The Printing House, a charming little antique temple standing at the extreme north-east of the Library Square, was designed by Cassels, and built between 1726 and 1734, at a cost of about £1,200, which was almost entirely provided by Dr. Stearne, Bishop of Clogher. The tetrastyle portico is of Roman Doric, nearly 8 ft. in width, with a bold cornice and triglyphs, and a plain metope, all in fine Portland stone. And the smoke of a hundred and fifty years has already sufficed to give it a somewhat venerable appearance. Underneath the portico and immediately over the door is the following inscription:—
R. R. Joannes Stearne,
Episcopus Clogherensis,
Vice-Cancellarius hujus Academiæ,
Pro benevolentia quam habuit
In Academiam et rem literariam
Posuit, A.D. 1734.
THE PRINTING OFFICE, FROM NEW SQUARE.
BOTANY BAY.
Botany Bay Square, said by Mr. Wright[165] to have been designed by Provost Murray, lies to the extreme north, and behind the northern buildings of Library Square. It was built in 1812, and is a cold and somewhat neglected-looking quadrangle without any architectural pretensions. It encloses just one statute acre and a-half of ground, with some grass in the centre, fenced in by a poor railing, and planted with the scarlet flowering hawthorn. Were the buildings covered with ivy, the square enlivened with trim green sward and flowering shrubs, and the present railing removed, Botany Bay would still be a long way behind picturesque Port Philip. But its name would be somewhat better justified than it is at present.