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Ireland. ficies. The largest of these morasses is the bog of Allen, which stretches in a vast plain across the center of the island, or over a large portion of Kildare, Carlow, King's and Queen's counties-having a summit elevation of 280 feet. Extensive tracts of deep wet bog also occur in Longford, Roscommon, and other counties, and give a peculiarly dreary and desolate aspect to the scenery. Notwithstanding the quantity of water in these bogs, they exhale no miasma injurious to health, owing to the large quantity of tannin which they contain.

Hydrography.-The principal river of Ireland, and the largest in the United Kingdom, is the Shannon (q.v.). The streams which drain the eastern part of the central plain are the Liffey and the Boyne; the south-eastern part, the Suir, the Barrow, and the Nore; while the waters of the north-eastern part are collected into Lough Neagh. chiefly by the Blackwater, and thence discharged into the sea by the lower Baun. The rivers external to the great central plain are necessarily short. The principal are the Erne, flowing to the n.w.; the Foyle and the Bann, to the n.; the Lagan, to the n.c.; the Slaney, to the s.e.; and the Bandon, Lee, and Blackwater, flowing in an easterly course through the co. of Cork, the most southern co, in the island. None of these rivers are naturally of importance to navigation. The Shannon, however, has been made navigable to its source by means of locks and lateral cuts; the Barrow, by similar means, to Athy; the Foyle, by canal to Strabane; and several of the others have been artificially united by such lines as the Lagan, Newry, Ulster, Royal, Grand, Athy, and other canals-which now intersect a considerable portion of the island.

The lakes of Ireland (called loughs) are, as might be expected from the surfacecharacter of the country, both numerous and extensive in proportion to the size of the island. The largest is lough Neagh in Ulster, covering an area of 100,000 acres. The other loughs of consequence are loughs Erne and Derg, also in Ulster; Conn, Mask. and Corrib, in Connaught; the Allen, Ree, and Derg, which are expansions of the river Shannon, and the lakes of Killarney (q.v.) in Kerry.-The bays and salt-water loughs which indent the island are also numerous and of considerable importance. About 70 are suitable for the ordinary purposes of commerce; and there are 14 in which the largest men-of-war may ride in safety. The principal are loughs Foyle and Swilly, on the n. coast; the bays of Donegal, Sligo, Clew, and Galway, the estuary of the Shannon, Dingle bay, and Bantry bay, on the w.; the harbors of Cork and Waterford, on the s.; Wexford harbor, the bays of Dublin, Drogheda, and Dundalk, and loughs Carlingford, Strangford, and Belfast, on the east.-The islands are, generally speaking, small and of little importance. On the e. coast the largest is Lambay, about 2 m. off the coast of Dublin; on the s. and s.e. coasts are Clear island, the Saltees, a dangerous group of islets, about 8 m. s. of the Wexford coast, indicated by a floating light, and Tuscar rock, about 8 m. e. of Carnsore point, also a dangerous ledge, rising 20 ft. above the sea, and surmounted by a light-house after the model of the Eddystone; on the w. coast, the Skelligs, Valentia, the Blaskets, the South Arran isles, Innisbofin, Innisturk, and Clare, Achil or "Eagle" island, and the Inniskca islets; on the n. coast, the North Arran isles, the Tory isles, and Rathlin.

Geology. A great series of grits and slates of Cambrian age occur in the s.e. of Ircland; the upper portion contains a few fossils of zoophytes and worms. Lower silurian strata rest unconformably on the Cambrian rocks in the same district. They consist of flags, slates, and grits many thousand feet in thickness, extending over large portions of Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford, and Waterford. Several detached patches occur to the w, of this district, forming the Keeper, Arra, and Inchiquin mountains. A tract of similar beds stretches from the center of Laeland, near the source of the Shannon, to the coast of Down. The strata in proximity to the Wicklow and Dublin granites are converted into gneiss and mica-slate. This is the condition of all the beds in the n.w., in Donegal, Tyrone, and Mayo; they appear to be a continuation of the highly altered strata of the n. of Scotland. Detached portions of upper silurian measures occur on the western. side of the island, in Kerry, Galway, and Mayo.

Between the silurian and old red sandstone is an enormous thickness (11,000 ft.) of sandstone grit and shale in Kerry and Cork. These strata are almost wholly unfossiliferous.

