantiate the Irish claims, while Scotland has only oral tradition to justify hers. Mr. Mason's ardour in pursuing the objects by which he is thus deeply interested has a very able and admirable support, in one of the happiest and most retentive
The see of Dublin has two cathedrals attached to it, St. Patrick's and Christ-church. This latter, as the more ancient, ought perhaps to have had precedence,
but St. Patrick's has by association a value stamped upon it which almost precludes the possibility of not adverting to it the first. The original foundation
of Christ-church is ascribed to the son of one of the Danish kings of Dublin,
early in the eleventh century, more than a hundred-and-fifty years before the
foundation of St. Patrick's. It was then a college of regular canons dedicated
to the blessed Trinity, but was converted into a Chapter at the Reformation.
The church was probably in its original state, though built so long prior to
St. Patrick's, much its superior as a piece of architecture. About two centuries and a half ago, from the decay of the roof, the south side of the nave fell
down, and a mere blank wall has been built up in its place, which gives an air
of deformity to the whole building; but the other side of the nave is much handsomer than any part of St. Patrick's: — this accident is commemorated by the
following inscription on the new wall.
THE: RIGIHT: HONORABL: T: ERL: OF: SVSSEX: L: LEVTNT: THIS: WAL: FEL: DOWN: IN: AN: 1562 x THE: BILDING: OF: THIS: WAL: WAS: IN: AN: 1570.
The style of the building is for the greater part Gothic; but there is one arch in the south transept of the form generally called in this country Saxon.
Near the wall which fell is a monument to the noted Earl Strongbow, the great agent, in conjunction with Dermod Mac Murrough, then king of Leinster, in the subjugation of Ireland to Henry the Second. On a tablet of marble now not raised more than two feet above the pavement, lie the figures of a
The church was enlarged by Earl Strongbow in conjunction with the then Archbishop of Dublin and others, soon after Dublin surrendered to the English. The Chapter consists of a dean, three prebendaries, a chancellor, and a chanter. The Bishop of Kildare for the time being is dean, and one of the prebendal stalls is appropriated to the Archdeacon of Dublin. Lambert Simnel was crowned king in this church in the year 1468, by the title of Edward the Sixth. It was here that the liturgy was performed for the first time in Ireland in the English tongue, on Easter Sunday 1550.
In the nave is also a handsome monument to Lord Bowes, who served several great law offices in Ireland, under the three kings of the House of Hanover. He attained the highest dignity in his profession, that of Lord Chancellor, in 1757, and the following year was created a baron: he died in 1767. On the north side of the communion-table is a very fine monument to the Earl of Kildare, the nineteenth in succession who had borne that title, and whose son became Duke of Leinster. Another of the ornaments of this church is the monument to Mr. Prior the founder of the Dublin Society. On the top is his bust, below which stand two boys, one pointing to a bas-relief representing Minerva leading the Arts towards Hibernia, while the other holds in his hand a scroll, on which is the following inscription: — This monument was erected to Thomas Prior, esquire, at the charge of several persons who contributed to honour the memory of that worthy patriot, to whom his veracity, actions, and unwearied endeavours in the service of his country, have raised a monument more lasting than marble. — There are several other monuments in the church, but these are the principal.
The pavement of the church has been so much raised since its first erection, that the basements of the pillars are now sunk several inches beneath it: the earth has, however, been removed all round the foot of one, to show what they were in their original state. To this cause must it probably be ascribed that the monument to Earl Strongbow appears now so little raised above the pavement; it may reasonably be presumed that it was higher originally; but has, like the pillars, been earthed up. The choir is rather handsome, and is fitted up with Irish oak. In it is a gallery for the Lord-lieutenant, who is obliged to attend service here on Christmas-day and on Easter-Sunday. The same singers perform the service here as at St. Patrick's; in the former at half past ten in the morning, in the latter at three in the afternoon.
This cathedral stands, like St. Patrick's, in a very bad part of the town.
On the south side, joined to it, are a number of miserable ruins of the building where formerly the Four-Courts were held, before the erection of the present noble edifice. At the original foundation of the church, the episcopal
palace was on this spot; but whether the Four-Courts were formed out of this
building, or another was erected upon the same site, is not known. One part of
the ruins is still inhabited, but only by the poorest class, and appears likely to
fall at any moment. Close by is an archway of perhaps forty or fifty feet in
length, which appears evidently to have formed part of a cloister; but it is now
so earthed up within, that little more than the vaulted roof remains aboveground. The memory, on seeing it, recurs irresistibly to the stupendous ruins
of ancient Egypt, so many of which are described as earthed up in like manner.
The woman who showed us about took great pains to impress upon our minds
the much greater antiquity of this church than St. Patrick's; the latter she
seemed to hold in sovereign contempt, as a thing but of yesterday.
Beauties with beauties are in arms,
And scandal pelts each other's charms, ’’
John Gay, the Rat-Catcher and Cats
says the poet; and it should seem that the same is the case with rival churches, or at least they are made to do so by those who exhibit them.Of the parochial churches, St. Werburgh's is the principal. There the Lord-lieutenant and Court used to attend divine service before the new chapel to the Castle was opened, St. George's is a very neat pretty new-built church,
Saint Andrew's, or the Round Church as it is more commonly called, is remarkable for the circular form whence it has its name. Its external appearance is indeed so unlike any of our usually received ideas of a church, that no one, till informed, could possibly conjecture it to be one: besides its singular form, it has no tower or spire, though a foundation is prepared on which hereafter it is purposed to build a spire. The building is brick stuccoed over to have the appearance of stone; over the principal door is a group representing the martyrdom of the patron saint. There are sixteen other parish churches, but none particularly worthy of notice.
Dublin also contains sixteen meeting-houses for protestant dissenters of different persuasions, ten catholic chapels, six friaries, and six nunneries, but no synagogue for the Jews.