The old building of Marsh's Library has been associated with a rumour of ghost story, which has been connected with the founder of the library – Archbishop Narcissus Marsh – as it follows:
‘A brilliant scholar, Archbishop Narcissus Marsh was eccentric and obstinate. He did not believe in marriage and remained a bachelor all his life. His niece acted as housekeeper in his comfortable home beside the newly-built library.
The niece, Grace Marsh, met a young minister who, though poor, was hand-some and charming. She fell deeply in love with him but dared not let her uncle know about the affair. The lovers did not get the chance to meet very often because the Archbishop always seemed to be around. So they kept in touch with each other through written messages.
Whenever they wanted to send a message they just scribbled it on a piece of paper and placed the note carefully between the pages of a book, known to them both, but seldom sought by users of the library.
In October of 1695, the young minister and the Archbishop’s niece decided to elope to England. Eleven o’clock on one early October Eve the date… for the elopement was fixed, and in the meantime the lovers continued to correspond with each other through their secret “post office.”
All during that fateful week the Archbishop’s niece was particularly anxious that her uncle should not discover their plans. She felt that he suspected something. He seemed to frequent the library more often than usual.
On the morning of the elopement, snow fell heavily in Dublin. In an inner bay of the library the Archbishop’s niece sat reading a note from her lover, which gave final instructions for the elopement that night.
On her way out, however, the note fell from her pocket. It was found next morning by a shocked and angry Archbishop. It was too late. The previous night, two figures had met at the entrance to Marsh’s library in Dublin, not a stone’s throw from busy Patrick’s Close. There was a hurried conversation, then the figures moved together.
For days after the elopement, the Archbishop was like a man in a dream. Shock was gradually replaced by loneliness, then by bitterness. It is said that he never forgave his niece for what she had done. In the months that followed his health went from bad to worse until, some years later, he died at the age of 75. It was said that he had died of a broken heart.
Now, while Dublin sleeps, the ghost of the Archbishop is said to wander through the library, searching the shelves for the secret love messages of his niece.
The Archbishop’s remains rest in a vault in St. Patrick’s Cathedral churchyard. A short distance away stands the library. How the Archbishop’s niece, Grace, and the young minister fared has not been recorded but Grace lived to be 85 years old and it is nice to know that she was, after her death, buried in the same tomb with her uncle the Archbishop’ (www.guideirelandtravel.com).
Though the story above has a convincing tone of telling, it would be appropriate to remind readers of following few points; (1) as it has been already mentioned, Marsh’s Library was built in 1701, therefore, 1695 is too early for setting this story to take place. (2) Similarly, contrary to the description of the Archbishop’s later life in grief, as it is already mentioned earlier, Narcissus Marsh continued to work as the Archbishop of Armagh, after the establishment of the library, and ‘served (there) until his death at 74 ten years later’ (http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5859253) in 1713, which was 18 years later since the elopement in question. Finally, it would be illustrative to add some extra information regarding to the elopement of his niece Grace from another source, as it follows:
‘While Marsh was Archbishop of Dublin and living as an old bachelor in the Palace of St. Sepulchre he arranged for his niece, young Grace Marsh, to look after the housekeeping for him. Grace was only nineteen and probably found the Archbishop’s life style and strict discipline rather depressing. On the 10th September 1695 this rather sad entry appears in his Diary. “This evening betwixt 8 and 9 of the clock at night my niece Grace Marsh (not having the fear of God before her eyes) stole privately out of my house at St. Sepulchre’s and (as is reported) was that night married to Chas. Proby vicar of Castleknock in a Tavern and was bedded there with him – Lord consider my affliction”’ (http://www.marshlibrary.ie/about/narcissus-marsh/).
In addition, if Grace was nineteen years old at the time of her elopement, the year of her death could be roughly calculated to 1761, though both sources chose not to mention it but coincidentally began their closing lines with the same sentence: ‘it is nice to know…’
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| Marsh's Library (inside) |
For reading the text in full: http://wrex2009.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/marshs-library/
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