Chapter I: 1 (2)

The entries of the 29th August (1629) are peculiarly interesting, but have hitherto not been understood in their local connection. There is an entry in Mr. Gilbert’s _Assembly Roll_ (ii., p. 82) awarding a citizen £8 for a goshawk he had purchased for the city, which hawk had died. This is a very large sum--perhaps equal to £70 now, and out of all proportion to the salaries and the prices of necessaries in the College. To keep a hawk was, therefore, somewhat like keeping an expensive hunter now, and a proof of great extravagance. As regards the story of the pig, it was nothing more than a comic carrying out of an order (above, p. 13) frequently issued by the Corporation, whom Booth took at their word. It seems, therefore, that either such proclamations were a sham, or that they only referred to the right of citizens to interfere with the roving swine.

The courts seem to have been in grass, as there is an early item for mowing, and 1s. 4d. for an old scythe. A vegetable garden was kept for the use of the College on the site of the present Botany Bay Square, and the further ground belonging to the precincts is called a firr park, which seems to mean a field of furze, much used for fuel in those days. There was neither room nor permission for the games and sports so vital to modern College life. The old and strict notion of a College life, still preserved in some Roman Catholic Colleges abroad, excluded all recreation as waste of time. The Caroline Statutes formally forbid playing or even loitering in the courts or gardens of the College. Nor was this any isolated severity. In the detailed _horarium_ laid down for a proposed College at Ripon, to be founded by James I.’s Queen (Anne of Denmark) at this very time, every half-hour in the day is fully occupied with study, lectures, or prayers.[32] There was considerable license, however, allowed at Christmas, and it was perhaps from the old Monastery of All Hallowes that the fashion was transmitted of acting plays at that season in the College. The performance seems to have been undertaken by the several years or classes. In 1630 it was ordered that the play should be acted, but not in the College. The Lord Deputy constrained the unwilling Provost Ussher to permit it. Even in the Caroline Statutes, remains of this Christmas license appear in the permission to play cards--at other times strictly forbidden--in the Hall on that day. Every 17th March (S. Patrick’s Day), the town population came in crowds from the city to S. Patrick’s well at the southern limit of the College (now Nassau Street, opposite Dawson Street), there to test the miraculous powers of that holy well, which at that moment of the year worked strange cures of diseases. We can imagine the furze bushes or trees around this well all hung with tattered rags, as may still be seen at wells of similar pretensions in the wild parts of Ireland. If the enclosed S. Stephen’s Green was still remarkable in the last century “for the incredible number of snipes” that frequented it, so the College Park must have contained them in abundance. But it was reserved for our grandfathers to boast that they had shot a snipe in the College precincts.[33]

The intellectual condition of the average 16th century student is even harder to ascertain, and I have sought in vain for adequate materials. It does, indeed, appear that the Irish New Testament and Prayer Book had been printed. Sir H. Sidney’s _Irish Articles of Religion_ were brought out in 1566. John Ussher had promoted Kearney’s _Irish Alphabet and Catechism_, produced in Dublin from type supplied by the Queen in 1571.[34] William Ussher had produced the New Testament in Francke’s printing, 1602. This printer is probably the man mentioned as the “King’s printer” in 1615 (for proclamations?). But though there is extant a proposed arrangement with the very printer of one of these books (Kearney) to live and work in the College,[35] there is no trace of his having done any real service. Even the Statutes were in MS., copied out by the hand of the Provost or Vice-Provost. The annals of Dublin show, I believe, none but isolated printing till about 1627;[36] it was in 1641, both in Kilkenny and Waterford, as well as in Dublin, that printing began to be used for disseminating political views. But the earliest students must have found it very difficult to obtain books, and there is no trace that any printing press started up to meet this urgent want. I am now speaking only of text-books for students, by which I mean such small and handy editions as the Latin _Isagoge_ of Porphyry, printed at Paris in 1535, of which copies are often found in Dublin, as the work was diligently taught in the 17th century course. Dudley Loftus’ _Logic_ and _Introduction_, printed in 1657 (Dublin), seem to me the earliest books likely to have been used as text-books in Trinity College. Strange to say, there is no copy of either in our College Library. But the official teaching was strictly oral, and the students were merely required to write out in theses or reproduce in disputations what their tutors had told them. The College course, as laid down by Laud (or Ussher?) in the Caroline Statutes, is plainly not a course in books, but in subjects. Not a single text-book, unless it be the _Isagoge_ of Porphyry, is specified, and this rather for the lecturer than the students. Whatever practical relaxations the course then laid down may have undergone, it was chiefly in the post-graduate studies; for the officers of the College had no power to alter or emend the programme of Laud till the year 1760, when a special King’s Letter gave them authority to do so. This accounts for the great quantity of lecturing which went on, each tutor giving three hours every day, not to speak of the efforts of the College Schoolmaster, who undertook those that were raw in Latin and Greek. Archbishop Loftus, indeed, in his parting address to the College (Armagh Library MS.), exhorts the new Provost (Travers)--“See that the younger sort be well catechised, and that you prescribe to the rest a catalogue of approved books to be read by them as foundations of learning, both human and divine.” But this alludes to post-graduate studies, for which the Library was then established,[37] and not to the daily studies of the undergraduates. Logic was the chief subject, the system of Ramus being brought into fashion by the Cambridge Puritans, and especially by Provost Temple, who had written a book on the subject. Chappel was also a famous Ramist logician. Very little mathematics was taught, but, on the other hand, Hebrew was regarded as of equal importance with Greek; and in every subject we find the student’s knowledge tested, not by reproduction of his reading, but by disputations, which showed that he had so far grasped a subject that he could attack an adversary or defend himself when attacked.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The writer of the first four chapters here acknowledges the generous help received from J. R. Garstin, Esq., B.D., and the Rev. William Reynell, B.D., both in supplying him with facts and in correcting his proofs. This portion of the book was undertaken by him suddenly, in default of a specialist to perform it. Hence the large number of extracts inserted, in which the facts must rest upon the authority of the authors quoted, as there was no time to verify them. Of the three extant histories of the University, those of Taylor and of Dr. Stubbs are very valuable in citing many original documents, the former chiefly Parliamentary, the latter from the archives of the College. Heron’s work was written for a special purpose, which he pleads throughout, after the manner of his profession.

