letter was sent over for that purpose. and all this without my knowledge, or any means used by me for obtaining it. O Lord, thy ways are wonderful: and as this is thy sole doing, so I beseech thee to grant me sufficient assistance of thy Holy Spirit, to enable me to perform the work which thou hast assigned me. Amen.”

He was accordingly enthroned in St Patrick's cathedral the following month, and applied himself, with conscientious earnestness, to the performance of the more extended duties and responsibilities which then devolved upon him. He directed his clergy scrupulously to attend to the instruction of the young, and enlarged upon and enforced their various practical duties, with the same zeal and primitive simplicity he had done at Cashel. His own efforts were laboriously and judiciously directed to the correction of abuses on a large scale; and the extreme age of the primate, incapacitating him from giving any assistance in the affairs of the church made the labour more oppressive. This is alluded to in a letter quoted by Bishop Mant, from a correspondence between him and Dr J. Smith, preserved in the Bodleian library, of which the following are extracts:—

"We having parliaments but seldom in Ireland, it might be supposed that here is occasion for many acts to be passed when we do meet; all which are prepared in this council, and sent to that in England before they can be brought into our parliament to be passed into laws; and my lord primate being above eighty-seven years old, and almost deprived of his sight and hearing, you cannot imagine but the weight of business to prepare bills to be passed into acts of parliament; for the church which nobody but churchmen will mind, hath lain and still doth lie heavy upon me; insomuch that for some months past I have not been able to command almost a minute's time from many bills prepared for the good of our church; whereof some are already passed, and the others I hope will suddenly be passed into laws, for the better establishment of this poor distressed church." In another letter, he states that he is occupied from ten to eleven hours every day, preparing in conjunction with some other bishops and privy councillors, those bills for parliament; and in a third, dated May 4th, 1700, about a year after holding the office of lord justice, he says, "it must be a great goodness in you to pardon my neglects, which I do still confess, promise amendment, and then do worse. But all arises from an unhappy circumstance that I do usually labour under. Worldly business is that which above all things I do hate; and that the more, because the affairs of the church, as things now stand, and during my lord primate's inability to act in his station, create me as much business as I can conveniently turn under. When I was dismissed last summer from the charge of the government, I hoped to be ever hereafter free from things of that nature. But Providence disposed of me out of one trouble into another; for our lord chancellor was no sooner summoned by the parliament in England, but I was appointed first commissioner for keeping the broad seal, which hath found me employment; that I hope will be over in a few weeks, that so I may be at some liberty to write to my friends."

Among his numerous efforts for the benefit of this country, there is one which must claim precedence of all the rest, not only from its last2 Q Ir.

II.

ing utility, but from the peculiar sacrifices that it involved. This was the building, endowing, and furnishing, a noble library for the express benefit of the public, in the immediate neighbourhood of the palace. The account of the origin, progress, and completion of this great design, along with the unexpected obstacles encountered and combated by the archbishop, are given with much interest and simplicity by his own pen, in Bishop Mant's work. The conception of this scheme appears to date almost from his accession to the archiepiscopal see of Dublin, but was not effectively carried out until some ten years afterwards; nor even until some two or three years after he had been translated from that see to the primacy of Ireland and see of Armagh. It appears that the house assigned to the archbishop in Dublin, otherwise sufficiently spacious, had neither a chapel nor library assigned to it, and it was the design of His Grace to build a chapel for the family and a larger library for the use of the public.

To secure the perpetuity of this institution, the primate determined to have some bills prepared and passed through parliament for the purpose, but in doing so, met most unexpected and vexatious opposition from some of the members of his own profession;* notwithstanding this, he says, in a letter to Dr Smith, "It passed the House of Lords, and was sent down to the House of Commons, where it was very kindly and favourably received. Amongst other clauses, this statute declares the premises for ever discharged of and free from all manner of taxes already imposed, or thereafter to be imposed, by act of parliament, unless the same shall thereon be charged expressly and by name. In the mean time, the dissenting lords entered their protestation against it, with such reasons as the House of Lords thought to be very reflective on them, and therefore, at the next session immediately voted those dissenting lords should be sent prisoners to the castle, unless they would withdraw their reasons, which accordingly they did, and all was quiet.

