 |
| THE LIBRARY, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. This ancient and renowned institution of learning contains two libraries -the College and the Fagel. The former is one of the most valuable in the world, and contains more than 200,000 volumes. It occupies a vast apace, the whole side of a quadrangle, and its length is 270 feet. The main aisle, with its rows of busts, crowded shelves and lofty ceiling, is shown in the sketch. In this repository of knowledge some of the most eminent Irishmen of the last three centuries have found inspiration for their great works in law, physics and literature. Goldsmith, Burke, Robert Emmet, Wolfe -Tone, Thomas Davis, and many others celebrated in different walks of life, spent many delightful hours in this stately retreat of the learned. James Clarence Mangan, the Edgar Allan Poe of Ireland, was a constant visitor during his brilliant but troubled career, particularly to the Manuscnpt Room, for the rarity and variety of its collection. The Fagel Library, which contains about 18,000 volumes, belonged to the family of that name in Holland was purchased for Trinity about the end of the last century, its original owners having removed it to England because of the French invasion in 1794. |
 |  |