[2] “That before the Reformation it [the Royal College of Dublin] was common to all the natives of this country, ... and the ablest scholars of the nation preferred to be professors and teachers therein, without any distinction of orders, congregations, or politic bodies other than that of true merit,” etc. _Cf._ _Dublin Magazine_ for August, 1762. This golden age of Irish University education may well be relegated to the other golden ages of mythology.

[3] I quote the text (which has lately been printed), of which I owe my knowledge to the kindness of Mrs. Reeves, who lent me the late Bishop of Down’s MS. copy:--“Nolui enim Magnatum placitis me accomodare qui summo conatu, immo cæco impetu et consutis dolis, operam dederunt ut prope Civitatem Lymericensem vel Armachanam fundaretur, quasi piaculum non fuisset periculis belli incendii turbacionis et ruinæ exponere Academiam noviter fundatam, ... nulla alia forsan ratione quam uberioris proprii quæstus gratia. Quem et objeci viro eorundem præcipuo prænobili arteque militari conspicuo fascibusque tunc potito, non obstante quod nimis subitaneæ iræ impetu sæpius se monstraverat pronum ad furorem et verbera; is enim non semel se rapi sinebat æstuantis animi violentia in proclivitatem vim hujuscemodi inferendi aliis; notum enim est ... quam strenuum et fortem virum, sed tunc podagra laborantem pedibusque captum percussit ipse iræ infirmitate perculsus, etc. Non defui igitur mihi vel Academiæ obstando tanto viro,” etc. In other words, he claims to have incurred great danger of being thrashed by Perrott for opposing him! And he retorts the very charge brought against himself, of having pecuniary interests in the background.

[4] I cite from Mr. Wright’s citation of Thomas Smith’s life of James Ussher, _Ussher Memorials_, p. 44.

[5] _Cf._ E. P. Shirley’s _Original Letters, &c._, London, 1851, for these and other details.

[6] _Cf._ Gilbert, _op. cit._ vol. ii., for Usshers, pp. 17, 22, 65, etc.; for Challoners, pp. 45, 64, 88, 259, etc.

[7] _Op. cit._ pp. 64, 88.

[8] He was uncle to the famous James Ussher, now commonly known as Archbishop Ussher. Henry Ussher, however, was also Archbishop of Armagh. He was educated both at Cambridge and at Oxford, as well as abroad.

[9] On application to Cambridge, I am informed, by the kindness of the Registrar and of Mr. W. A. Wright of Trinity College, that Luke Challoner (spelt Chalenor) matriculated as a pensioner October 13, 1582, took B.A. degree in 1585, and M.A. in 1589. He was never a Fellow, or even a Scholar, of Trinity College, Cambridge, and obtained his D.D. at one of the earliest Commencements in Dublin, probably in 1600/1.

