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DUBLIN (County of), a maritime county of the province of LEINSTER, bounded on the east by the Irish Sea, on the north and west by the county of Meath, on the west and south-west by that of Kildare, and on the south by that of Wicklow. It extends from 53° 10' to 53° 37' (N. lat.), and from 6° 4' to 6° 36' (W. lon.), and comprises an area, according to the Ordnance survey, of 240,204 statute acres, of which 229,292 acres are cultivated land, and the remainder unprofitable bog and mountain. The population, in 1821, exclusively of the metropolis, was 150,011, and in 1831, 183,042.
The earliest inhabitants of this tract of whom we have any authentic notice were a native people designated by Ptolemy Blanii or Eblani, who occupied also the territory forming the present county of Meath, and whose capital city was Eblana, presumed on good authority to have been on the site of the present city of Dublin. By some writers it is stated that in subsequent remote ages the part of the county lying south and east of the river Liffey formed part of the principality of Croigh Cuolan; while that to the north was included in the principality of Midhe, or Meath. The Eblani, whatever may have been their origin, probably enjoyed peaceable possession of the soil until the commencement of the Danish ravages, and the seizure and occupation of Dublin by these fierce invaders. At this era, the tract now described experienced its full share of calamities, until the celebrated battle of Clontarf, which terminated in the overthrow of the military power of the Ostmen in Ireland. But that this people had made extensive settlements within its limits, which they were subsequently allowed to retain as peaceable subjects of the native Irish rulers, is proved by the fact that, at the period of the English invasion, a considerable part of the county to the north of the Liffey was wholly in their possession, and from this circumstance was designated by the Irish Fingall, a name signifying either the "white foreigners" or "a progeny of foreigners';" the word "fine" importing, in one sense, a tribe or family. The country to the south of Dublin is stated, but only on traditional authority, to have been called, at the same period, Dubhgall, denoting the territory of the " black foreigners," from its occupation by another body of Danes. Though all Fingall was granted by Henry II. to Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, yet the number of other proprietors, together with the circumstance of its being the centre of the English power in Ireland, prevented the county, which was one of those erected by King John in 1210, from being placed under palatine or other peculiar jurisdiction. It originally comprised the territories of the O'Birnes and O'Tooles in the south, which were separated from it and formed into the present county of Wicklow, so lately as the year 1603. At an early period, the jurisdiction of the sheriff of Dublin appears even to have extended in other directions far beyond its present limits; for, by an ordinance of parliament, about the close of the 13th century, preserved in the Black Book of Christ-Church, Dublin, it was restricted from extending, as previously, into the counties of Meath and Kildare, and into some parts even of the province of Ulster.
It is in the diocese and province of Dublin, and, for purposes of civil jurisdiction, is divided into the baronies of Balrothery, Castleknock, Coolock, Nethercross, Newcastle, Half Rathdown, and Upper Cross, exclusively of those of St. Sepulchre and Donore, which form parts of the liberties of the county of the city. The irregularities of form in the baronies are very great: that of Newcastle is composed of two portions, that of Nethercross of six, and that of Uppercross of five, of which three constituting the parishes of Ballymore-Eustace, Ballybought, and Tipperkevin, on the confines of Wicklow and Kildare, are wholly detached from the rest of the county : the irregularities of the two latter baronies are owing to their constituent parts having been formerly dispersed church lands, enjoying separate jurisdictions and privileges, but