Introduction

Abstract

One of the most amusing skits on Irish Protestant dissent of the eighteenth century describes the adventures of a pair of Ulster ship hands who arrive in Dublin on a Saturday evening. After a night spent unpacking a cargo of corn at Aston Quay, these devout northerners decide to find an appropriate place of worship. The ship’s master, familiar with the layout of the ‘Great City’, offers a bewildering set of directions to the nearest Presbyterian meetinghouse, sending the crew on a lengthy trek through the streets of the capital. The journey takes them past an equestrian statue of William III at College Green, a couple of hundred yards away from the Tholsel, or city hall. Near there, the sailors lose each other in a crowd of civic officials waiting to accompany the lord mayor to weekly service in Christ Church Cathedral. The smarter of the travellers, regaining his bearings, soon discovers a ‘New Light’ conventicle on Usher’s Quay, whilst his friend, encouraged by a local, ventures into the cathedral. Taken aback by the sumptuousness of his surroundings, he spends the service sneering at pompous, bewigged clergymen, over- elaborate liturgy, and shrill organ music, a spectacle he dismisses as a profanation of the Lord’s Day.1 KeywordsEighteenth CenturyRoyal HospitalCity CorporationSaturday EveningUrban TerrainThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.