The earliest mention of any acquisition of Plate seems to be the list of subscriptions (in 1600) for the College Mace, which cost £12, a large sum in those days. I have heard Provost Humphrey Lloyd say that this ancient relic of the first days of the College was extant in his time, and sometimes used, but, being in the charge of the Bedell, disappeared when the larger and handsomer mace, now still in use, came to be habitually produced. This regrettable loss dates from that period in the history of the College when all ancient things were neglected. The next entry in the Registry seems to occur in the negotiations concerning a lease with John Richardson, Bishop of Ardagh, a friend of James Ussher. In addition to his rent, he promised to give Communion Plate to the value of £30—“a chalice, paten, and stoup of silver.” This precious gift (cf. p. 44) is still in use, having escaped all the violences, the negligences, the ignorances of many generations. The set contains more articles than those given by Richardson, some far later in date (1700, 1764, &c.), but all imitated from his gift as a model. The chalice bears the inscription— “1632. Johs. Richardson, S.T.P., hujus Collegii quondum socius, The flagons are of the finest Caroline design, perfectly simple, with slight entasis like a Greek pillar. One of them (of the year 1638) bears the inscription— Par fratrum pariles fecerunt esse lagenas Moses et Eduardus Hill generosi. It is remarkable that the two silver-gilt chalices now in use at S. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny, are exactly the same in design, and dated (from the hall mark) 1635. They have been recently regilt, while ours has the gilding worn almost completely away. That this gift was not the first, or a solitary act, is proved by the note in a letter of Lord Cork, dated May, 1630: “I give my chaplain 50s. to pay the ffees to the officers of Trynitie Colledge, near Dublin, for the admittance of my two sons, Lewis and Hodge, into that house, and must also present plate.” But of all these early gifts, only the Communion Plate survives. What became of the rest appears from the following record (from the days of the great Irish Rebellion), which I quote from Dr. Stubbs:— [In] the College [there] had accumulated a considerable amount of valuable plate, which had been presented to it from time to time by noblemen and wealthy commoners, whose sons had entered as students. In one of the early books there is an inventory of the plate, “8 Potts; 14 Goblets; 2 Beakers, 9 Bowles; 3 Standing Pieces”; and the names of the donors are preserved. In the Bursar’s books we find the following entries:— The whole exceeds £500, then a very large sum. Yet there must have been much more besides, for it seems impossible that in the subsequent thirty years 5,000 ounces had again accumulated. It is not likely that Winter and his associates encouraged such donations, and we may assume that they commenced again with the Restoration. There remain from the Restoration time only two relics, both of which escaped the wreck to be presently related as being consecrated to the service of the Chapel, viz., a very handsome alms-plate (15·7), in repoussÉ work (hall mark A.R., with a figure under them, enclosed in a heart-shaped oval), given by Nehemiah Donelan in 1666; and a far larger (31·05), perfectly plain alms-plate, of great simplicity and beauty, given by Richard Bellingham in 1669. There are four later copies (1746, 1814?) of this plate in the set now used in the Chapel. We now come to the disastrous days of James II. I again quote from Dr. Stubbs. We find in the College Register of January 17, 168 6 7 :— “The Provost and Senior Fellows considered that at this time materials for buildings are cheap, and that workmen may be hired at easy rates, have agreed on to finish the buildings, where the foundation is laid on the south side of the Great Court, and to that end they have resolved to ask leave of the Visitors of the College to sell so much of the plate as will be sufficient to defray the charge of the said buildings.” A memorial was presented to the Visitors, and their answer was received by the 24th January, permitting the sale of the plate for the purpose of either building or of purchasing land. On the 26th of January a petition was presented to the Earl of Clarendon, then Lord Lieutenant, asking permission to sell the plate in London, instead of in Dublin, “since exchange runs so high at present.” On the 29th of January the Lord Lieutenant granted leave to the College to transport into England 5000 ounces of wrought plate, duty free. On the 7th of February 3999 ounces of plate were shipped on board the “Rose” of Chester, consigned to Mr. Hussey, a merchant of London, who was directed to insure a considerable portion of it. On the 12th of February Lord Tyrconnell was sworn into office as successor to the Earl of Clarendon; and on the 14th he gave directions to have the College plate seized on board ship; and it was brought on shore, and lodged in the Custom House by order of the Lord Deputy. Whereupon the College made application to have the property belonging to the Body given back to it; to which the Lord Deputy’s reply was, that he had written to the King concerning it, and that he had no doubt they should have it ultimately restored to them. On the 2nd of April the plate was restored to the College on a promise that they would “no otherwise employ it but for the public use, benefit, and improvement of the College, nor transport it from Ireland without the permission of the authorities;” and on the 7th it was brought from the Custom House, and deposited for safe keeping “in a closet in the Provost’s lodging;” and the Board at once decided that the produce of the plate should be laid out in the purchase of land, and that such purchase should be inquired after. On the 8th of June an offer was made by Mr. John