ultimately formed into baronies for the convenience of the civil authority. The county contains the ancient disfranchised boroughs and corporate towns of Swords and Newcastle; the sea-port, fishing, and post-towns of Howth, Kingstown, Balbriggan, and Malahide; the fishing-towns of Rush, Skerries, and Baldoyle; the inland post-towns of Cabinteely, Lucan, Rathcool, and Tallaght; the market-town of Ballymore-Eustace, and the town of Rathfarnham, each of which has a penny post to Dublin; besides numerous large villages, in some degree suburban to the metropolis, of which, exclusively of those of Sandymount, Booterstown, Blackrock, Donnybrook (each of which has a penny post), Dolphinsbarn, Irishtown, Rathmines, and Ringsend, which are in the county of the city, the principal are those of Finglas, Golden-Ball, Dalkey, Drumcondra, Stillorgan, Raheny, Dundrum, Roundtown, Ranelagh, Artaine, Clontarf, Castleknock, Chapelizod, Glasnevin (each of which has a twopenny post to Dublin), Donabate, Portrane, Garristown, Belgriffin, St. Doulough's, Old Connaught, Killiney, Bullock, Lusk, Newcastle, Saggard, Balrothery, Little Bray, Clondalkin, Coolock, Crumlin, Golden-Bridge, Island-Bridge, Kilmainham, Milltown, Merrion, Phibsborough, Sandford, and Williamstown. Two knights of the shire are returned to the Imperial parliament, who are elected at the county court-house at Kilmainham : the number of electors registered under the 2d of William IV., c. 88, up to Feb. 1st, 1837, is 2728, of which 788 were £50, 407 £20, and 622 £10, freeholders; 18 £50, 427 £20, and 423 £10, leaseholders; and 12 £50, 30 £20, and 1 £10, rent-chargers : the number that voted at the last general election was 1480. Prior to the Union, the boroughs of Swords and Newcastle sent each two members to the Irish House of Commons. A court of assize and general gaol delivery is held every six weeks, at the court-house in Green-street, Dublin; and at Kilmainham, where the county gaol and court-house are situated, are held the quarter sessions, at which a chairman, who exercises the same powers as the assistant barrister in other counties, presides with the magistrates. The local government is vested in a lieutenant, 17 deputy-lieutenants, and 88 magistrates, with the usual county officers. The number of constabulary police stations is 30, and the force consists of 6 chief and 29 subordinate constables and 113 men, with 6 horses, the expense of maintaining which is defrayed equally by Grand Jury presentments and by Government. The Meath Hospital, which is also the County of Dublin Infirmary, is situated on the south side of the city, and is supported by Grand Jury presentments, subscriptions, and donations, and by an annual parliamentary grant; there are 25 dispensaries. The amount of Grand Jury presentments for the county, in 1835, was £23,458. 2. 7., of which £2188. 9. 10. was expended on the public roads of the county at large; £6904. 14. 0. on the public roads, being the baronial charge; £8365. 7. 0. for public establishments, officers' salaries, &c.; £3106. 8. 8. for police; and £2895 towards repayment of advances made by Government. In military arrangements, this county is the head of all the districts throughout Ireland, the department of the commander-in-chief and his staff being at Kilmainham; it contains six military stations, besides those within the jurisdiction of the metropolis, viz., the Richmond infantry barrack, near Golden-Bridge on the Grand Canal, Island-bridge artillery station, the Portobello cavalry barrack, the Phoenix-park magazine and infantry barrack, and the recruiting depot on the Grand Canal, all of which are described in the account of the city, affording in the whole accommodation for 161 officers, 3282 men, and 772 horses; there are, besides, 26 martello towers and nine batteries on the coast, capable of containing 684 men; and at Kilmainham stands the Royal Military Hospital, for disabled and superannuated soldiers, similar to that of Chelsea, Hear London. There are eight coast-guard stations, one of which (Dalkey) is in the district of Kingstown, and the rest in that of Swords, with a force consisting of S officers and 64 men.
