At the upper end of this part of the Library hangs at full length the picture of Dr. Chaloner,[66] who was the first Provost of the College, and a person eminent for learning and virtue. His picture is likewise at the entrance into the Library, and his body lies in a stately tomb made of alabaster. At the west end of the Chapel, near Dr. Chaloner’s picture (if I do not mistake), hangs a new skeleton of a man, made up and given by Dr. Gwither, a physician of careful and happy practice, of great integrity, learning, and sound judgment, as may be seen by those treatises of his that are inserted in some late “Philosophical Transactions.”
Thus, Madam, have I given you a brief account of the Library, which at present is but an ordinary pile of building, and cannot be distinguished on the outside; but I hear they design the building of a new Library, and, I am told, the House of Commons in Ireland have voted £3,000 towards carrying it on.[67]
After having seen the Library, we went to visit Mr. Minshull, whose father I knew in Chester. Mr. Minshull has been student in the College for some time, and is a very sober, ingenious youth, and I do think is descended from one of the most courteous men in Europe; I mean Mr. John Minshull, bookseller in Chester.
After a short stay in this gentleman’s chamber, we were led by one Theophilus, a good-natured sensible fellow, to see the new house now building for the Provost, which, when finished, will be very noble and magnificent.[68] After this, Theophilus showed us the gardens belonging to the College, which were very pleasant and entertaining. Here was a sun-dial, on which might be seen what o’clock it was in most parts of the world.
This dial was placed upon the top of a stone representing a pile of books; and not far from this was another sun-dial, set in box, of very large compass, the gnomon of it being very near as big as a barber’s pole.
Leaving this pleasant garden, we ascended several steps, which brought us into a curious walk, where we had a prospect to the west of the city and to the east of the sea and harbour; on the south we could see the mountains of Wicklow, and on the north the River Liffey, which runs by the side of the College.
Having now, and at other times, thoroughly surveyed the College, I shall here attempt to give your Ladyship a very particular account of it. It is called Trinity College, and is the sole University of Ireland. It consists of three squares, the outward being as large as both the inner, one of which, of modern building, has not chambers on every side; the other has, on the south side of which stands the Library, the whole length of the square. I shall say nothing of the Library here (having already said something of it), so I proceed to tell you, Madam, that the Hall and Butteries run the same range with the Library, and separate the two inner squares. It is an old building, as is also the Regent-house, which from a gallery looks into the Chapel, which has been of late years enlarged, being before too little for the number of Scholars, which are now, with the Fellows, &c., reckoned about 340. They have a garden for the Fellows, and another for the Provost, both neatly kept, as also a bowling green, and large parks for the students to walk and exercise in. The Foundation consists of a Provost (who at present is the Reverend Dr. George Brown, a gentleman bred in this house since a youth, when he was first entered, and one in whom they all count themselves very happy, for he is an excellent governor, and a person of great piety, learning, and moderation), seven Senior Fellows, of whom two are Doctors in Divinity, eight Juniors, to which one is lately added, and seventy Scholars. Their Public Commencements are at Shrovetide, and the first Tuesday after the eighth of July. Their Chancellor is His Grace the Duke of Ormonde. Since the death of the Right Reverend the Bishop of Meath[69] they have had no Vice-Chancellor, only pro re nata.
The University was founded by Queen Elizabeth, and by her and her successors largely endowed, and many munificent gifts and legacies since made by several other well-disposed persons, all whose names, together with their gifts, are read publicly in the Chapel every Trinity Sunday, in the afternoon, as a grateful acknowledgment to the memory of their benefactors; and on the 9th of January, 1693 (which completed a century from the Foundation of the College), they celebrated their first secular day, when the Provost, Dr. Ashe, now Bishop of Clogher, preached, and made a notable entertainment for the Lords Justices, Privy Council, Lord Mayor and Aldermen of Dublin. The sermon preached by the Provost was on the subject of the Foundation of the College, and his text was Matthew xxvi. 13: “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her;” which in this sermon the Provost applied to Queen Elizabeth, the Foundress of the College. The sermon was learned and ingenious, and afterwards printed by Mr. Ray, and dedicated to the Lords Justices, who at that time were the Lord Henry Capel, Sir Cyril Wiche, and William Duncomb, Esq. In the afternoon there were several orations in Latin spoke by the scholars in praise of Queen Elizabeth and the succeeding Princes, and an ode made by Mr. Tate (the Poet Laureate), who was bred up in this College. Part of the ode was as this following:—
Great Parent, hail! all hail to Thee;