[10] Stubbs’ _History of the University of Dublin_, Appendix iii., p. 354. None of the histories note that there were foreign Colleges founded by Irish priests for the Irish at this very time in Salamanca (opened 1592), Lisbon (1593), Douai (1594). Thus there was an active policy to be counteracted by Elizabeth, and these proposed foundations were probably set before her by Henry Ussher as a pressing danger. Some account of the Constitution of the Salamanca seminary is given in Hogan’s _Hibernia Ignatiana_, Appendix, p. 238. The students were to be exclusively of Irish parentage.

[11] Who these well-disposed persons were is beyond doubt. The Queen mentions Ussher in the Warrant; the College mentions Challoner on his tomb--

“Conditur hoc tumulo Chaloneri triste cadaver
Cujus ope et precibus conditur ista domus.”

James Ussher, in recommending a subsequent Provost (Robert Ussher), says--“He is the son of that father at whose instance, charge, and trust the Charter of the first foundation was obtained from Queen Elizabeth” (_Works_, i., 103). On the epitaph of Provost Seele we read--

“Tecta Chalonerus pia condidit; obruta Seelus
Instauravit.”

In the MS. at Armagh, written in praise of Loftus, and reporting his speeches, we have the following (p. 228):--“Among many prudent inducements suitable to polity and reason which moved the Queen to establish this University and College at All Hallowes, the humble peticion of Henry Ussher, Archdeacon of Dublin, in the name of the Citty of Dublin, faithfully and most zealously solicited by Dr. Luke Challoner, and as powerfully recommended and promoted by Adam Loftus, etc., was not held the least of efficacye as to extrinsicall impressions with the Queen in that behalf.” Here, then, _in a panegyric of Loftus_, Archbishop and Chancellor, his name is postponed to those of the two local men and the City of Dublin. This fact speaks for itself. I quote these various documents to correct the current impression that Loftus was the real founder.

[12] Gilbert: _Ancient Records of Dublin_, ii., p. 240

[13] The _Book of Benefactions_ (first printed in the College Calendar of 1858) gives the date of the actual grant as July 21, in the 34th year of Elizabeth.

[14] Stubbs, _op. cit._ pp. 10, 11.

[15] From a _Book of Common Prayer_ printed in Dublin, 1721, where it appears among the “Prayers for the use of Trinity College, near Dublin.” “What authority there was for these prayers has not been ascertained. They certainly were not an integral portion of the book as adopted by the Irish Convocation, and in the Dublin-printed edition of 1700 they first appear interpolated, in the T.C.D. Library copy, between two of the Acts of Parliament which were then printed in some issues of the Church of Ireland Prayer-book.”--_J.R.G._ The prayer printed at the beginning of Provost Ashe’s _secular sermon_, of which an illustration is given on p. 10, was possibly the model: it was printed in 1693/4.

[16] The old Dublin seal has men-at-arms shooting with cross-bows from the tops of the towers, which are five stories high. The cause of the change is, I believe, known, though I have not learned it.

[17] It occurs to me, as a solution of this difficulty, that in 1612 Temple and his Fellows were occupied in preparing a Charter and Statutes for the University, as distinguished from the College. This scheme, when almost complete, was adjourned _sine die_. But if the original seal contained any allusion to Trinity College as an University, which is very possible, then this seal, dated 1612, is the first seal of the College as such, and there may have been another seal prepared for the University, which disappeared with the failure of the scheme.

[18] Description of Dublin (1610).

[19] _Cf._ Gilbert’s _Ancient Records_, ii., 16, 63, 99, 142, 377, and on Stanihurst, p. 541.

[20] The other constant cause of fire mentioned is the keeping of ricks of furze and of faggots close to the houses.

[21] “It is agreed that no person or persons frome hensforthe shall place any dounge on the pavement betwyxt the Dames Gate and the Hoggen Greane; and that they shall suffer no dounge to remayne upon the saide pavement against ther houses or gardinges in the said streete above xxiv owres, and that they shall make clean before their gardinges of all ramaylie, dounge, or outher fylthe with all convenyent speade; and to place the same and all outher dounge that shalbe caryed to the saide greane, in the greate hole by Allhallowes, and not elsewheare upon the same greane, upon payne of vis viiid, halfe to the spier and finder, and thother halfe to the cyttie worckes.”--Gilbert, ii., p. 66.

[22] On the map of 1610, facsimiled on p. 7 (from Mr. Gilbert), the Hospital and the Bridewell, on the west and north of the College respectively, are interchanged in names or in numbers. The descriptions in the records of each, _op. cit._ pp. 390, 420, will prove this mistake in the map.

