affairs in the College, and this explanation is confirmea by the fact, that Archbishop Ussher recommended others. When the Senior Fellows elected the learned Joseph Mede, they stated that he was one of the persons named by Archbishop Ussher. The Junior Fellows elected Dr. Robert Ussher, son to Primate Henry Ussher, and formerly a Fellow, and he was actually sworn in Provost. However, the Senior Fellows persevered in their election, and sent over a deputation to Cambridge, requesting Mede to accept the office; but this he declined, assigning as his reasons "the great difference accompanying their election and the inconveniences that he saw must follow thereupon." Upon the refusal of Mr. Mede, the Senior Fellows elected Mr. Bedell. Although the right of election was at that time vested in the Fellows, yet it appears that the King, the Chancellor, and Vice-Chancellor, had but little regard to the chartered rights of the Fellows", or considered that they had only a right of election after a nomination, which is a mere nullity. The entry in the College Registry is as follows: "May 30. Mr. William Bedell a batchelor of Theology of Emanuel College in Cambridge was promoted to the place by the King's Majesty's mandat: our most Reverend Chancellors letters of recommendation, our Vice-Chancellor the Lord Primate of Ireland, Dr. James Ussher, approving of him; was admitted and chosen by the unanimous consent of the Fellowes the xvith of August." Bedell's reluctance to accept the Provostship was overcome by the advice of the Primate, and he set out for Dublin. His diary is still preserved in the first Registry book of Trinity College, and in it is described his arrival in Dublin, and his setting out the next day on horseback to visit the Primate at Termonfechen, near Drogheda, where most of the Fellows were assembled to meet him. The first act of the Primate to the This practice of interference continued also in the election of Bedell's successor. Nor was the interference confined to the Provostship. There is an official letter, in 1634, recommending, or commanding, the College to return Sir James Ware and James Donnellan as burgesses; and the mandates to appoint Fellows, contrary to the provisions of the Statutes, are numerous. new Provost, was placing under his care a lately converted Roman Catholic priest, Mr. O Fary". These public and embarrassing duties did not divert the Primate's attention from the interests of literature, or from augmenting his library with manuscripts as well as printed works. To the MSS. in the East he looked particularly for assistance in his Biblical researches, and he found an able agent in Mr. Davies, who was settled at Aleppo, as chaplain to the English merchants residing there. Among the treasures procured by Mr. Davies were several copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Syriac version of the Old Testament. The Archbishop says, in a letter to Capellus : "Samaritanam Pentateuchi editionem vel primus vel certe inter primos nostris temporibus in occidentem ipse intuli." With indefatigable diligence he collated the various readings of the Hebrew and Samaritan copies, and would have published them, had he not found it impossible to find a bookseller who would undertake the work. However, at the request of Selden, he transcribed, for his Marmora Arundeliana, those parts of the fifth and eleventh chapters of Genesis which contain the genealogies of the Patriarchs, and accompanied the copy with a very learned letter, in which he examines the Samaritan chronology, as published by Scaliger, and comments upon the remarks of Julius Africanus, Eusebius Cæsariensis, and Georgius Syncellus. Selden, in his preface, acknowledges his obligations to the Primate in very strong terms: "Codicem vero, qui hæc nobis suppeditavit Samaritanum magnis impensis ante quadriennium aut circiter ex oriente sibi comparavit reverendissimus antistes, Jacobus Usserius, archiepiscopus Armachanus, vir summa pietate, judicio singulari, usque ad miraculum doctus et literis severioribus promovendis natus. Mecum exemplar quod vetustius est et charactere Samaritano, scilicet vetus ▾ In Bedell's Registry is the following entry: “Mr. O Fary desired a chamber, and had liberty to keep in yt wch belongs to the Provost at ye staire foot." w See Letter 295, vol. xvi. pag. 219. It is probable that the first copy was introduced into Europe by Pietro della Valle. * Letter 127, vol. xv. pag. 380. Selden, op. tom. ii. pag. 1445. tissimo et Ebræis in usu ante Esdræ tempora, descriptum, pro humanitate sua, cui plurimum me debere semper agnosco, in Anglia circa id tempus communicavit. In Hiberniam secum postmodum transvexit, priusquam iis quæ volui inde exscribere adversaria mea ditassem. Literis igitur nuper rogatus, eas capitum v. et. xi. Geneseos partes quæ patriarcharum tempora designant, ex eodem ad me ex Hibernia transmisit exscriptas, seu potius accuratissime depictas. Nam ut ipsissimi characterum apices ubique repræsentarentur curavit, quod charta oleo perlita, quæ facilem