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ARCHBISHOP USSHER'S PRIVATE LIBRARY.

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they pulled the Primate, his daughter, and other ladies, from their horses.".... "The books and papers were," adds the narrator, "gotten into too many hands to be then retrieved." The good Prelate felt keenly his misfortune, saying to those that endeavoured to comfort him: "I know that it is God's hand, and I must endeavour to bear it patiently, though I have too much human frailty not to be extremely concerned, for I am touched in a very tender place." The neighbouring gentry, not content with mere condolence, caused notices to be read in the parish-churches, entreating and promising to reward all persons who would bring in any of the Archbishop's books, and their efforts were attended with considerable success.

BOOK III.

Chapter XXI. Irish Libraries.

Library.

When, in 1647, a new asylum was opened to Arch- State of Ussher's bishop Ussher, by his appointment to the Preachership of Lincoln's Inn, his Library appears to have been brought from Chester to London, where it remained until his death, in 1656. The agents of Cardinal Mazarin and of the King of Denmark are said to have made liberal offers for its purchase. "But the Lord Primate's Administrators," writes Parr, "being prohibited.... to sell it to any without Cromwell's consent, it was at last bought by the Soldiers and Officers of the then Army in Ireland who, out of emulation to the former noble action of Queen Elizabeth's army, were incited by some men of public spirit to the like performance; and they had it for much less than what it was really worth; or what had been offered for it before. They had also with it all his manuscripts (not of his own hand). But when this Library was brought over into Ireland,

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the Usurper and his son ... would not bestow it upon Irish Libraries. the College, lest, perhaps, the gift should not appear so considerable there, as it would do by itself, and therefore gave out that "they would reserve it for a new College well in relation or Hall which they intended to build and endow," &c.

The charge against Crom

thereto.

Contemporary accounts of the

The self-contradictions which these few sentences contain are so obvious as to leave a writer, like Dr. Elrington, without excuse for adopting (two centuries afterwards) all that is venomous in them, and doing his best to increase their calumnious effect. That Cromwell was all-powerful with "the then Army in Ireland" is as notorious as that he won Dunbar or Worcester. If that army bought the Library for public purposes at all, it was bought with the sanction and aid of the Lord Protector. In ascribing to ostentation on Cromwell's part the subsequent withholding of the intended gift from Trinity College, because it might appear "more considerable" if bestowed elsewhere, Parr himself had shewn that he, at all events, regarded Cromwell as the prime mover in it. And the question naturally arises, How was it regarded by other contemporary writers?

The Records of Trinity College, Dr. Todd tells us, purchase. can throw no light on the matter. We have, however, an account written at the moment, and dated from Dublin, March 10, 1657 [N. S.] It runs thus:-"The soldiery, at a full meeting of officers, at the headquarters, nem. con. have purchased that great magazine of learning, the late eminent Primate of Armagh's Library, the benefit of which action as it will tend to make Posterity rise up and call them blessed, so will

CALUMNIOUS CHARGE AGAINST CROMWELL.

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it sufficiently vindicate them from some false reports raised upon them, and give the inhabitants of Ireland Irish Libraries. hopes to see the ancient renown of this place restored, which hath so long remained buried in the grave made by the ignorance and barbarism of later times."1

Dr. Edmund Borlase wrote on this matter a little earlier than Parr. In his History of the Irish Rebellion he mentions the gift to Trinity College as though it had been at one time, not merely contemplated, but formally made. If the statement be his own, it is to be remembered that he was a Trinity man, and the son of one of the Lords Justices of Ireland. By whomsoever made, though it looks improbable, it may possibly be true. After speaking of Henry Cromwell and his conduct as Lord Lieutenant, he adds: "He countenanced the University, then in a low ebb, bestowing on it Bishop Ussher's Library, composed of the choicest and best picked books extant."" Fifty years later, Hearne makes a similar statement, but ascribes the praise, not to Henry Cromwell, but to the Protector himself, whom Hearne is little likely to have praised without very decisive reasons. "Oliver Cromwell," he says, "had (amongst his remarkable vices) some little sparks of virtue; as being Chancellor of the University at Oxon, he gave some valuable manuscripts to the Public Library there; and [had] such a respect for the learned Bishop Ussher that he made his souldiers then in Ireland be content to have so much deducted out of their pay, as raised so considerable a sum as purchased

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1 Mercurius Politicus, No. 353.

2 History of the Irish Rebellion, 315.

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his Library for the use of Trinity College, Dublin, Irish Libraries where it now remains." Whether purchased originally for Trinity College, or not, there need be no hesitation

in asserting that to Cromwell is due the merit of its preservation for public use. We have seen that to The calumny Bodley's Library he was repeatedly a benefactor, and on Cromwell. that he gave to the Library of Glasgow. the money which Charles I. had but promised to give. We may very safely conclude that, in this case also, a liberal "deduction out of his pay" came to the aid of the like contributions from the Ironsides at Dublin. The troopers who won that appellation were men of a somewhat different stamp from the Rakehells who, a few years before, under Rupert, had affrighted Oxford from its propriety and had made the poor Librarians quake for their treasures.

Besides the perils of the "Committee for Delinquents Estates;" of Welsh Insurgents, tumultuously ransacking chests of MSS. on the road-side; of exposure to fire and pillage in the terrible siege of Drogheda; of repeated voyages at sea; and of long neglect in Dublin Castle, this Library had its share of the more familiar hazards which arise from the defective memory of borrowers. Some of its most precious MSS. were lent to Walton for his Polyglott, and "had to be retrieved out of the hands of the Bishop's Executors." A portion, at least, of these never rejoined their companions, but are now in the Bodleian. The total number of volumes, belonging to the Ussher collection, which reached Trinity College, was 7094, and of these 693 were choice 1 Reliquie Hearniana, by Bliss, 94.

ACCESSIONS TO TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY. 53

MSS. The intrinsic worth of the whole (it need, perhaps,

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scarcely be said,) is far in advance of its relative magni- Irish Libraries. tude, as compared with that of many other collections. And, until better evidence to the contrary shall have been adduced, the gratitude of students for its present accessibility within the University of Dublin is unmistakeably due to Cromwell and his Ironsides. That any claim for such gratitude should ever have been put forth (even by official lips,)' on behalf of the crowned spendthrift who degraded the noble inheritance left by Cromwell, is but one pollution the more from that drivelling loyalty which lavishes its worship on the royal robes, careless whether the soul beneath them be that of a king or of a slave.

During the remainder of the seventeenth century, no accessions of any great importance seem to have accrued. But in 1726, the Library of Dr. William Palliser, Archbishop of Cashel, containing about 4100 volumes, was bequeathed by its collector. Ten years afterwards, the fine Library of Dr. Gilbert, Professor of Divinity and Vice-Provost, was given by himself; and the donor enjoyed the very unusual satisfaction of personally superintending its arrangement on the shelves. In 1741, Dr. John Stearne, Bishop of Clogher, gave some MSS. of considerable value, comprised in about two hundred volumes. This Bishop's family connection with Trinity College had been an uninterrupted one of three generations. He was the greatnephew of Ussher, and the correspondent of Swift.

1 See the Life of Ussher, by Dr. Elrington (Provost of Trinity College), ubi supra.

Early accessions

to Trinity Col

lege Library.

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