MEADE. GARRET WESLEY. CAUFIELD.
1760. 1751. 1690.
[CHAPTER X.]
THE COLLEGE PLATE.
The earliest mention of any acquisition of Plate seems to be the list of subscriptions (in 1600) for the College Mace, which cost £12, a large sum in those days. I have heard Provost Humphrey Lloyd say that this ancient relic of the first days of the College was extant in his time, and sometimes used, but, being in the charge of the Bedell, disappeared when the larger and handsomer mace, now still in use, came to be habitually produced. This regrettable loss dates from that period in the history of the College when all ancient things were neglected.
The next entry in the Registry seems to occur in the negotiations concerning a lease with John Richardson, Bishop of Ardagh, a friend of James Ussher. In addition to his rent, he promised to give Communion Plate to the value of £30—“a chalice, paten, and stoup of silver.” This precious gift (cf. [p. 44]) is still in use, having escaped all the violences, the negligences, the ignorances of many generations. The set contains more articles than those given by Richardson, some far later in date (1700, 1764, &c.), but all imitated from his gift as a model. The chalice bears the inscription—
“1632. Johs. Richardson, S.T.P., hujus Collegii quondum socius,
Esse sui dedit hoc monumentum et pignus amoris.”
The flagons are of the finest Caroline design, perfectly simple, with slight entasis like a Greek pillar. One of them (of the year 1638) bears the inscription—
Par fratrum pariles fecerunt esse lagenas