LIBRARY BUILDINGS.

309

down and entirely removed; other buildings, however, and in an elegant taste, have been erected in the park to accommodate the pupils.

The Library.-This fine edifice was opened in 1732, having been about twenty years in building; its basement story, except the pavilion at each end, is a piazza, or arcade, open to the north and south, but divided longitudinally by a wall, which materially assists in supporting the immense weight of books in the great room. In this wall is a door to admit the fellows into their garden and promenade, on the south side; the piazza on the north being only for the pupils. The walls of this building are of solid brickwork, four feet thick, faced originally, except the piers of the piazza, with well cut sand-stone, which, though perfect in some parts, had suffered so much in general from the action of the weather, that the whole of it (with the balustrading above the cornice) was removed and replaced by a new ashlaring of granite, of a fine hard texture. The balustrade was renewed with a similar kind of stone. The piers and arches of the piazza are faced with a black building stone, called calpe, found a little to the westward of Dublin. On this, though exposed more than 110 years, there is not the slightest indication of decay. The plan of the building is simple, being merely an extended centre terminating at each end in a projecting pavilion, in the same taste. The lower part of the eastern pavilion is composed of two large apartments, called the Astromony and Natural Philosophy Schools, being appropriated to the lectures on these two sciences. The lower part of the western pavilion is occupied by the

evening the late Rev. Charles Wolfe, author of the poem on the death of Sir John Moore, &c., the Rev. Samuela and the Rev. Mortimerb O'Sullivan, Dr. Dickenson, late Bishop of Meath, A. Russel, (Archdeacon of Clogher,) G. A. Grierson, LL.D. and other "premium men," to enjoy the feast of reason and the flow of soul, and certainly nothing in college life could be more delightful: wit, learning, and good humour were the characteristics of those social parties.

a Author of the work "On Divine Providence."

Master of Ardmagh School, and an eminent preacher (now D.D.).

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THE GREAT ROOM.

vestibule and a large room called the Law School, or "lending library," in which are deposited the books appropriated to that purpose according to the will of Dr. Gilbert, for which purpose he bequeathed £2450. The collection of books in it now seems to be worth more than that sum, which could hardly be expected, from the wear and tear of them in the lapse of a cen

tury.

The junior dean has the care of this library: to him must those students apply who wish to borrow books, and this officer is to receive a deposit to the full value of the work, of which he has a priced catalogue: if any book lent is spoiled, or not returned within a given time, the deposit is forfeited, but if returned according to engagement, there is no expense whatever to the borrower. In this room also, the law lectures are given, and generally those on divinity; the examinations in the latter are also held here. In the vestibule is the great staircase leading up to the library and librarian's room; this last is outside the great room, and exactly over the law school. The staircase is suitable to the magnitude of the building; it is six feet broad, with mahogany balusters, richly carved. At the top of this staircase, a pair of large folding doors open into the great room.

The Great Room.-On entering this noble apartment, it is impossible not to be struck with the grandeur of the appearance: its length is 210 feet, its breath 41 feet, height to the ceiling 40 feet: it is divided into forty stalls, twenty on each side, with a passage in the centre 24 feet wide; the stalls are squares of eight feet, each fitted with a window, desks, and seats, and two rows of shelves to the height of 26 feet, on which the books are deposited. On each side of the room are twenty-four pilasters in varnished oak of the richest specimen of the Corinthian order, fluted; these support the gallery, which is continued all round the room. Over the entablature is a handsome range of balustrades, divided into equal compartments by continuous pedestals rising from each pilaster; on these

THE FAGEL LIBRARY.

a

311

pedestals plinths are placed, for the purpose of being crowned with white marble busts of the great literary and scientific men, of ancient and modern times. This idea, wherever it may have originated, was a good one, because it is in harmony with the spirit of the place, and in good taste as a matter of architectural and pictorial arrangement, forming a classical and appropriate termination to the upper line of this splendid apartment, which contains above 100,000 printed volumes. The line of busts, however, not being complete, several of the pedestals remaining still unoccupied, the effect we would refer to is of course imperfect, and must be so, until a bust shall occupy each pedestal : there are at present but few vacancies, and these are likely to be occupied at no distant period. At present, there are twenty-five of these stations adorned with the busts of Homer, Socrates, Demosthenes, Cicero, Aristotle, Plato; Drs. Baldwin, Clement, Gilbert, Lawson and Clayton; Shakspeare, Milton, Francis Bacon, Ussher, Locke, Newton, Swift, Boyle, Delany and Parnell. Some of these busts are copies from the best antique, and modern sculptures, others are originals of late dates, but the greater part are the works of Irish sculptors, and do credit to their taste and skill as artists. In niches at each side of the entrance to this room are white marble busts of the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Percy, both of whom were students here, and benefactors to the library; at the east end, in similar niches, are busts of his Majesty King George III., and of the present Duke of Cumberland, who is Chancellor of the University. At this end, also, are large folding doors to correspond with the principal entrance; these open into the large room in the eastern pavilion, in which is arranged

The Fagel Library.-This splendid collection of choice literature formerly belonged to the Pensionary Fagel, of Holland; he had been all his life collecting

a Long since the above MS. was written, this plan has been changed, and pedestals have been placed on the floor of the library, against the pilasters; and to these the marble busts have been transferred from the gallery above, and some others have been added.