The county stretches in length from north to south, and presents a sea-coast of about thirty miles, while its breadth in some places does not exceed seven. Except in the picturesque irregularities of its coast, and the grand and beautiful boundary which the mountains on its southern confines form to the rich vale below, it possesses less natural diversity of scenery than many other parts of the island; but it is superior to all in artificial decoration; and the banks of the Liffey to Leixlip present scenery of the most rich and interesting character. The grandeur of the features of the surrounding country, indeed, give the environs of the metropolis a character as striking as those, perhaps, of any city in the west of Europe. The mountains which occupy the southern border of the county are the northern extremities of the great group forming the entire adjacent county of Wicklow : the principal summits within its confines are the Three Rock Mountain and Garrycastle, at the eastern extremity of the chain, of which the former has an elevation of 1586 feet, and the latter of 1869; Montpelier hill; the group formed by Kippure, Seefinane, Seechon, and Seefin mountains, of which the first is 2527 feet high, and Seechon 2150; and the Tallaght and Rathcoole hills, which succeed each other north-westward from Seechon, and. beyond the latter of which, in the same direction, is a lower range, composed of the Windmill, Athgoe, Lyons, and Rusty hills. From Rathcoole hill a long range diverges south-westward, and enters the eastern confines of Kildare county, near Blessington. In the mountains adjoining Montpelier and Kilmashogue are bogs, covering three or four square miles; but the grandest features of these elevations are the great natural ravines that open into them southward, of which the most extraordinary is the Scalp, through which the road from Dublin to the romantic scenes of Powerscourt enters the county of Wicklow. From their summits are also obtained very magnificent views of the city and bay, and the fertile and highly improved plains of which nearly all the rest of the county is composed, and which form part of the great level tract that includes also the counties of Kildare and Meath. The coast from the boldly projecting promontory of Bray head, with its serrated summit, to the Killiney hills is indented into the beautiful bay of Killiney. Dalkey Island, separated from the above-named hills by a narrow channel, is the southern limit of Dublin bay, the most northern point of which is the Bailey of Howth, on which is a lighthouse. The coast of the bay, with the exception of these two extreme points, is low and shelving, but is backed by a beautiful and highly cultivated country terminating eastward with the city. Much of the interior of the bay consists of banks of sand uncovered at low water. About a mile to the north of Howth is Ireland's Eye, and still farther north, off the peninsula of Portrane, rises Lambay Island, both described under their own heads. Between Howth and Portrane the coast is flat, and partly marshy; but hence northward it presents a varied succession of rock and strand; off Holmpatrick lie the scattered rocky islets of St. Patrick, Count, Shenex, and Rockabill.
The soil is generally shallow, being chiefly indebted to the manures from the metropolis for its high state of improvement. It is commonly argillaceous, though almost every where containing an admixture of gravel, which may generally be found in abundance within a small depth of the surface, and by tillage is frequently turned up, to the great improvement of the land. The substratum is usually a cold retentive clay, which keeps the surface in an unprofitable state, unless draining and other methods of improvement have been adopted. Rather more than one-half of the improvable surface is under tillage, chiefly in the northern and western parts, most remote from the metropolis : in the districts to the south of the Liffey, and within a few miles from its northern bank, the land is chiefly occupied by villas, gardens, nurseries, dairy farms, and for the pasturage of horses. Considerable improvement has taken place in the system of agriculture by the more extensive introduction of green crops and improved drainage, and by the extension of tillage up the mountains. The pasture lands, in consequence of drainage and manure, produce a great variety of good natural grasses, and commonly afford from four to five tons of hay per acre, and sometimes six. The salt marshes which occur along the coast from Howth northward are good, and the pastures near the sea side are of a tolerably fattening quality; but more inland they become poorer.
The only dairies are those for the supply of Dublin with milk and butter, which, however, are of great extent and number. The principal manures are lime and limestone gravel, of which the latter is a species of limestone and marl mixed, of a very fertilising quality, and found in inexhaustible quantities. Strong blue and brown marl are found in different parts, and there are likewise beds of white marl; the blue kind is preferred as producing a more durable effect: manures from Dublin, coal ashes, and shelly sand found on the coast, are also used. The implements of husbandry are of the common kind, except on the farms of noblemen and gentlemen of fortune. The breed of cattle has been much improved by the introduction of the most valuable English breeds, which have nearly superseded the native stock. The county is not well wooded with the exception of plantations in the Phoenix Park and the private grounds of the gentry : there are various nurseries for the supply of plants. The waste lands occupy 10,912 statute acres : the largest tract is that of the mountains on the southern confines, extending about fifteen miles in length and several in breadth. The scarcity of fuel, which would otherwise press severely on the industrious classes, from the want of turf nearer home, which can be had only from the mountains in the south and the distant commons of Balrothery and Garristown on the north, is greatly diminished by the ample supplies brought by both canals and by the importation of English coal.
