[31] The rack-renting cannot have been very exorbitant, inasmuch as the average rent per acre now paid to the College by its perpetuity tenants is four shillings and twopence. The great bulk of the College property is situated in the counties of Armagh, Kerry, and Donegal. The following statement gives in round numbers the acreage and rental:—
| Acres. | Rent. | Rent per acre. | |||||
| Armagh, | 23,000 | £9,600 | 8s. | 4d. | |||
| Kerry, | 60,000 | 11,500 | 3s. | 10d. | |||
| Donegal, | 62,700 | 9,000 | 2s. | 10d. | |||
| Total, | 145,700 | £30,100 | 4s. | 2d. | |||
The number of perpetuity holdings let by the College are in all fifty-four; four only are let to persons of the class of tenant-farmers; of the remaining fifty, sixteen, containing over 60,000 acres, are enjoyed by three lessees, who pay the College an average rent of 3s. 5d. per acre.—[See Letter by Rev. J. A. Galbraith, S.F.T.C.D., Bursar, Freeman’s Journal, March 6, 1882, and also “Statement to the Chief Secretary.”—Freeman, March, 15, 1882.]
[32] The renewal fines in 1850 averaged £6,700 a year. The arbitration at that time between the College and the tenants cost the College £3,000.—[See Letter by Rev. T. Stack, S.F.T.C.D., Registrar, printed in the Report of the Bessborough Commission, and also “Statement” as above.]
[33] This charge, as it stands, rests on a slender foundation, and is very misleading. The catalogue of the College plate, which, to guard against such imputations in future, Mr. Hingston, the Chief Steward, has drawn up with so much care and skill, shows that the old inscribed plate is still in use; and it enumerates pieces dated as early as 1632 and 1638. A selection of the service was sent over, in Mr. Hingston’s charge, to the late South Kensington Exhibition, and was greatly admired by all who were conversant with antique silver art—some of the choicest pieces being facsimiled for the London Institution. The collection of plate is abundant, and the store was accumulated in this way. It used to be the custom that all students at entrance should deposit “caution money,” which was returned to them on graduation. The rich men and Fellow Commoners, instead of taking back the money, used to present it to the College in the form of inscribed goblets or tankards, and in the course of years there was a large assortment of these offerings. Provost Hutchinson had a number of these tankards melted down and refashioned into the present silver plates, and this he did with the consent of the Board. Before Hutchinson’s time a large quantity of the plate was sold by the Board, and the produce was invested in the purchase of land. In 1689, when James II. seized on the College, the Vice-Provost and Fellows sold £30 worth of the plate for subsistence of themselves and the Scholars. At the same time all the rest of the plate was seized on and taken away to the Custom House by Col. Luttrel, King James’s Governor of the city, but it was preserved and afterwards restored to the College.—[See Mr. Hingston’s Catalogue and Coll. Cal. List of Fellows, 1689.]
[34] In 1775, seven marriage dispensations by King’s Letters were obtained.—[Lib. Mun.]
[35] In 1796, the term of grace was extended to a twelvemonth by a King’s Letter.—[Lib. Mun.]
[36] The following—the 5th verse in Milliken’s ever popular song, “The Groves of Blarney”—was an impromptu addition at an electioneering dinner in the south of Ireland in 1798. It is said to have been intended as an insult to Lord Donoughmore, who was present, but his Lordship’s readiness completely turned the tables. He applauded the verse, and in a humorous speech acknowledged the relationship, thanked the author, and toasted the Murphy’s, Clearys, Helys, and others who in the recent political contest had ventured life and limb in support of the Hutchinson cause, and had thus made their blood-relationship with him unquestionable.
“’Tis there’s the kitchen hangs many a flitch in,
With the maids a stitching upon the stair;
The bread and biske’, the beer and whiskey,
Would make you frisky if you were there.
’Tis there you’d see Peg Murphy’s daughter
A washing praties forenint the door,
With Roger Cleary, and Father Healy,
All blood relations to my Lord Donoughmore.
Oh, Ullagoane.”
Lord Hutchinson always heartily enjoyed this verse, which has become completely identified with Milliken’s song.—(See Crofton Croker’s “Popular Songs of Ireland,” pp. 144-8.)