exscribenti operam efficeret, præstitum est." The copy from which these extracts were given, was presented by the Archbishop to the library of Sir Robert Cotton, with the following inscription: "Pentateuchum Samaritanum a decem tribuum reliquiis, post regni Israelitici excidium, primo acceptum, a Dositheo Samaritarum pseudo-propheta, temporibus Apostolorum postea interpolatum, ab Ecclesiasticis scriptoribus Eusebio, Diodoro, Hieronymo, Cyrillo, Procopio, Anespero, Georgio Chronographo identidem citatum, atque a Cuthæis hodiernis demum redemptum, Bibliothecæ Cottonianæ, quæ amicissimi Domini summa humanitate semper mihi patuit, "L. M. D. "JACOBUS USSERIUS "Armachanus, Hiberniæ Primas." There is also the following memorandum in the Archbishop's handwriting: "Ex librarii notatione ad calcem Geneseos colligimus exemplar hoc sexcentis siclis argenteis (h. e. libris Anglicanis 75) emptum fuisse mense Rabi anni 792. regni Ismaelis, circa Martium viz. mensem anni æræ Christianæ 1390. "JACOBUS ARMACHANUS." Two other copies were presented by the Archbishop, one to Archbishop Laud, and the other to Ludovicus de Dieu. On the copy presented to Archbishop Laud, and now deposited in the Bodleian Library, is written: "Pentateuchum hoc Samaritanum, in principio et fine mutilatum, antiquissimis Phoenicum literis descriptum, ab Ecclesiasticis scriptoribus Eusebio, Diodoro. Tarsensi, Hieronymo, Cyrillo, Procopio, Gazao, Georgio Syncello et aliis sæpius est citatum, a Cuthæis vero. hodiernis una cum aliis aliquot eorum monumentis redemit "JACOBUS USSERIUS Armachanus 66 Hiberniæ Primas." Underneath Archbishop Laud has written: "Qui librum hunc mihi dono dedit. "W. CANT." In the end of the book is the following memorandum : "Folia postrema hæc sex jussu reverendissimi præsulis Gulielmi Laud Archiepiscopi Cantuarensis descripta sunt ex vetusto, eoque integro, Bibliotheca Cottonianæ exemplari: quod anno Ismaelitarum, sive Hegira Mahommedanæ DCLXIV. id est, salutis reparatæ, A. MCCCLXII. junctis operis in Oriente exararunt Ithamar ben Aharon atque Abraham ben Abi Nitzaion, nomine seu auspiciis Semoki Tobi Isaak, ben Semoki Selomoh, ben Jacob, ex familia Isburiana, summo in agro Damasceno principatu insigni: sic Abraham ille ad Numerorum calcem in memorato exemplari subnotavit." De Dieu uses the strongest language to express his sense of the favour conferred upon him. He speaks of a Syrian manuscript given him "ab ornatissimo, doctissimo, et æterna memoria digno Præsule, Jacobo Usserio Archiepiscopo Armachano, qui et ante biennium me Pentateucho Samaritano beaverat." In two letters, written to De Dieu, the Archbishop gives an account of the different manuscripts which he had obtained from the East, and he subsequently lent them to Bishop Walton, for the edition of the Polyglott Bible which he was preparing. The Archbishop Ludov. de Dieu, Comment. in quatuor Evangelia, Præf. at this time was meditating an edition of the Syriac version of the Old Testament, and sent a person into Holland for the purpose of purchasing types fit for the work: no account is given of the cause which induced him to give up so important an undertaking. In the year 1628 commenced the correspondence between the Archbishop and Laud, then Bishop of London, which was kept up without interruption for twelve years, and only terminated by the unfortunate calamities of the country. It is quite evident that Ussher had no suspicion of his illustrious correspondent entertaining any affection for the doctrines of Popery, and his exertions to make him Chancellor of the University of Dublin prove incontestably that he regarded him as the fittest person to support the Protestant University, and with it the cause of Protestantism in Ireland. On the other hand, the terms in which Archbishop Laud speaks of Ussher, afford sufficient evidence that he was not the Puritan which the enemies of our Church represent him to have been, and that if he did not enforce the discipline of the Church, it was not from want of affection for its ordinances, but from the gentleness of his nature, which rendered him unwilling to inflict punishment. The next year commences with an extraordinary demand upon the Archbishop to exert his authority in civil matters, and gives a curious specimen of the state of Ireland at that period. The declaration of the Bishops, of which an account has been given before, and the still more annoying remonstrance of the English House of Commons to the King," that the Popish religion was publicly professed in every part of Ireland: and that monasteries and nunneries were there newly erected and replenished with votaries of both sexes, which would be of evil consequence, unless seasonably repressed," were not sufficient to prevent the success of the Recusants in obtaining favours from the Crown. In despite of public clamour and suspicion, the Irish agents proceeded to London, and made an offer to the In the Diary of Provost Bedell it is recorded, that on the 28th of December in this year, the Primate dined in the College Hall. |