his appointed way from his house at Ballinasloe, across the wood of Garbally and intervening bog by the shortest cut he could discover, to the village of Derrywillan, where a few peasants waited to receive his pastoral instruction. The Rev. James Anderson, who frequently attended him on such excursions, says he was the best catechist and lecturer he ever knew. Late in life Archdeacon Trench acquired the power of reading the Scriptures in the Irish language, that he might thus be able to communicate the knowledge of divine truth to those who spoke that tongue, in a manner that would commend itself to their attention, and reach both their hearts and understandings. He carried constantly about him wherever he went, with this view, either the Irish Bible or New Testament. On one occasion, travelling by the mail to Galway, he found himself in company with three Roman Catholic gentlemen going to the assizes. He entertained them at first with general and amusing conversation. His wit soon got them into the most bland and cheerful humour. When their laughter was at the highest he suddenly interrupted them, saying, “I’ll venture to say none of you think I can speak Irish.” Some doubt was expressed. “Wait till you see,” he replied; and pulling out the Irish Bible from his pocket, he read the Irish version of Psalm cxxx. He then asked them if they knew what it was he read. “Yes,” said one of the party, “it is one of the seven penitential psalms; when David fell to the bottom of an old well, he cried out from the depth to God, and as he repeated first one psalm and then another, God raised him up by degrees, and when he finished the seven he found himself safe and sound at the top of the well.” This strange interpretation enabled the archdeacon to remove the ignorance which occasioned it, and, having exposed the fabulous character of the supposed miracle, to comment with propriety on the words — “out of the depths have I cried unto Thee,” &c., and to direct the minds of his friends to the extent of guilt acknowledged by the Psalmist, the nature of the forgiveness he sought, the trust he had in the word of God, his earnest longing for the presence of the Lord, and the plenteous redemption to which the royal prophet invited the attention of Israel.
The Rev. William Le Poer Trench, D.D., Prebendary of Tuam (born in 1801), son of Rear-Admiral the Hon. William Le Poer Trench,[1] was chaplain to his uncle, the Archbishop of Tuam, who gave him the Rectory of Killereran in 1825. Of him Dr Sirr says, “He was the intimate and admired friend of all the clergy, who were wont to meet from month to month at the palace. He was a careful and diligent student of the Scriptures — an active and zealous clergyman — one who entered with constitutional warmth into the prosecution of every good work and labour of love, was known to every diocese in Ireland as the originator and joint-secretary of the Church Education Society.” That Society was founded in 1838; it grew out of the Education Society of the Diocese of Tuam.
The Archbishop Trench of the present day belongs to the Ashtown line. Frederic, the 1st Lord Ashtown, was the eldest of seven brothers; the sixth of these was Richard Trench Esq. (who died 16th April 1860), a barrister, whose wife Melesina, was the heiress of her grandfather, Richard Chenevix, Bishop of Waterford (see my Vol. II., page 272). Richard and Melesina had four sons, of whom the second, Richard Chenevix Trench was born on 9th September 1807. He graduated at Cambridge, and held benefices in England; he is also D.D. Having earned a brilliant reputation as a scholarly, elegant and learned author, possessed of uncommon and varied information, he was rewarded with the Deanery of Westminster. And when the advisers of the Crown were in search of a worthy successor to the erudite and versatile Archbishop Whately, their choice rested upon Dean Trench, who was accordingly consecrated Archbishop of Dublin on the ist of January 1864. In his early manhood, he first attracted attention as a poet, gleaning beautiful thoughts from romantic and oriental sources. He has issued many interesting publications on the English language viewed from every point. As a scholar, his distinction rests chiefly on his work on the Greek Synonyms of the New Testament, and on his Hulsean Lectures. In Biblical Literature, his “Notes on the Parables,” and “Notes on the Miracles” contain a rich apparatus of illustrative materials,
- ↑ The Archbishop’s youngest brother was Colonel the Hon. Sir Robert Le Poer Trench, K.C.B., K.T.S. (born 1782, died 1824).
