:38 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



had been properly maintained, and tlie churcli fabric repaired ; but 

 since the Eebellion, Eoman Catholic masters and wardens were elected, 

 who distributed the revenues among popish priests and the members 

 of the fraternity, and allowed the college to become ruinous. They 

 had been successful in concealing the nature and true value of a large 

 portion of such revenues ; and the plaintiffs sought that the defendants 

 should be compelled to make discovery of the mears and bounds of the 

 gild property, and that its original purposes should be carried into effect. 



On 16th June, 1682, the principal defendants filed their answer, 

 in which they furnished a general history of the gild from about 1620, 

 pleading facts from their own point of view, and totally denying that 

 they or their predecessors were bound to support the clergy and 

 services of S. Audoen's. They affirmed that at the time the Council 

 orders were being executed, the Commissioners carried matters with a 

 very high hand, scourging the tenants by attachments and imj)rison- 

 ment. To show that there was no foundation for the insinuation in 

 the Eill as to the principal officers having been Eoman Catholics, a list 

 of masters and wardens fi'om 1638 was supplied,^ from which it appeared 

 that nearly all elected up to 1681 belonged to the Reformed faith. 

 As to the college, the defendants did not believe that it was, either by 

 the foundation or otherwise, designed for the accommodation of the 

 said six priests, or that they ever belonged to the oeconomy of 

 S. Audoen's church. The remaining defendants also answered, but 

 no decree appears to have been pronounced. 



The Vestry Book of S. Audoen's, under date 24th June, 1684, 

 records a meeting, at which a resolution was passed to the effect that the 

 cause between the Prebendary of S. Audoen's and the gild of S. Anne 

 should be left to the arbitration of his grace the lord Chancellor.^ 

 Prom a pamphlet on the case of the gild, among some papers in 

 the Gilbert collection in the City Hall, it would appear that the officers 

 of the fraternity so constantly and successfully evaded this reference 

 to the archbishop, that in the end the matter fell through. ) 



The last mention of St. Anne's gild that has come under my notice i 

 is a judgment^ on an inquisition of the Wide Streets Commissioners, j 

 Dublin, in 1824, as to the value of certain premises and the sums to j 

 be paid for interests in them. Under it the wardens, brethren, and I 

 sisters of the gild were declared entitled to £30, for the fee and 

 inheritance of K'os. 3 and 4 S. Audoen's arch. j 



1 Appendix II. 3 Patent Eoll, 6 Geo. IV. 



- Michael Boyle, archbishop of Armagh, formerly archbishop of Dublin. 



I 



