Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam having been doomed to abolition as unnecessary. At his death, in 1839, he left behind him the reputation of great dignity, piety, assiduity, and beneficence. The following is his epitaph in the Cathedral of Tuam:—
ΔΟΞΑ ΕΝ ΥΨΙΣΤΟΙΣ ΘΕΩ.
The Chief Shepherd,
Whom he loved and served, in whom he now sleeps,
Called away from the evil to come
The Hon. and Most Rev. Power Le Poer Trench, D.D.,
Lord Archbishop of Tuam,
On the 26th of March 1839.
A lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate,
Holding fast the faithful word.
With a father’s love
He presided nineteen years over this province,
With unquenchable zeal promoted the spread of true religion,
With uncompromising fidelity opposed error,
With inflexible integrity obeyed the dictates of an enlightened conscience,
With surpassing benevolence relieved want,
With mingled meekness and dignity exercised his apostolic office.
Dearer to him than life itself was the word of the truth of the Gospel,
And tenderly did he sympathize with the whole Church
In all her joys and sorrows.
To him to live was Christ,
To die was gain.
His afflicted clergy, deeply mourning their bereavement, yet sustained by the certainty of his bliss, and encouraged by the brightness of his example, have erected this record of their grateful love.
Besides the old diocese of Tuam, the Archbishop’s actual diocese included the territories of the suppressed sees of Ardagh, Killala, and Achonry. The clergy of Ardagh set up a monumental slab in Longford Church, and also established an exhibition in the University of Dublin, called “The Power-Trench Memorial;” an annual prize in money to be given to the son of an Ardagh clergyman who shall have distinguished himself in the Divinity class, prior to the commencement in each year.
The Archbishop left two sons and six daughters. The younger son, Power, died in 1872, Lieut.-Colonel 2nd Dragoon Guards. The elder son, William, married, in 1830, Lady Louisa Trench, eldest daughter of the second Earl of Clancarty, and died 11th May 1854, leaving two daughters:—
(1.) Harriet Anne, wife of Henry William Meredyth, who died in the lifetime of his father, Sir Henry Meredyth, Bart., leaving two sons.
(2.) Sarah Louisa, wife of James Peddie Steele, B.A., M.D. Edin.
II. Archbishop of Dublin.
The Archbishop Trench of the present day belongs to the Ashtown line. Frederic, the first 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). 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 1st 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, compiled partly from the Fathers of the Christian Church. From his selection of synonyms he omitted the principal words which involve doctrinal controversies; and it was