O'd red sandstone strata, consisting of red and yellow sandstone and slate, cover a large tract of the s. of Ireland, stretching almost continuously from the extreme w. of Cork and Kerry into Waterford and Kilkenny, being stopped by the silurian rocks of Wexford and Carlow. Along the bases of the silurian mountains of the s. center of Ireland, and in the southern portion of the county of Cork, occurs a great thickness of sandstones, which have hitherto yielded no fossils; some geologists refer these to the old red series, others hold them to be lower carboniferous.

The carboniferous limestone is extensively developed in Ireland, occupying the whole of the center of the country, except in those places already alluded to, where the older rocks appear on the surface. This great tract is an extensive plain covered with drift, and with peat-moss and fresh-water marl, in which are found the remains of megaceros hibernicus and bos longifrons. In Kerry, Cork, and Waterford the strata are very much contorted, the coal-seams are changed into anthracite, and so squeezed and crushed as to be got only in small dice-like fragments. Further n. the strata are nearly horizontal,

U. K. VIII.-9

but the coal-fields are limited, and the scams are generally of inconsiderable thickness. They occur chiefly in Tipperary, Kilkenny, Tyrone, and Antrim.

Small deposits of Permian strata are found at Ardtrea in Tyrone, and at Cultra near Belfast; the sandstones of Roan hill near Dungannon are probably of the same age. The red and variegated marls containing beds of gypsum and rock-salt, which exist on the coast n. from Belfast, are probably triassic. Resting on these marls are a few thin beds of lias. Cretaceous strata occur in Antrim and Derry.

Climate. Though the climate of Irelana bears, as might have been expected, a strong resemblance to that of Great Britain (q.v.), it has yet a.character peculiar to itself, owing to the marked difference in the configuration of its surface, its greater distance from the continent of Europe, and its being, as it were, more completely bathed in the warm waters of the gulf-stream. The mean annual temperature of the central parts of the country is about 50°.0, rising in the s. to 51°.5, and falling in the n. to 48.5. There are thus 3.0 of difference between the extreme n. and s., and it may be noted that, speaking generally, this difference is constant through all the seasons of the year. The mean temperature in winter is 41°.5;.iu spring, 47°.0; in summer, 60°.0; and in autumn, 51°.0.

The annual rainfall averages from 25 to 28 in., except in the neighborhood of hills, where the precipitation is considerably augmented; thus, at Valentia, in Kerry, the rainfall of 1861 amounted to 73 in., and doubtless this large fall was greatly exceeded in those parts which are situated among the higher hills. The rainfall in winter, particu larly in the w., is greatly in excess of the other seasons, owing to the low temperature of the surface of the ground during winter, which suddenly chills the warm and moist s.w. winds that prevail, especially at this time of the year, and condenses their vapor into rain. Since in Great Britain the chief mountain ranges are in the w., it follows that over the whole eastern slope of the island the climate is dryer, the amount and frequency of the rainfall much less, and the sunshine more brilliant than in the west. In Ireland, on the other hand, the hills in the w. do not oppose such a continuous barrier to the onward progress of the s. w. winds, but are more broken up and distributed in isolated groups. It follows that the sky is more clouded, and rain falls more frequently in Ireland, and the climate is thus rendered more genial and fostering to vegetation; hence the appropriateness of the name “Emerald Isle." Again, owing to its greater distance from the continent, the parching and noxious e. winds of spring are less severely felt in Ireland, because the n.e. winds have acquired more warmth and moisture in their progress. It is on this account that the most salubrious spring climates possessed by England, Scotland, and Ireland are situated in the s. w of their respective countries. Thus, Queenstown, in the s. w. of Ireland, enjoys an average spring temperature as high as 50°.0, which is about the highest in the British islands, and nearly 3.0 higher than the e. of Kent, which is nearly in the same latitude.

Since wheat ripens in these latitudes with a mean summer temperature of 56°.0, it follows that the climate of Ireland is quite sufficient for the successful cultivation of the finer sorts of grain, which are subjected to much less risk in backward seasons than is the case in north Britain, where the summer temperature is only a degree and a half from the extreme limit of wheat-cultivation. Also, considering its remarkably open winters, which lengthen out the period of grazing, its mild and genial climate through all the seasons, and its comparative freedom from droughts, it will be seen that its climate is equally well adapted for the rearing of cattle. These considerations, combined with the fertility of the soil, open up for Ireland, as far as the physical conditions are concerned, a prospect of great national prosperity, based on most remarkable, though as yet only partially developed agricultural resources.

Soil and Vegetation.-Until the middle of last century Ireland was almost exclusively a pasturing country, and in 1727 an attempt was made (unsuccessfully, however) to pass an act compelling land-holders to "till five acres out of every hundred in their possession, and to release tenants to the same extent from the penal covenants in their leases against tillage.' The result of this state of things is the wretchedly poor system of agriculture, from which Ireland still suffers largely. The natural fertility of the country is nevertheless great.