“In the mean time, the House of Commons passed my bill, without any man's opposing it, or, as they say, nemine contradicente, and presently voted that a committee of eight of their members should be appointed, to give me the thanks of the house for my benefactions, which was accordingly done out of hand. The lords, knowing this, presently voted the same, and pitched upon the dissenting lords to do it, for their mortification. But only one of them being at the time in the house, a temporal lord was joined with him.

"By this you will perceive how difficult a matter it is for a man to do any kindness to the people of this country. If he will be a publick benefactor, he must resolve to fight his way through all opposition of it; it being a new and unheard-of thing here, that certainly hath some secret design in it to subvert the church, though they cannot tell what; and the reason of it is, "Quia omnes, quæ sua sunt, quærunt."

"This library, with the books, hath cost me near five thousand pounds Irish money; and I designed to expend so much more about it, as soon as God should enable me. But I confess this opposition has struck a

· Bishops of Killala, Ossory, Killaloe, and Raphoe, especially the two last.

more.

great damp upon my spirits. I beg your prayers, that God would please to strengthen and encourage me in my former resolutions, without whose assistance, yea, and enlivening grace, I can do nothing Rev. Sir,―Thus far I had written near a month ago, and have laid by my letter to cool upon it thus long, and finding no exaggeration of the truth in what is before said, I now proceed to tell you, that since that time I have placed all bishop Stillingfleet's books in the said library, which I retained in my own house before the library was by act of parliament appropriate to publick use, and I do find that they do very near fill up all the space that is yet prepared in it for the reception of the books."

In the ensuing year, he again writes upon the same subject as follows:

“Until this matter be settled, and an additional building be raised, or the present be carried on, as is designed, I fear that I shall not find room in it to place in it any more books, which does no more discourage me from prosecuting my design of rendering the library as beneficial to this kingdom as may be, than the opposition made to the bill hath done; which hath only made me more zealous in the business, since it hath received the general approbation. But I must beg your pardon, if I cannot consent to leaving any marks behind me of the opposition made to the passing of that bill, more than what of necessity must be entered on the journals of the House of Lords here. The opponents, some of them are worthy men:

sed

Nescio quo fato, nec qua vertigine rapti, &c.

"I forgive them, and I pray God every man else may; at least nothing under my hand shall ever rise up against them." Amongst his many difficulties and discouragements, he had the gratification of receiving testimonies and congratulations upon the completion of his noble undertaking, from the best and highest in the land. The subjoined is from Archbishop King, and is of a previous date:—

"I understand with great satisfaction, that your Grace has concluded with Mr Stillingfleet for his father's library. 'Tis a noble gift to the church; and as it will perpetuate your Grace's memory here, so it will, I hope, be plentifully rewarded by our common Master. I could not on this occasion forbear expressing the sense I have of it, and rendering my thanks to God on behalf of your Grace, as well as acknowledgments to your Grace. I am further to assure your Grace that I am ready to join in an act of parliament to settle the library and gallery as we agreed, and I hope it will be ready to pass next session."

Both a librarian and a sub-librarian were appointed by the primate, who appropriated a charge of £250 per annum on certain lands in the county of Meath for the purpose of their endowment. He also directed, that the library, which then contained about 10,000 volumes, should remain open during the hours most suitable to the convenience of the citizens, and that all strangers should be freely admitted. About fifty years after, this library received a very important addition, by a bequest of valuable books and manuscripts from Dr Stearne, bishop of Clogher.

The primate now turned his active mind to the reform, and in many instances, remodelling of the diocese over which he was called upon to preside. At his own expense he repaired many of the deserted and dilapidated churches, and supplied them with proper ministers; and also purchased many alienated impropriations, and restored them to the church. The lamentable ignorance into which the Irish papists had at that time sunk, awakened the commiseration of many among the most zealous and conscientious of the Irish prelates, who forwarded a petition to the queen, through the duke of Ormonde, then lord-lieutenant, that active and efficient means might be resorted to for their instruction and conversion. While this petition was under consideration, the primate and his clergy joined in a subscription for the purpose of maintaining two missionaries, to preach to the Roman Catholics in their native language; and, at the same time, through the exertions of Archbishop King, Mr Richardson, and others, the Scriptures were printed in Irish and disseminated.