The county presents several interesting features in its geological relations. Its southern part from Blackrock, Kingstown, and Dalkey forms the northern extremity of the great granitic range which extends through Wicklow and part of Carlow. The granite tract is bordered by a range of incumbent mica slate, which extends eastwards from Shankill and the Scalp to the hills of Killiney, and on the western side commences near Rathfarnham, passes to the south of Montpelier hill, and occupies the upper part of the hollow which separates Seefinane mountain, on the east, from Seechon on the west: in this hollow are displayed some curious intermixtures of the strata of mica slate, granite, and quartz. In the descent from Seechon mountain, both south-westward and north-westward, towards Rathcool, the mica slate passes into clay slate, containing frequent beds of greenstone, greenstone slate, and greenstone porphyry, and occasionally likewise of quartz. The Tallaght hills consist of clay slate, greenstone, and greenstone porphyry, interstratified; the latter rocks more particularly abounding in the eastern quarter. Rathcoole hills,and the range extending from them south-westward, are composed of clay slate, clay slate conglomerate, and grauwacke slate, alternating with each other. The low group west of Rathcoole is composed of clay slate, grauwacke, grauwacke slate, and granite, of which the last is found remarkably disposed in subordinate beds in the prevailing grauwacke slate of Windmill hill, whence some of them may be traced westward to near Rusty hill. This county contains the only strata of transition rocks known to exist in the eastern part of Ireland. They appear in detached portions along the coast from Portrane Head, by Loughshinny, Skerries, and Balbriggan to the Delvan stream, the northern limit of the county. The rest of the county, comprising nearly the whole of its plain surface, is based on floetz limestone, commonly of a blueish grey colour, often tinged with black, which colour in some places entirely prevails, especially where the limestone is interstratified with slate clay, calp, or swinestone, or where it abounds in lydian stone. The black limestone in the latter case is a hard compact rock, often of a silicious nature, requiring much fuel for its conversion into lime. Calp, or "black quarry stone," which is generally of a blackish grey colour and dull fracture, and may be considered as an intimate mixture of limestone and slate clay, forms the common building stone of Dublin; it is quarried to a great extent at Crumlin and Rathgar. Besides carbonate of lime, it includes considerable quantities of silex and alumen, traces of the oxydes of iron and manganese, and a small proportion of carbon, which gives to it its dark colour : by exposure to the air it undergoes a gradual decomposition. The elevated peninsula of Howth consists of irregular alternations of clay slate and quartz rock, both pure and intermixed, on its southern coast the strata present some extraordinary contortions. The only metallic ore at present found in considerable quantity is lead, once abundantly raised near the commons of Kilmainham, and at Killiney; a much more productive vein on Shankill is now being worked by the Mining Company of Ireland. White lead is found in small quantities; the ore is smelted and refined at Ballycorus, in the immediate vicinity of the mine : on Shankill is a tower for the manufacture of shot. At Loughshinny is a copper mine, and at Clontarf a lead mine, both now abandoned. On the south-western side of Howth, grey ore of manganese and brown iron-stone have been obtained in considerable quantities; and a variety of earthy black cobalt ore has been found there. Coal is supposed to exist near the northern side of the county, and unsuccessful trials have been made for it near Lucan. Among the smaller minerals may be enumerated schorl or tourmaline and garnet, frequently found in the granite; beryl, a variety of emerald, which occurs in several places; and spodumene, which is in great request from its containing eight per cent. of a newly discovered alkali, called lithia, is procured at Killiney, as is also a mineral closely resembling spodumene, designated killinite by Dr. Taylor, its discoverer, from its locality. The limestone strata usually abound with petrifactions, specimens of which, remarkable for their perfection and variety, may be obtained at St. Doulough's, and at Feltrim, about seven miles north-east of Dublin. The shores of the county, particularly from Loughlinstown to Bray, abound with pebbles of all colours, often beautifully variegated, which bear a polish, and are applied to a variety of ornamental uses.