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The extent under each of the principal crops in 1871, 1873, and 1875 is given in the following table:

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Live-stock-According to the census of 1851, the estimated value was £27,737,393; for 1861, £33,434,385; and for 1871, £37,515,211. mated value was £52,343,697.

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of the live-stock

In 1875 the esti

Fisheries. In her fisheries, Ireland is supposed to possess an almost inexhaustible mine of wealth, but, strange to say, they are much neglected. The surrounding seas abound with cod, ling, hake, herrings, pilchards, etc., and yet the Irish markets are extensively supplied with cured fish from Scotland and the Isle of Man. The number of vessels and boats engaged in the sea-fisheries in 1846 was 20,000, employing 100,000 men and boys; but in 1876 it had decreased to 5,965, employing only 23;693 persons. The salmon fisheries are improving annually, and in 1877 employed 11,582 men. Their estimated value is over £400,000 a year. Manufactures.-According to McCulloch, "Ireland is not. and never has been, a manufacturing country. Its unsettled turbulent state, and the general dependence of the population on land, have hitherto formed insuperable obstacles to the formation of great manufacturing establishments in most parts of the country; whilst the want of coal, capital, and skillful workmen, and the great ascendancy of England and Scotland in all departments of manufacture, will, there is reason to think, hinder Ireland from ever attaining eminence in this department." Linen is the staple manufacture, of which Belfast and the surrounding districts of Ulster are the chief seats. The export of linen manufactures from Ireland to Great Britain was, in 1864, £10,327,000. The manufac ture of woolen stuffs is limited to a few localities, as Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Queen's co., and Kilkenny. Silk and cotton manufactures are also carried on, but only to a comparatively inconsiderable extent. In 1875 the number of factories (cotton, woolen, worsted, flax, jute, and silk) in Ireland amounted to 235, employing 1,087,968 spindles, 21,056 power-looms, and 67,744 persons of both sexes; of these. 149 were flax factories. employing 925,562 spindles, 17,827 power-looms, and 60,316 persons. A great source of employment for females has of late years sprung up in the n. of Ireland, in the working of patterns on muslin with the needle. Belfast is the center of this manufacture, which employs about 300,000 persons, chiefly females, scattered through all the counties of Ulster; and some localities of the other provinces. About 40 firms are engaged in the trade, and the gross value of the manufactured goods amounts to about £1,400,000. Silk manufactures, since their introduction by French emigrants in the beginning of the last century, have been almost entirely confined to Dublin; but poplin is now extensively manufactured there, and in a few other towns.

Commerce and Shipping.-The exportation of the agricultural produce of the country has always been the chief commercial business carried on in Ireland. By far the greater part of this trade is carried on with Great Britain. It cannot, however, be traced later than 1825, when the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland was assimilated by law to the coasting-traffic carried on between the different ports of England, except in the single article of grain.

The number of sailing and steam vessels, with their tonnage, registered in the ports of Ireland, in 1871, was 1776 vessels, tonnage 218,162; in 1875, 1703 vessels, tonnage 218.343.

Government. The government of Ireland, since the union in 1801, is identical with that of Great Britain. It is represented in the imperial parliament by 28 members of the house of lords, and 103 of the house of commons. The executive government is invested in a lord-lieutenant, assisted by a privy council and chief secretary; and the law is administered by a lord chancellor, a master of the rolls, and twelve judges of the supreme court of judicature, which has two divisions-the high court of justice, with several subdivisions, and the court of appeal. County and municipal matters are conducted nearly as in England, with the exception of an armed national constabulary or police force of about 12,000 men, with 348 horses.

Religion.-A vast majority of the inhabitants of Ireland are Roman Catholics; but the Episcopal church, a branch of the Church of England, was the established church till Jan., 1871. It now exists independently as the Church of Ireland. In 1871 the number of Roman Catholics was 4,150,877; of Protestants, 1,260,568; and of Jews, 258. Education.-Ireland possesses several universities: Dublin university (q.v.) was founded by queen Elizabeth in 1591; the queen's colleges of Belfast, Cork, and Galway. opened in 1849, are united in one university. The Roman Catholic university was

Ireland.

founded in 1854; and Maynooth college (q.v.) in 1795, for the education of Roman Catholic priests. There are also several Irish colleges and medical schools in connection with the London university. The primary schools of Ireland are mostly under the management of the commissioners of national education." This system, established in 1833, proceeds on the principle that the schools shall be open alike to Christians of every denomination; that no pupil shall be required to attend any religious exercise, or receive any religious instruction which his parents may not approve; and that sufficient opportunity shall be afforded to pupils of each religious persuasion to receive separately such religious instruction as their parents or guardians may think fit." The following table exhibits the progress of the system:

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In 1875 there were 7,267 national schools, with a total of 1,011,799 pupils; of whom 798,024 were Roman Catholic; 111,132 Presbyterian; and 89,907 Episcopalian children. The parliamentary grant in the same year was £639,368. Besides the national schools, the church education society" had, in 1870, 52, 166 scholars, of whom 44,663 belonged to the established church.