Sandes, in the Queen’s County, to sell land in that county (the estate now called Monaquid and Cappeneary), to the College for £1150. On the 5th of July the Board offered to Mr. Sandes to pay him £1000 in money from the sale of the College plate, and to give him a twenty-one years’ lease of the lands at £80 a-year. If he refused, the Board decided to offer Sir George St. George eight years’ purchase for his land in the county of Kilkenny. On the 21st of November the plate was ordered to be sold to Mr. Benjamin Burton, at 5s. per ounce, to purchase Monaquid from John Sandes. On the first day of April following Burton purchased 3960½ ounces, for which he gave his bond to pay £990 2s. 6d. On the 7th of February, 168 7 8 , the Lord Deputy sent for the Provost about the sale of the plate by the College, which he said was “against his command, and their former obligations.” The Provost told him that it was to purchase £80 a-year for the College. The Lord Deputy said that “he did not know but £80 a-year might be as good for the College as the plate,” but he directed them to hold their hands until he had consulted the Attorney-General (Nagle). It is clear that Nugent, having now become Chief Justice, was a bitter enemy of the College, and at the bottom of all this trouble, for we find that he took upon himself to send for Mr. Burton, and to examine him as to the purchase of the plate. Burton admitted that he had done so, and the Chief Justice charged him with having bought stolen plate which belonged to the King, and bound him over to prosecute the Provost and Senior Fellows at the next Term. The Provost afterwards consulted the Attorney-General, who, upon hearing the whole matter, approved of the design of the College to buy land with the proceeds of the plate, and promised to give a true representation of the affair to his Excellency. On the 17th February the Lord Deputy told the Provost that he had discoursed with the Lord Chancellor and some of the Judges about it, and thought that matter might be accommodated. He bid the Provost to beware of the title of the land, and to consult the Attorney-General, which the College afterwards did; and Nagle gave his advice and assistance in the drawing up of the deeds relating to the purchase of the land; and on the 12th of April, 1688, the purchase of Mr. Sandes’ estate was completed at £1150, the balance of the plate money being paid out of the common chest. The terrible risks to which the old Communion Plate was presently exposed have been mentioned (cf. p. 41) in a former chapter. From the period of the 2nd Restoration, a great series of gifts commences with the salver given by Provost Huntingdon, which is stated to be worth £30. This estimate is far above the value, and can never have been paid for it. I think it not unlikely that it was the very piece given by the College to him, in testimony of his kindness to the exiled members of the College in 1690. He was afterwards, by their influence, made Bishop of Raphoe, but died in a few days after his consecration. This present may have been bequeathed back again to the College. With the increase of prosperity, after William III. had conquered at the Boyne, we find the habit arising of presenting forks, spoons, and other plate for ordinary table use, by Fellow Commoners. There is a considerable stock of this kind, now hidden in the College safes, dated from 1693 to 1705, and some of it a good deal later; and with these simpler articles are eighteen silver candlesticks of very good design, all of Queen Anne’s period. The finest and largest were given for the use of the altar by Pierce Butler, the 4th Viscount Ikerron (now the 2nd title of the Earl of Carrick) in 1693. Of nearly the same period are a number of handsome salvers and cups, fluted, as Irish silver so often was at that period, ranging from 1690 to 1708. The handsomest cups are those given by Archbishop Palliser and Mr. Duncombe, of Cork, respectively, which are reproduced on p. 273. The best of the salvers are a pair given by the Marquis of Abercorn, at the entrance of his elder two and his younger two sons, whose arms and names are engraved upon the centre. An epergne of George II.’s time is given on p. 274. But the number of these beautiful gifts, and their variety, is such that it would require a volume to reproduce them, and a specialist We should have imagined that these are only a few specimens of the large gifts now received by the College from its increasing classes, and from the increase in the wealth of its members; yet we hear the following curious story:— “Lord Mornington, for Plate, £659 11s. 7d.” Whether this sum represents the price of the plate purchased from him by the College, or that which he was authorised to expend for the College, we cannot say. In eight years from 1758, a sum of close upon £1250 was expended in purchases of this description. No doubt the College had at this period many large cups presented to it from time to time, but in respect to ordinary table silver it appears to have been in Provost Baldwin’s time very deficient. When the Lord Lieutenant was entertained by the College, plate had to be hired of the silversmiths for the occasion; but as each Fellow-Commoner had been for a long period charged £6 at his entrance for plate, and each Pensioner 12s., a very considerable sum must have accumulated which was applicable for this purpose. Looking carefully into the plate chests to see how this large sum of money was spent, we only find a number of large dishes for turbot, joints of meat, &c., and their covers, all of solid silver, together with side cover dishes, and thirty-three open dishes of various sizes, which can account for it. The supply of knives and forks, which is large, all comes from special and named bequests. The designs are not very good, and the plate of a kind not easy to use now-a-days. FOOTNOTES:(Decorative chapter heading)
|