Trinity College, Dublin / by W. Macneile Dixon.

  • Dixon, W. Macneile (William Macneile), 1866-1945.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Trinity College, Dublin / by W. Macneile Dixon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    branches of Philosophy.’ He himself spoke frequently* —in the character ‘ of Brutus on the death of Lucretia,’ ‘ of a Roman Senator against Caesar at the time he went to command in Gaul,’ ‘ of Ulysses on his embassy with Menelaus to recover Helen,’ During the early years of its existence subjects appear to have been assigned to each of the members, and a speech or dissertation required. Some of the entries are amusing: ‘ Mr. Ardesoif had not his speech off by heart. His paper on Drunkenness was returned to him to correct, and he was ordered on next Friday to produce one on Love.’ An entry of April 28, 1747, reads: ‘Mr. Burke for an essay on the Genoese was given thanks for the matter, but not for the delivery.’ At first consisting of but few members, the Historical grew in popularity until, at the period of the Irish Parliament, it had 600 names on its roll, a number of whom were also members of the House of Commons. Always famous for the free- dom and vigour of its debates, and possessed in the days of Grattan’s Parliament of considerable political in- fluence, it is hardly surprising that its existence within the College walls became a source of uneasiness to the Board, and that on the two occasions mentioned it was driven into exile. There have been few among the leaders of public * For a full account of the club and its interesting proceedings from its foundation down to recent times, see the Addresses of the Auditors, Robert Walsh (1864) and John Edward Walsh (1901), an article by Mr. John Cooke in Blackwood's Magazine, and Student Life in Trinity College, Dublin, by H. A. Hinkson. Members of the Historical Society have since 1798 enjoyed the honorary membership of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh, founded in 1764, and of the Oxford and Cambridge Unions since 1843—a privilege which has been from the first reciprocal.