The manufactures are various, but of inferior importance. The most extensive is that of woollen cloth, carried on chiefly in the liberties and vicinity of Dublin. The manufacture of paper is carried on in different parts, more particularly at Rockbrook and Templeoge. There are also cotton-works, bleach and dye-works, and ironworks, besides minor establishments, all noticed in their respective localities. The banks of the numerous small streams by which the county is watered present divers advantageous sites for the erection of manufactories of every kind within a convenient distance of the metropolis. The great extent of sea-coast affords facilities for obtaining an abundant supply of fish. Nearly 90 wherries, of which the greater number belong to Skerries and Rush, and the others to Howth, Baldoyle, Malahide, Balbriggan, and Ringsend, are employed in this occupation : there are also about twenty smacks and five seine nets occupied in the salmon fishery between Dublin and Kingstown; the former, in the season, are likewise engaged in the herring fishery; and at Kingstown and Bullock are also a number of yawls, employed in catching whiting, pollock, and herring. On the river Liffey, from Island-Bridge to the light-house at Poolbeg, there is a considerable salmon fishery. The harbours are mere fishing ports, except that of Dublin, and its dependencies Howth and Kingstown, upon the improvement of both of which vast sums have been expended, with but partial success.
The chief river is the Anna Liffey (" the water of Liffey"), which has its principal source at Sally gap, in the Wicklow mountains, and taking a circuit westward through Kildare county, enters that of Dublin near Leixlip, where it is joined by the Rye water from Kildare, and pursues a winding eastern course nearly across the middle of it, descending through a deep and rich glen by Lucan and Chapelizod : below the latter it flows through some pleasing scenes on the borders of Phoenix Park : at Island-Bridge it meets the tide, and a little below it enters the city, to the east of which it discharges its waters into the bay of Dublin. The river is navigable for vessels of 300 tons up to Carlisle bridge, the nearest to the sea; for small craft that can pass the arches, up to Island-Bridge, and for small boats beyond Chapelizod: so circuitous is its course, that although the distance from its source to its mouth, in a direct line, is only ten miles, yet, following its banks, it is no less than forty. Numerous streams, which supply water to many mills, descend into the Liffey : the principal are the Dodder, the Brittas or Cammock, and the Tolka; a stream called the Delvan forms the northern boundary of the county at Naul. The two great lines of inland navigation commence in Dublin city, but as they run in parallel directions within a few miles of each other during some parts of their course, the benefits anticipated from them have not been realised to the utmost extent. The Grand Canal was originally commenced in the year 1755, by the corporation for promoting inland navigation in Ireland: in 1772, a subscription was opened, and the subscribers were incorporated by the name of the Company of Undertakers of the Grand Canal, who, by the completion of this work, have connected the capital both with the Shannon and the Barrow. Its entire cost was £844,216, besides £122,148 expended on docks: one-third was defrayed by parliament. The Royal Canal, incorporated by a charter of George III., in 1789, and afterwards aided by a grant of additional powers from the legislature, is navigable from Dublin to Longford and Tarmonbarry, near the head of the navigable course of the Shannon, an extent of 92 miles : its construction cost £776,213, which was wholly defrayed at the public expense. The roads and bridges are for the most part in excellent order, being frequently repaired at great expense. The Circular Road is a turnpike, nearly encompassing the metropolis, beyond which the Grand and Royal canals for a considerable distance run nearly parallel: from these limits of the city the great mail-coach roads branch in every direction, and all, excepting the south-east road through Wicklow to Wexford, are turnpikes.
