He also promoted the study of mathematics, hitherto of little moment in the College. He founded a Philosophical Society, as a sort of offshoot of the Royal Society of London, to which he contributed a learned paper on Musical Sounds. The curious collection of ancient music still extant in his Library (bequeathed for the use of the City of Dublin, but mainly intended for a Diocesan Library) shows that he had a special interest in this subject. He wrote for the students a sensible text-book of Logic (see fac-simile of title-page, [p. 37]). He got a new and larger Chapel built, which lasted till 1798. But he was still in the era when the College authorities had no idea of building ornamentally. The houses and halls were merely modest constructions for use, and Dr. Campbell is quoted as describing them:—
The Chapel is as mean a structure as you can conceive; destitute of monumental decoration within; it is no better than a Welsh Church without. The old Hall, where College exercises are performed, is in the same range, and built in the same style.—Op. cit. p. 117.
This is, I think, to be said of all the buildings in Dublin during the seventeenth century. So far as I know, the earliest, and perhaps the best attempt at artistic architecture is the Library, which was not commenced till 1709.[53] All the handsome houses in Dublin date from after the middle of the eighteenth century.
FAC-SIMILE OF TITLE-PAGE, ARCHBISHOP MARSH’S “LOGIC.”
Institutiones LOGICÆ.
IN USUM Juventutis Academicæ DUBLINIENSIS.
DUBLINI, Apud S. HELSHAM ad Insignia Collegii,
in vico vulgò dicto Castle-street. 1681.
When Marsh was promoted—he became ultimately Archbishop of Dublin and then Primate—Ormonde, the Chancellor, chose another Orientalist, Huntingdon of Merton College, to succeed him. But he was by no means so able a man; he came over with great reluctance (1686), and immediately decamped upon the outbreak of the second great tumult, which turned out even worse for the College than 1641—the Revolution under James II., and the war which was only concluded by William’s victory at the Boyne. The Revolution was a sore blow for the College, which was now rapidly rising both in wealth and in intellectual position. The Senior Fellows did all they could to conciliate James II., without, however, denying their own Protestant character. The King, a weak man, gave them civil words; but they had to deal with his advisers, who varied widely in their aims and hopes from those of moderate men. The Acts passed by the brief Parliament of James II. have been recently brought into clear light by historians,[54] and the only wonder to be explained is the escape of the College from the secret Bill of Attainder which was to affect the liberties and properties of all Protestants, and from which not even the power of the Crown could grant remission. The anecdote how the members for the University kept out of the way, or sent the College butler out of the way,[55] and managed to have the College names omitted, seems to be a romance invented to explain an accidental omission, and to gain credit for some worthy people who did not fly to England or betray their public trust.
The first acts of aggression were demands to appoint creatures of Tyrconnell’s either to an Irish Lecturership which did not exist, or to Junior Fellowships, which required an oath of allegiance to the Crown and of adherence to the Church of England, as ordered by Charles II. in his Act of Uniformity. The Crown had been in the habit of appointing Fellows by mandamus, so that this proceeding was not so high-handed as it would be now-a-days. But the plain intention of James II.’s advisers, and especially of Tyrconnell, the Lord Deputy, was to force Roman Catholics into power and to dispossess Protestant interests. It is to the credit of the adventurers sent down to the College by Tyrconnell that they objected to take the oath. The Lord Deputy then stopped the Concordatum Fund of £400 a-year. It was a moment when the College so clearly felt its increasing numbers, that there was a proposal to sell some of the fast-accumulating plate to find funds in aid of new buildings. Apart from gifts made by the parents of pupils, there was a charge at matriculation for argent, as there still is in some Colleges at Oxford, and it seems to have been thought a convenient way of laying by money which could be easily realised in times of danger. How fast this plate had accumulated since the disasters of 1641 may be inferred from the fact that the College actually embarked 3,990 ounces of silver to be sent to London (7th February, 1687). On the 12th, Tyrconnell was sworn in Lord Deputy, and had the plate seized. The College reclaimed it, and ultimately recovered it on condition of laying out the money in the purchase of land. It seems to have brought 5s. per ounce, and is said to have been “profitably” invested. If the College now possessed it, the money value would not be less than £5 per ounce; its value in adding dignity to the establishment is not easily estimable. As Dr. Stubbs says, the succeeding events are best told from the College Register, which he quotes:—
January 9, 168 8 9 .—The College stock being very low, and there being little hopes of the coming in of the rents, the following retrenchment of the College expenses was agreed upon by the Vice-Provost and Senior Fellows.
January 24, 168 8 9 .—The Visitors of the College did approve of the said retrenchment, which is as follows:—Ordered by the Vice-Provost and Senior Fellows, because the College is reduced to a low condition by the infelicity of the times (no tenants paying any rents, and at present our stock being almost exhausted), it was ordered that there should be a retrenchment of our expenses according to the model following; the approbation of our Visitors being first obtained:—