The Book of Trinity College Dublin 1591-1891

by Ireland) Trinity College (Dublin

When the Lord Lieutenant and his Lady, the Nobility, the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of the city, the ladies of quality and fashion, and all who walked not in the procession, had taken their seats in the Hall, the procession moved solemnly from the Regent House, the chamber over the gateway, to the Hall in the following order, according to juniority:—Undergraduates, Bachelors of Arts, candidates for Degrees, Masters of Arts, Bachelors in Music, in Law, in Physic, in Divinity, Doctors in Music, in Law, in Physic, in Divinity, Senior Fellows, Noble Students, Vice-Provost, Beadle with his Mace, Proctors, Chancellor between the Vice-Chancellor on his right and the Provost on his left, Archbishops, Dukes, Earls, Viscounts, Bishops, Barons, &c., &c.

Every gentleman who walked in the procession was habited in the robes of his Order and Degree. The Undergraduates and Bachelors of Arts stopped at the Hall-door, opened to right and left, and after the Nobility entered the Hall according to seniority. The candidates for Degrees, Masters in Arts, and Bachelors in Music, Law, Physic, and Divinity, stopped at the steps of the platform. The Doctors, &c., ascended the platform by four steps. During this procession the musicians played a solemn March composed on the occasion by the Earl of Mornington, Professor of Music.

The music having ceased, the Registrar read the Act of the College constituting his Grace their Chancellor. Upon which the Vice-Chancellor and the Provost, assisted by the Seniors, led his Grace to the canopy and installed him. And the Vice-Chancellor having taken his place on the right, when the Mace and the University Rules were laid at his feet, the Provost, assisted by the Seniors, delivered into his Grace’s hand a printed copy of the College Statutes elegantly bound, promising for himself and the University all due and statutable obedience. His Grace then arising returned them thanks for the honour they had done him in electing him their Chancellor, expressing that it was more pleasing to him, as this mark of the confidence of a Body so distinguished by their learning, virtue, and loyalty, gave him reason to hope that his conduct during his administration was not disagreeable to the people of Ireland in general, whose prosperity and welfare, and particularly the honour and privileges of the University, he would seek every occasion to advance, &c.

The Provost having taken his place on the left, and the Seniors having retired to their seats, after a short pause the Provost rose and addressed the Chancellor and the University in a most elegant Latin oration, in the close of which he addressed himself particularly to the Professor of Music, who thereupon gave the signal to the musicians, and gave copies of the Ode to the Lord Lieutenant and the Chancellor. The Ode was written on the occasion by Mr. Richard Archdale, an Undergraduate, and was set to music by the Professor, the Earl of Mornington.

After the conferring of the Degrees by the Chancellor, the Commencement was closed, and the musicians played the March, as before, and the Procession, as before, attended his Grace to the Provost’s House.

His Grace, with the Nobility, Fellows, Professors, &c., dined in the Eating Hall. There were two chairs placed at the head of the table; the Lord Lieutenant sat on the right hand.

Sunday, Sept. 11.—His Grace the Chancellor was sung into Chapel by the Choir. He sat in the Provost’s stall, the Provost in the Vice-Provost’s; the Vice-Provost, Nobility, and Professors, were seated in the adjoining seats. Two Senior Fellows read the Lessons, the Deans the Communion Service. The Professor of Divinity preached from Proverbs, chap. xv., verse 14. There were two Anthems. The Te Deum and the Jubilate were composed by the Earl of Mornington.

On Tuesday, Sept. 13, the Chancellor, attended by the Provost, Fellows, and Professors, visited the Elaboratory, Anatomy School, Waxworks, &c. In the Natural Philosophy School his Grace was addressed by Mr. Crosbie, a Nobilis, son of Lord Brandon, in English verse.... As his Grace was quitting the Library, the Professor of Oratory addressed him in an English farewell speech, which his Grace was pleased to answer with great politeness.

The reader will remember that the Hall mentioned at the opening of this extract was the old Hall, then entered under the dome which appears in all the views of the College of that epoch. The date of the first edition of the Statutes (August 22, 1768), when compared with this account, also shows that they were first printed for the purpose of this ceremony. The Chancellor’s copy of these Statutes had probably been lost, or never perhaps handed over to the Royal Personages who had recently been Chancellors; and indeed we wonder, with a printing press now over twenty years established, that the work had not yet been issued in print. The difficulty lay in the Laudian Statute, which specially provided that three copies should exist, and implied that no more should be circulated.[90] There is possibly some entry in the Registry which would explain how the Board evaded this obstacle. The printed copy bears opposite the title-page, in print, vera copia, Theaker Wilder, Reg^r.

It is much to be regretted that the Ode, with Mornington’s music, has disappeared.[91] It is stated by Dr. Stubbs that the Duke of Bedford’s fine portrait by Gainsborough, now in the Provost’s House, was presented upon this occasion. But there is an exactly similar picture in the Dublin Mansion House, which must surely have been presented by Bedford, or acquired by the city, while he was Lord Lieutenant, seven years earlier. The portrait, therefore, in the Provost’s House must be a replica, unless it was presented to Provost Andrews much earlier than the date of the Installation. Our Bursar, in his history, states with cold precision the large amounts spent upon dinners to the Viceroys in these hospitable days. It does not appear that the feast given to the Duke of Bedford was by any means as costly as some of those given in later years.[92] Such are the gossiping details preserved concerning this Provost and his social doings in the College.