Of the ancient round towers which form so remarkable a feature in the antiquities of Ireland, this county contains three, situated respectively at Lusk, Swords, and Clondalkin. There is a very fine cromlech at Glen Druid, near Cabinteely, and others at Killiney, Howth, Mount Venus (in the parish of Cruagh), Glen South-well or the Little Dargle, and Larch hill, which last is within a circle of stones; and there are numerous raths or moats in various parts. The number of religious houses existing at various periods prior to the Reformation was 24, of which there are at present remains only of those of Larkfield and Monkstown; but there are several remains of ancient churches. Although always forming the centre of the English power in Ireland, the unsettled state of society caused the surface of the county, at an early period, to be studded with castles, of which the remains are still numerous; these, with the ancient castles yet inhabited, and the principal gentlemen's seats, are noticed in their respective parishes. Among the minor natural curiosities are some chalybeate springs, of which the best known are, one at Golden-Bridge, one in the Phoenix Park, and one at Lucan. Southwell's Glen, about four miles south of the metropolis, is worthy of notice as a remarkably deep dale, lined with lofty trees, and adorned by a waterfall. From the district of Fingal, which is the ancient name of a large tract of indefinite extent to the north of Dublin, the distinguished family of Plunkett derives the titles of Earl and Baron.
Arms. |
The existence of this city, under the name of the city Eblana, was first noticed by Ptolemy, the Roman geographer, who lived about the year 140. Shortly after it is mentioned by the native historians, as being fixed on as the eastern boundary of a line of demarcation drawn westwards across the island to Galway, for the purpose of putting an end to a war between two rival monarchs, Con-Cead-Cathach, King of Ireland, and Mogha Nuagad, King of Munster; the portion of the island to the north of the boundary line being assigned to the former, the southern portion to the latter, of the contending parties. The city originally occupied the summit of the elevated ridge that now forms its central portion, extending from the Castle westwards towards Kilmainham, and was at first called by the native Irish Drom-Col-Coille, or the "Hill of Hazel wood," from the number of trees of that species which grew on it. The correctness of this conjecture as to the origin of the name is confirmed by the fact that, on clearing away the foundations of the old chapel royal in the castle, some years since, to prepare for the erection of the beautiful structure that now supplies its place, they were ascertained to have been laid on piles of hazelwood. Another ancient name, still retained by the natives, is Bally-Ath-Cliath-Duibhlinne, the "Town of the Ford of Hurdles on the Blackwater," given to it in consequence of the people having access to the river by means of hurdles laid over its marshy borders, before it was embanked. By the Danish settlers in the district of Fingal, to the north of the city, it was called Divelin, and by the Welsh it is still called Dinas Dulin.
The only circumstance on record connected with the city, during a long interval, is that the inhabitants of Leinster were defeated in a great battle fought at Dublin, by Fiacha Sraotine, monarch of Ireland, in 291. After which its annals present a total blank until the year 448, when, according to Josceline, Alphin Mac Eochaid, King of Bally-Ath-Cliath, was converted to Christianity by the preaching of St. Patrick, and baptised by him at a spring on the southern side of the city, near the tower of the cathedral afterwards dedicated to that saint, and still known by the name of St. Patrick's well. The Black Book of Christ-Church, a manuscript of high antiquity and repute, states that St. Patrick celebrated mass in one of the arches or vaults built by the Danish or Ostman merchants as a depository for their goods, long before the fleets of that nation appeared on the coast with the intention of taking military occupation of the country. It was not till the beginning of the ninth century that these marauders, who afterwards harassed all the northern coasts of Europe by their predatory invasions, divested themselves of the character of merchants, in which they had hitherto maintained an intercourse with the people of Ireland, to assume that of conquerors. In 836, the Ostmen or Easterlings, by which name the Danes were then known, entered the Liffey in a fleet of sixty ships in aid of their countrymen, who had ravaged the land and even fixed themselves in some districts several years before. Dublin now submitted to them for the first time; and they secured themselves in the possession of it by the erection of a strong rath, which enabled them not only to overawe the city but to extend their power through Fingal, to the north, and to Bray and the Wicklow mountains to the south. The district from that time was the principal Danish settlement in Leinster; Fin-Gal, to the north of the river, having acquired its name, as being the territory of the " White Strangers," or Norwegians; and the tract to the south being distinguished by the appellation of Dubh-Gal, or the territory of the " Black Strangers," from the Danes.
