The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-09 00:00:00

THE NEW ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.

The Very Rev. R. Chenevix Trench, D.D., Dean of
Westminster and of the Order of the Bath, has definitively
accepted the Archbishopric of Dublin, with the Chancellor-
ship of the Order of St. Patrick, tendered to him by Lord
Palmerston. Although an Englishman by education and
settlement, Dr. Trench is an Irishman by birth and extrac-
tion, and his appointment is likely to meet with general
favour across the Channel.

This eminent poet, scholar, and divine was born on Sept.
9, 1807, so that he is in his 57th year. He is the second son
of Ur. Richard Trench, of Botley, Hants, barrister-at-law,
by Melesina Chenevix, relict of Col, St. George, and daugh-
ter of the Rev, Philip Chenevix (son and heir of Richard
Chenevix, Archbishop of Waterford, 1741-9), a lady whose
interesting journal, edited by her son, the Dean of West-
minster, was published a year or more ago, and was one of
the most valuable books of the season. The family is a Gal-
way one. Frederic Trench settled in that county 150 years
ago, and his descendant, Frederic of Woodlawn, M.P. for
Portarlington, created Lord Ashton in 1800, was Mr.
Richard Trench's elder brother. The present Lord Ashtown
is first cousin as well as brother-in-law to the new arch-
bishop, who is connected with the Whites of Woodlands,
Lord Bloomfield, Lord Drogheda, and other Irish families,
besides having considerable landed property in Ireland him-
sel', bequeathed to him by his father.

Dean Trench was educated at Harrow School and Trinity
College, Cambridge, graduating in 1829. After being for a
short time incumbent of Curdridge, Hants, he became curate
to the present Bishop of Oxford at Alverstoke, in the same
county, in 1841, from which period may be dated his literary
reputation and professional advancement. The bishop and
his quondam curate have always been on terms of the great-
est intimacy, and no one can have heard the latter preach
without recognising the manner of the master. When the
Bishop of Oxford became Dean of Westminster, Lord
Ashburton presented Mr. Trench to the rectory of ltchin-
Stoke, near Winchester. In this position, outside his parish,
which is a model of neatness and beauty, moral as well as
natural, there was little for Mr. Trench's activity to work
upon, for the theological atmosphere of Winchester was not
to his taste, and he took very little pains to conceal the fact.
In 1845-6, ho was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge, and in
1847 he accepted the divinity professorship in King's Col-
lege, London, an office which at once brou;ht him into the
best London society, as he had by that time become widely
known as a poet and a writer. In 1855-6 it was supposed
that ha would have had the Bishopric of Gloucester, but
some hitch occurred, and, by way of compensation, the
Deanery of Westminster was conferred upon him. Here he
has been chiefly known for his establishment of the Sunday
evening services, and for his readiness to preach and lecture
anywhere in London for good objects. His management of
Westminster School has not been successful, but his heart
was in his study, and he left the business of the abbey and
its estates to Lord John T hynne and Dr. Cureton. It must
be said, however, that Dr. Trench, who advocated the re-
moval of the school into the country, and the abolition of
the time-honoured play, had the manliness and candour to
bow to the expressed wish of the old Westminsters' com-
mittee, and to announce his intention of doing his best for
the improvement of the school, while retaining its time-
honoured customs.

It need not be said that Dean Trench is known as an au-
thor wherever the English language is spoken. As a poet
his " Sabbation,"
," Honor Neale," and especially his
" Justin Martyr" and " Genoveva" have long ago entitled
him to a similar rank among poets to that occupied by his
friend Lord Houghton. As a divine, his "Notes on the
Parables," '" on the Miracles," "on the Sermon on the
Mount," &c., have passed through several editions, and are
standard theological works among the clergy and candidates
for ordination. Al a philologist his " Study of Words" is,
perhaps, his most popular book; but literary men know
that he is one of the projectors of the new English dic-
tionary—the design of which he introduced to the world with
his essay " On the deficiencies of our English Dictionaries."
In his views the new archbishop is High Church—as the
Bishop of Oxford is High Church, with large sympathies
for all sections within the Church, and without the slightest
particle of intolerance or fanacticism in his composition. If
he is equally on good terms with the Bishop of Oxford, Mr.
Maurice, Mr. Thackeray, and Lord Houghton, it may be
safely said that he will never be liable to the charge of
illiberality. He is likely to be an ornament to his native
country, and the mainstay of her Church in days which
may be critical.
Dean Trench married, in 1832, the Hon. Frances Mary,
sister of the present Lord Ashtown, and daughter of Mr.
Frederic Trench, brother of the first peer, by whom he has
had a very large family.