History. According to ancient native legends, Ireland was in remote times peopled by tribes styled Firbolgs and Dannuns, eventually subdued by Milesians or Gaels, who acquired supremacy in the island. The primitive inhabitants of Ireland are now believed to have been of the same Indo-European race with the original population of Britain. Although Ireland, styled Iernis, is mentioned in a Greek poem five centuries before Christ, and by the names of Hibernia and Juverna in various foreign pagan writers, little is known with certainty of her inhabitants before the 4th c. after Christ, when, under the appellation of Scoti, or inhabitants of Scotia, they became formidable by their descents upon the Roman province of Britain. These expeditions were continued and extended to the coasts of Gaul till the time of Laogaire MacNeill, monarch of Ireland (430 A.D.), in whose reign St. Patrick (q.v.) attempted the conversion of the natives. Although Christianity had been previously introduced in some parts of the island, Patrick encountered great obstacles, and the new faith was not fully established i Ireland till about a century after his decease.

From the earliest period each province of Ireland appears to have had its own king, subject to the ard-righ or monarch, to whom the central district called Meath was allotted, and who usually resided at Tara. Each clan was governed by a chief selected from its most important family, and who was required to be of mature age, capable of taking the field efficiently when occasion required. The laws were peculiar in their nature, dispensed by professional jurists styled brehons, who, as well as the poets and men of learning, received high consideration, and were endowed with lands and important privileges. Cromlechs, or stone tombs and structures, composed of large uncemented stones, ascribed to the pagan Irish, still exist in various parts of Ireland. Lacustrine habitations, or stocka led islands, styled crannógs or crannoges (q. v.), in inland lakes, also appear to have been in use there from early ages. Of articles of metal, stone, clay, and other materials in use among the ancient Irish, a large collection has been formed in the museum of the royal Irish academy at Dublin. It is remarkable that a greater number and variety of antique golden articles of remote age have been found in Ireland than in any other part of northern Europe; and the majority of the gold antiquities illustrative of British history, now preserved in the British muscum, are Irish.

In the 6th c. extensive monasteries were founded in Ireland, in which religion and learning were zealously cultivated. From these establishments numerous missionaries issued during the succeeding centuries, carrying the doctrines of Christianity under great difficulties into the still pagan countries of Europe, whose inhabitants they surprised and impressed by their self-devotion and ascetism. Many students of distinction from England and the continent frequented Ireland, and received gratuitous instruction at this period. To these ages has been ascribed the origin of the peculiar style of artornamentation, specimens of which are still extant in Irish manuscripts, and which was long erroneously assigned to the Anglo-Saxons, who now appear to have been indebted to the Irish mainly for Christianity, and entirely for letters. Among the eminent native Irish of these times were Columba (q.v.), or Column Cille, founder of the celebrated monastery of Iona; Comgall, who established the convent of Bangor, in the county of Down; Ciaran of Clonmacnoise; and Adamnan, abbot of Iona, and biographer of Columba. Of the Irish missionaries to the continent, the more distinguished were Columbanus (q.v.), founder of Bobio; Gallus of St. Gall, in Switzerland; Dichuill, patronized by Clotaire; and Ferghal, or Virgilius, the evangelizer of Carinthia. The progress of Irish civilization was checked by the incursion of the Scandinavians, commencing towards the close of the 8th c., and continued for upwards of 300 years.

Ireland.

