de Bouillon. Charles, his only child, was renowned for his publication, “Consolations de l’ame fidelle contre les terreurs de la mort;” but he was the author of forty other works, some of them displaying solid learning, which occasioned the anagram[1] on his name:—
Charles Drelincovrt — Cher Tresor De Calvin.
He was born at Sedan, the 10th July 1595, and died at Paris, the 3rd November 1669. He had sixteen children, of whom five sons and one daughter survived him. The fifth surviving son was Pierre, who came to England in order to study for the Established Church. The very reverend and learned Dean of Armagh (William Reeves, D.D., LL.D.), now Bishop of Down and Connor, furnished me, with his usual kindness and courtesy, with the following chronological memoir:—
Peter Drelincourt, sixth son of Charles Drelincourt, born in Paris, July 22, 1644. Came to Ireland as chaplain to the Duke of Ormond. His employment by the Duke may have been due to the services of his brother, Charles, the physician to King William III.
1681. Spring commencement — graduated M.A. in the University of Dublin.
1681. August 18. Appointed Precentor of Christ-Church Cathedral, Dublin, which office he held till death.
1683. October 17 Presented by the Crown to the Rectories of Powerstown and of Shankhill, in the diocese of Leighlin.
1683. Oct. 31. Collated Archdeacon of Leighlin, and instituted Nov. 11. Resigned this preferment in Feb. 1691, on his appointment to the Deanery of Armagh.
1690-1. Dean of Armagh by patent dated Feb. 18, and installed March 14; at which time he also became rector of Armagh.
1691. Spring commencement. He graduated LL.D. in the University of Dublin.
He published a pamphlet with the following title:— “A Speech made to his Grace the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and to the Lords of his Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council. To return the humble thanks of the French Protestants lately arriv’d in this kingdom and graciously reliev’d by them. By P. Drelincourt, Domestic Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Ormond, and Chantor of Christ-Church. Published by Special Command. 4to. Dublin 1682, pp. 8.”
Inscription on the mural tablet over his monument in Armagh Cathedral against North Wall of the Nave:—
En tibi, Lector,
effigies Petri Drelincourtii, LLD.
e Drelincurtiorum gente Parisiense
liberali et eruditâ,
in qua pater claruit Carolus
cui, quod Fides Reformata latius effulgeat
debent populares
quod mortem non extimescant.
Christiani universi
hunc habent studiorum pariter et morum exemplar.
Patriam reliquit adolescens
Fcclesiae Anglicanae desiderio,
non suae infortunio;
habuitque Angliam
non Asylum sed Patriam,
ubi visus est Jacobo Ormondiaa Ducis, dignus
qui sibi esset a sacris domesticis,
nepoti Oxoniae literis operam danti,
tam studiorum quam consiliorum moderatori;
quibus muneribus fideliter functus
ad hujus ecclesiaa; decanatum
ultra votum et ambitum evectus est.
Hoc marmor mortuo dicavit Uxor
pietate superflâ,
cui nempe hoec ecclesia quam decenter ornata
et tantum non extructa!
cui ecclesia Sancti Dulaci[2] non tantum extructa
sed et sacrâ supellectili pretiosâ instructa,
etiam Pastore redornata!
cui Hospitium puerorum inopum apud Dublinienses
- ↑ The anagram would be literally (if not verbally) accurate thus:— L’Cher Tresor D’Calvin.
- ↑ The small parish of St. Dulough’s in the County of Dublin is an appendant on and in the gift of the precentor of Christ Church Cathedral, to which, I presume, Dr. Drelincourt presented himself in virtue of his Precentorship. — W.R.