In 1707, the primate was seized with an alarming illness, which he describes to his friend Dr Smith in the following manner:-" As to the present, a lazy indisposition seized me that day at dinner whereon my lord-lieutenant landed, which was June 24th, which rendered me unable to walk or stand without help. 'Twas a benumbness in my limbs, that is not yet quite worn off, nor can it be until I have liberty to ride and walk and stir about, which the business of parliament, convocation, and council, hath hitherto denied me, especially the council, which, since the recess of parliament, which is to meet again, September 20th, hath seldom sate, either itself or in a committee, less than eight or ten hours every day to prepare, adjust, and dispatch bills to the council in England for their approbation, that they may be returned hither in time enough to be passed in our parliament when it shall meet. This is our method. So that when I returned home at night, I have been still more inclined ad dormiendum quam ad scribendum. But God be thanked, my distemper, as the doctors tell me, is only the scurvies, not a touch of the palsy, as I at first apprehended. And the fore-mentioned business being now for a few days over, I have time to think of my friends and books."

From this period the health of the primate appears to have gradually declined, though his mental energies continued sound; and he continued to transact business almost to the close of his life, which did not terminate until 1713. Although in 1710 the duke of Ormonde told Swift, that "he was hardly able to sign a paper," when Swift answered, "he wondered they would put him in the government, when every one knew he was a dying man this twelvemonths past."

On the 2d of November he was attacked by apoplexy, and died in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He was buried in the church-yard of St Patrick's, adjoining his library, where a stately white marble monument was erected, which has since been removed into the cathedral, and is placed at the south side of the west aisle: while a mural plate marks the spot in the church-yard where his mortal remains were laid. He never married, and he does not appear to have had any very near relatives. His charities were unbounded-the amount

of them being calculated at not less than £30,000. In Drogheda ne built an alms-house for the reception of twelve widows of clergymen, and allowed to each of them £20 per annum. He also gave his aid and sanction to the missions in the East, and was himself a highly accomplished Oriental scholar. He excelled both in vocal and instrumental music, and understood thoroughly and scientifically the principles of harmony. He wrote an essay on sounds, with proposals for the improvement of acoustics, which was presented to the Royal Society, and printed in the Philosophical Transactions, and on which Guido Grandi, a philosopher of Cremona, has largely commented. When provost, he published " Institutiones Logice," and also edited Philip de Trieu's "Manuductio ad Logicam," to which he added the original Greek text, and some notes on Gassendi's tract, De Demonstratione, printed at Oxford, 1678.

ANTHONY DOPPING, BISHOP OF MEATH.

BORN A. D. 1643-died a. D. 1697.

THIS illustrious prelate was the son of a Mr Anthony Dopping, an Englishman. He was born in Dublin, 28th March, 1643, and educated in the free school of St Patrick's. There he was early distinguished for the quickness with which he learned; and so rapid was his progress, that he was enabled to enter the university of Dublin in 1656, being then in his 13th year. In the university, his advance was no less extraordinary, and he obtained the fellowship in his 19th year. As a fellow, he is said to have won general respect and regard in the university, for the zeal and ability with which he discharged the arduous duties of that high and responsible station, as well as for the ready kindness and affability which made his conduct and demeanor attractive to the undergraduates. In 1669 he was appointed minister of St Andrew's, and on the death of Jones, bishop of Kildare, in 1678, he was with universal approbation chosen his successor in that see. From this he was, in 1681, translated to Meath. He was at the same time made a privy counsellor, and vice-chancellor of the university.

We have already stated in some detail, and cannot now repeat the disastrous efforts of king James II. and his counsellors, to effect a revolution in England in favour of the church of Rome: as was to be expected, Ireland, in which their party was already formidable, and where the intrigues and arbitrary interpositions of government were less under the control of the protestant sense of the kingdom, was selected as the stage of action. For a time every engine of arbitrary power, and a policy that went to its mark with a violence of zeal irrespective of all considerations of truth, mercy, or equity, were let loose against the protestants of Ireland. We must here add, that in our detail of this execrable conspiracy, we have guarded against the hasty imputation of these deeds to the really respectable portions of our countrymen of the papal church. In such times, there ever was and