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Chapter XXI.

extracted from the pockets of Authors and Publishers throughout the British empire. The tutelary "Genius" Irish Libraries. of 1787 has clearly vindicated his right to the shrine so prudently erected in his honour. But to some of the bystanders the reflection is likely from time to time to occur that public homage to a divinity of this stamp is public disgrace.

the King's

of the House of

Commons, and

Correspondence

thereon.

When the Society of the King's Inns was required, in pursuance of an address of the House of Commons, in 1848, to give an account of the Library thus saddled on the nation, it made the following return:-" The Library Return made by is not open to the Public generally, being, and having al- Inns to an order ways been the property of the Hon. Society of the King's Inns, and it is accessible only to members of that Society, viz. Barristers, Students, Attornies, and Solicitors. It has also under a late regulation been open to the present Proctors practising in the Prerogative Court of Dublin. .... The number of volumes is 30,938, besides about 400 separate pamphlets, and about 150 manuscripts. .... Under the Act 6 and 7 of William IV., c. 10, there has been paid £433 6s. 8d., annually from February 1837." Out of this return grew the following instructive correspondence:

"In Saunders' Newsletter of 27th inst. there appeared under the head of "Public Libraries" your reply to the Parliamentary enquiries on that subject, in which, speaking of the King's Inns Library, you say "The Library is not open to the Public generally." As from this one might infer that the Library is open to the Public conditionally, I beg leave to enquire whether this be

"I think that my return distinctly states that this Library is CONFINED to the profession of the Law, Barristers, Students, Attornies, Solicitors, and Proctors, a large portion, indeed, of the Public in Dublin.

"I have to acknowledge receipt on yesterday of your reply of 1st inst. from which I learn that I was in error when I supposed that the Library over which you preside had been opened to the Public. I was led into that error by the circumstance of its being enumerated among Public Libraries, while at the same time the language of your return did not appear inconsistent with the supposition that the Hon. Society of the King's Inns might have opened its Library in the same manner as Trinity College, and the R. Dublin Society have already opened theirs.

"Your observation that the members of the legal profession are "a large portion indeed of the Public in Dublin" appears intended to justify the application of the epithet public to the King's Inns Library, but such a mode of reasoning would bring into the Class of Public, many Libraries for which that rank has never yet been claimed. Thus the Libraries of the Colleges of Physicians, and Surgeons, open only to their own members, who are portions of the Public, would, if such reasoning is correct, be properly styled

CORRESPONDENCE ON KING'S INNS LIBRARY.

71

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Irish Libraries.

Public Libraries. There is in Dr. Steevens' Hospital in this City,
a large and valuable Library, the use of which is confined to the Chapter XXI.
Physicians, Surgeons, and Chaplain of that Hospital-those
gentlemen are as certainly a portion of the Public as are those
of the legal profession,-yet who would designate that as a Public
Library?

"It was not an unreasonable, though it proves to be a ground-
less, expectation that the King's Inns Library might have become
in reality as well as in name a Public Library. But a Public
Library not open to the Public is a contradiction in terms. The
Library of Trinity College which of right is open only to the
graduates, and the Library of the R. Dublin Society which of
right is open only to the members of that Society, have both been
made also accessible to the Public, under appropriate regulations.
Before the liberality of the governing bodies of each had made
this concession to those who were not of right entitled, neither
could with propriety have been called a Public Library.

"I have troubled you with these observations, because the style of your reply sufficiently indicates that you considered my enquiry as one that ought not to have been made. I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your very obedient servant
Robert Travers.

To the last letter in this correspondence it was found most convenient to return no answer. Comment, I think, would be quite superfluous.1

The Libraries both of the Royal Dublin Society, and of the Royal Irish Academy, are in so far public institutions that like the Society of the King's Inns they are partially supported by public money. But, unlike that Society, the governing bodies of both have, for a

Report of the Irish Record Commissioners, i, 321; Whitelaw and Walsh, History of Dublin, 1019; Duhigg, History of the King's Inns, ubi supra; Papers relating to Public Libraries (1849), 22; MS. Correspondence (Dr. R. Travers, and others).

BOOK III.

Chapter XXI.

considerable time past, recognised and discharged those Irish Libraries. public duties which such support entails. Their Libraries are accessible under due regulations.

History of the

Society.

Foundation and The ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY, like most other instituRoyal Dublin tions that have benefitted a nation, owes its origin, not to the "Genius of Jobbing," but to the clear insight and manly vigour of an individual mind. For a century and a quarter it has been in the main,-needful allowance made for inevitable mistakes and shortcomings,'what its Founder desired that it should become.

Dr. Samuel
Madden.

Of the birth and family of Dr. Samuel Madden the accounts are somewhat discordant. According to Grosley, the author of the Essais historiques sur la Champagne, he was a Frenchman, descended from a family of English origin, long settled in that famous city of Orleans, "which at the beginning of the fifteenth century formed the theatre of the grandest scene enacted by the English in France." "This city," he adds, "has given the British dominions, in return, an illustrious person, to whom they are indebted for the first premiums which have been there distributed for the encouragement of Agriculture and the Arts. His name was Madain; being thrown upon the coast of Ireland, by events of which I could never hear any satisfactory account, he settled in Dublin, under the name of Madden, and there made a fortune; he dedicated part of his estate, which amounted to four or five thousand pounds a-year, to the premiums which I have spoken

At one period, for example, the dominant political frenzy of the day excluded Daniel O'Connell from membership. Almost a quarter of a century later, the same virus was still potent enough to refuse admittance to Dr. Murray, then titular Archbishop of Dublin.

LIBRARY OF THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY.

73

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Chapter XXI.

of, and left behind him a rich inheritance, part of which was bequeathed to the Madains, his relations in Irish Libraries. France, who had, however, to enter into a lawsuit for its recovery, and who subsequently published an ecclesiastical censure against a merchant to whom they had entrusted a power of attorney, and who was accused of having misappropriated a portion of their inheritance." Be this as it may, it is certain that in the year 1731, Dr. Madden became the chief founder of The Dublin Society for improving Husbandry, Manufactures, and other useful Arts and Sciences. The Society early received encouragement from the Government, partly in the form of an annual grant from the Privy Purse of £500. It obtained a Charter of Incorporation in 1749, and Incorporation of soon afterwards became the principal instrument for dispensing the liberality of the Irish Parliament in promoting the objects which the Dublin Society had at heart. This liberality is deserving of all praise for the soundness of its principle and aims, although it may well be wished that it had been, on some occasions, better regulated.

the Royal Dublin Society.

Parliamentary grants.

The average grant for a considerable period was Aid accorded by £5000 a-year; in some years, however, it amounted to £10,000. Amongst the objects to which the funds were applied, the improvement of Agriculture, the reclaiming of Waste Lands, the increase of Plantations, the prosecution of Fisheries, and the reward of new inventions and improved processes in the Arts and Manufactures, were conspicuous. It soon became obvious that the foundation of a good Library would be an important help in the enterprise.