Establishing themselves in towns on the castern coast of Ireland, with the assistance of friendly native tribes, they continued to make predatory expeditions into the interior until their signal overthrow at the battle of Clontarf, near Dublin (1014 A.D.), by Briau, surnamed Borumha, monarch of Ireland. From the close of the 8th to the 12th c., Ireland, although harassed by the Scandinavians, produced many writers of merit, among whom were Engus, the hagiographer; Cormac MacCullenan, king of Munster, and bishop of Cashel, the reputed author of Cormac's Glossary; Cuan O'Lochain: Gilla Moduda; Flan of Monasterboice; and Tighernach, the annalist. The Irish scholars who during these times acquired highest eminence on the continent were Joannes Erigena, the favorite of Charles the bald of France; Dungal, one of the astronomers consulted by Charlemagne; Dichuill, the geographer; Donogh, or Donatus, bishop of Fiesole; and Marianus Scotus. Of the state of the arts in Ireland during the same period, elaborate specimens survive in the shrine of St. Patrick's bell, the cross of Cong, in Mayo (12th c.); the Limerick and Cashel croziers, and the Tara brooch, all displaying minute skill and peculiar style. To much earlier times is assigned the Book of Kells (see KELLS), a Latin copy of the four gospels, in the library of Trinity college, Dublin, which Mr. Westwood has pronounced to be the most elaborately executed manuscript of early art now in existence, and of portions of which fae-similes are given in his work Palaographia Sacra Pictoria. Of the Irish architecture of the period examples survive at Cashel. The well known round towers of Ireland are believed to have been erected about this era as belfries, and to serve as places of security for ecclesiastics during disturbances. The skill of the Irish musicians in the 12th c. is attested by the enthusiastic encomiums bestowed by Giraldus Cambreusis upon their performances. The Scandinavians have left behind them in Ireland no traces of civilization except coins struck at Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, in which towns they were, for the most part, subject and tributary to the natives.

The first step towards an Anglo-Norman descent upon Ireland was made by Henry II., who obtained in 1155 a bull from pope Adrian IV., authorizing him to take possession of the island, on condition of paying to the papal treasury a stipulated annual revenne. Political circumstances prevented Henry from entering upon the undertaking till 1166, when Dermod MacMurragh, the deposed king of Leinster, repaired to him, and obtained authority to enlist such of his subjects as might be induced to aid him in attempting to regain his forfeited lands. Dermod, returning to Ireland in 1169, with the aid of his foreign mercenaries, and still more numerous Irish allies, succeeded in recovering part of his former territories, and in capturing Dublin and other towns on the eastern coast. After his death in 1171 the succession to the kingdom of Leinster was claimed by his son-in-law, Richard FitzGislebert, earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow." In the following year king Henry, with a formidable armament, visited Ireland, received homage from several of the minor native chiefs, and from the chief adventurers, granting to the latter charters authorizing them, as his subjects, to take possession of the entire island, in virtue of the grant made to him by the pope. The chief Anglo-Norman adventurers, FitzGislebert, Le Gros, De Cogan, De Lacy, and De Curci, encountered formidable opposition before they succeeded in establishing themselves on the lands which they thus claimed. The government was committed to a viceroy, and the Norman legal system was introduced into such parts of the island as were reduced to obedience to England. The youthful prince John was sent by king Henry into Ireland in 1184; but the injudicious conduct of his council having excited disturbances, he was soon recalled to England. John, when king, made an expedition into Ireland in 1210, to curb the refractory spirit of his barons, who had become formidable_through their alliances with the natives. During the 13th c. the principal Anglo-Norman adventurers succeeded in establishing themselves, with the feudal institutions of their nation, in some parts of Ireland; by the assistance or suppression of native clans. The Fitzgeralds, or Geraldines, acquired almost unbounded power in Kildare, and east Munster, or Desmond; the Le Botillers, or Butlers, in Ormond or west Munster; and the De Burghs, or Burkes, in Connaught. After the battle of Bannockburn, the native Irish of the north invited over Edward Bruce, and attempted to overthrow the English power in Ireland. The court of Rome, at the instigation of England, excommunicated Bruce with his Irish allies; but although his enterprise failed of success, the general result was a comparative collapse of the English dominion in Ireland. The descendants of the most powerful settlers gradually became identified with the natives, whose language, habits, and laws they adopted to so great an extent, that the Anglo-Irish parliament passed, in 1367, the statute of Kilkenny," decreeing excommunication and heavy penalties against all those who followed the customs of, or allied themselves with, the native Irish. This statute, however, remained inoperative; and although Richard II., later in the 14th c., made expeditions into Ireland with large forces, he failed to effect any practical result; and the power and influence of the natives increased so much that the authority of the English crown became limited to a few towns on the coast, and the district termed “the Pale,” comprising a small circuit about Dublin and Drogheda.

In 1534 Thomas Fitzgerald, son of the viceroy of Henry VIII., revolted, but not meeting with adequate support from his Anglo-Irish connections, he was, after a short time, suppressed and executed. Henry received the title of king of Ireland" in 1541,

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