[CHAPTER III.]
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY UP TO 1758.
Nec conclusisti me in manibus inimici: statuisti in loco spatioso pedes meos.—Ps. xxx. 9.
The great expansion of the College about the time of its first Centenary seems to have been rather the effect of circumstances than of a strong and able government. The Provosts were perpetually being promoted to Bishoprics, and were in any case not very remarkable men. Nevertheless, the Centenary was celebrated with great pomp, and in a manner widely different from that which is now in fashion at such feasts. Almost the whole day was occupied with various orations in praise of founders or of the studies of the place. We do not hear that any visitors but the local grandees of Dublin attended, nor is there any detail concerning the entertainment of the body, after the weariness inflicted upon the mind, of the audience. There may possibly be some details still concealed in the College Register, the publication of which among our historical records is earnestly to be desired. Dr. Stubbs (pp. 136-8) prints the following:—
In the morning there were the customary prayers in the Chapel and a sermon.
At 2 p.m., after a musical instrumental performance, an oration was made by Peter Browne, F.T.C., containing a panegyric in honour of Queen Elizabeth: “Deus nobis hæc otia fecit.” Dominus Maude, Fellow Commoner, followed with a Carmen Seculare in Latin hexameters—
“Aspice venturo lætentur ut omnia seclo