CEMETERIUM.
In a neglected corner on the outside of the Chapel, looking towards the east, railed in, but unprotected from the weather, is a little burying-ground, where may be seen the tombs of some few of the Provosts and other distinguished Fellows of the College. Simple stone slabs on the ground mark the last resting-place of Dr. Temple, Provost in 1609, and of other unnamed and forgotten dignitaries, whose remains were removed from the old Chapel when the new building was consecrated in 1798. The inscription on the plain flag nearest the entrance is as clear as the day it was cut, and runs as follows:—
Piae memoriæ sacrum Gulielmi Temple, LL.D., armigeri.
hujusce Collegii Propositi A.D. 1609
atque aliorum quorum reliquiæ
sub antiquo sacello sepultæ
in hoc Cœmeterium translatæ fuere
Anno Domini 1799.
Next to him lies Richard Andrews—
Cujus beneficio Observatorium
Astronomicum conditum atque in
perpetuo constitutum fuit.
He was Provost in 1758, and died in 1774.
The third slab is—
Piæ Memoriæ sacrum
Ricardi Baldwin S.T.P.
hujusce collegii socii
deinde Prœpositi
postremo munificentissimi benefactoris
In præposituram electus fuit
A.D. 1717.
Obiit die 30 Septembris
A.D. 1758.
A large mural tablet with Corinthian columns and alabaster mantlings, and bearing a long and not particularly interesting inscription, is raised to the memory of Dr. Browne, the Provost who is said to have been killed by a brickbat thrown in a College riot in 1699. The long inscription to his many virtues is silent on this point.
On the left-hand side of Dr. Browne’s pompous monument is a plain stone slab in memory of Dr. Stearne, who built the University Printing House, and was in other ways a distinguished benefactor of the College. The very curious inscription runs as follows:—
ΚΑΤΑΡΑ ΕΣΤΙ ΜΗ ΑΠΟΘΑΝΕΙΝ[152]
Dixit Epictetus, Credidit
Johannes Stearne
M. & J. U. D. Collegii SS Indiv.
Trinitatis Dublin Socius Senior.
Medicorū ibidem Præses primus qui natus
fuit Arbrachæ 26 Novembris 1624
Denatus fuit Dublin 18 Novembris 1669,
Cujus exuviæ olim resumendæ hic depositæ sunt.
Philosophus Medicus Sumūs Theologus idem
Sternius hâc, nullus jam, requiescit humo
Scilicet ut regnet, Natura quod edidit unum,
Dividit in partes Mors inimica duas,
Sed modo divisus coalescet Sternius, atque
Ibit ab extremo, totus in astra, die.
On the right-hand side, and like all the other monuments removed from the old Chapel in 1798, is a slab with the following interesting inscription in Latin verse:—
P.M.S. Thomæ Seele, S.T.D. Hujusce Collegii Dignissimi præsidis et instauratoris qui obiit Feb 11, Anno Domini MDCLXXIV. Ætatis Suæ LXIII.
Nuper ab exilio cum Principe Regna redibant,
Et posuere suas Prælia lassa minas.
His solis deerant tam publica commoda tectis,
Exilium Ars passa est, exiliumque Fides.
Præposuit Seelum Carolus, quo præside Musæ
Proscriptæ veteres incoluere Lares.
Tecta Chalonerus pia condidit, obruta Seelus
Instauravit, erat forte creasse minus.
Magna viri doctrina, modestia magna, ruberet
Si sua perlegeret carmine iusta cinis.
Convenit urna loco, debebaturque Sacello.
Non alio sterni pulvere templa decet.
And lastly, there is a large tomb, surmounted by a ghost-like effigy of Luke Challoner, the real founder of the College in 1592, which occupies the most important place in the cheerless little enclosure. The monument, houseless on the destruction of the old Chapel, could not apparently find shelter in the new building of 1798. The recumbent figure of soft alabaster may once have been a work of art; at a later stage it may have been interesting to the antiquarian; at the present day it is merely remarkable as a geological specimen, a curious illustration of the grotesque result of the action of water upon alabaster, under certain conditions. The simple inscription on the tomb reads as follows:—
P.M.S.
Lucæ Chaloner
qui inter primos socios
Collegii S.S. Trinitatis.
A Regina Elizabetha
Constitutus fuit.
A.D. 1592.
obiit die 27 aprilis, A.D. 1613.
The shorter the epitaph the greater the man!
The vaults under the Chapel were closed in 1867. Several of the Provosts and Senior Fellows were buried in them; the last burial was that of Provost MacDonnell.