[23] The amount is usually stated at £1,800. Dr. Stubbs reduces it to £700. Even so, it was a very large sum. Dr. Stubbs also proves that there were some books in the College Library before 1600, _op. cit._ p. 170.

[24] Fitz-Simons’ _Life and Letters_, translated and edited by E. Hogan, S.J., p. 56. “Non sine Collegiatorum ingenti fremitu, qui hactenus nullum alicujus æstimationis ad se pellicere potuerunt,” evidently refers to Roman Catholic boys, if we are to defend the learned Jesuit’s statement as one of fact.

[25] Thus a window in the College Chapel, set up as a memorial of Bishop Berkeley, calls him a _Fellow of this University_. I need not point out how this blunder has been exalted into an official title by the Examining Body called the Royal University of Ireland, which has no Professors for its University, and no College for its Fellows.

[26] _Cf._ _op. cit._ p. 395. The decision of the Visitors had been for the latter, but reversed by the Chancellor (Archbishop Abbot), whose letter shows that he had not apprehended the important distinction between Statute and Charter; the Statutes, made by the College, being powerless to abrogate what the Charter had ordained.

[27] It is now known as Rosslea Manor, in Fermanagh, and pays the College about £2,000 a-year.

[28] Robert Ussher was the only Irish Provost who adopted the same policy. But he was clearly a sentimental person, as appears from his cousin the Primate’s judgment, that he was quite too soft to manage the College, and also from the Latin letter to the Primate still extant (_Ussher Memorials_, p. 275), a very florid and tasteless piece of rhetoric.

[29] It also existed at Oxford. Wesley preached in this way as a layman.--_J. R. G._

[30] Here is a specimen of Provost Temple’s estimates:--“Allowed to each Scholar at dinner ¾d., at supper 1d. This allowance will be to each Scholar, out of the kitchen, 1s. 2½d. per week, or £2 13s. 1d. per annum. After this rate, there being seventeen and a-half messes of Scholars, and for each mess 3d. at dinner, and 4d. at supper, the allowance out of the kitchen, made to seventy Scholars, will amount to £185 15s. per annum. The allowance to a Scholar out of the buttery. To each Scholar allowed in bread, at dinner ½d., and at supper a ½d., and for his weekly sizings 4d., it cometh to 11d. per week; To each Scholar, in beer, ½d. per diem is per week, 3½d. At this rate a Scholar’s allowance, out of the buttery, in bread and beer is 1s. 2½d. per week, or £3 2s. 10d. per annum. Now the whole allowance of a Scholar, both out of the kitchen and buttery, being 2s. 2¼d. per week, and £5 15s. 11d. per annum, will amount for seventy Scholars, to £405 3s. 4d.

“The allowance of a Fellow out of the kitchen, 1½d. per each meal, or 3d. per diem, will come to 1s. 9d. per week or £4 11s. per annum: according to this rate, there being four messes of Fellows, and for each mess, both dinner and supper, 6d., the allowance of the Fellows out of the kitchen will be £72 16s. per annum. The allowance of a Fellow out of the buttery at 1d. each for bread, and 1d. for beer, and for his weekly sizings 1½d., will be 1s. 3½d. each, and per annum £3 7s. 2d.: after this the allowances of the sixteen Fellows out of the buttery in bread, beer, and sizings, is £53 14s. 8d. per annum.”--_Op. cit._ p. 40. The details sorely need explanation.

[31] Stubbs, pp. 58, 59.

[32] _Cf._ this very curious document in _Desiderata Curiosa_.

[33] “There is to be seen here (S. Stephen’s Green), during the winter, an incredible number of snipes, invited by the swampiness of the Green during that season, and to avoid their enemies the sportsmen: this is an agreeable and most uncommon circumstance not to be met with, perhaps, in any other great city in the world.”--Harris’s _History of Dublin_ (1766), p. 481, note.

[34] _Cf._ _Ussher Memorials_, pp. 122, 128.

[35] Stubbs, p. 22.

[36] There seem to have been a good many learned books by J. Ussher, Sir James Ware, James Barry, and Sir C. Sibthorp printed in Dublin between 1626 and 1636. Then there seems to be a pause till about 1650, when a continuous series of Irish prints begins.

[37] The College Library, which forms the subject of another chapter in this book, was intended solely for graduates, and we hear that when the victors of Kinsale voted a large part of their prize-money for books, or when the College voted money for the same purpose, learned men like Ussher and Challoner were forthwith sent to England to purchase them.