But the invaders did not enjoy their newly gained acquisition in tranquillity. On the death of their king Tor-magnus or Turgesius, who, after having reigned despotically over a great part of the island for more than 40 years, was defeated and put to death, in S45, by Malachy, King of Ireland, the Danes were driven out of Dublin, and the city plundered by the Irish of Meath and Leinster. In the year following, however, they regained possession of it and secured themselves by adding new fortifications to those already constructed, and were still further strengthened by the arrival of Amlave, or Aulaffe, who, having landed in 853 with a powerful reinforcement of Danes and Norwegians, assumed the supreme authority over all the Danish settlers; and in the hope of enjoying quiet possession of his newly acquired dignity, he concluded a truce with the neighbouring Irish chieftains, but it continued only for three years. The annals of the remainder of this century are occupied with recitals of reciprocal attacks of the Irish and the foreigners, in which the one party failed to expel the invaders, and the other was equally unsuccessful in enlarging the bounds of their authority, or even of fixing it on a permanent basis in the capital of the district that acknowledged their sway : in one of those conflicts, Clondalkin, the favourite residence of Aulaffe, was burnt and upwards of one hundred of his principal followers were slain; in another he retaliated on the enemy, by plundering and burning the city of Armagh. So firmly did the Danish king feel himself fixed in his restored dominion, that he proceeded with his son Ivar, in a fleet of 200 vessels to aid his countrymen Hinguar and Hubba, then contending against the Saxons in the West of England, and returned next year laden with booty. On the death of Aulaffe, which took place the year following, his son Ivar succeeded him in the government of Dublin, where the opinion of his power was such that the Irish annals give him the title of King of the Normans of all Ireland. A few years after, the men of Dublin fitted out an expedition under the command of Ostin Mac Aulaffe against the Picts of North Britain, in which they were successful. Encouraged by these instances of good fortune, they again invaded South Wales, but were driven out with great loss; to wipe off which disgrace they made an incursion into Anglesey, a few years after, and ravaged it with fire and sword. During all this period hostilities were carried on between them and the Irish with little intermission. The annals of the tenth century state that Dublin was four times taken by the Irish, and the Danes expelled from it, but they invariably returned in strength sufficient to re-establish themselves, and often to retaliate severely on their enemies. This century is remarkable for other events connected with Dublin. Aulaffe Mac Godfrid, the king, was defeated in Northumberland by Athelstan, King of England; and about the middle of the century, the Ostmen of Dublin embraced Christianity. The first public proof of their conversion was the foundation of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin, near Ostmanstown, on the northern bank of the Liffey. About the same time, Edgar, King of England, is said to have subdued Wales, the Isle of Man, and part of Ireland, particularly the city of Dublin, of which mention is made in his charter dated at Gloucester, in 964.
Towards the close of the century, the power of the Danes in this part of Ireland began to decline. In 980, they were defeated in a memorable battle at Taragh by Melaghlin, King of Ireland, who, following up his success, ravaged Fingal with fire and sword, and compelled the inhabitants of Dublin to pay a tribute of an ounce of gold for every capital messuage and garden in the city. Reginald, the Danish king, was so much affected by his losses that he undertook a pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona, where he died. The last year of the century was rendered still more memorable by the capture of Dublin by the celebrated Brian Boroimhe, King of Munster, who, after exacting hostages to secure his conquest, permitted the Danes to retain possession of it, a concession of which they immediately took advantage by strengthening it with several additional fortifications. Still, however, their power, though diminished, was not destroyed; for, in the commencement of the ensuing century, Brian Boroimhe, in order effectually to crush them, found it necessary to form a confederacy of most of the subordinate kings of Ireland. The result was the celebrated battle of Clontarf, fought in 1014, in which the Danes were totally defeated, and the shattered remains of their army forced to shut themselves up in Dublin. But the triumph of the conquerors was diminished by the death of their leader, who received a mortal wound at the moment of victory: his son, a number of his nobles, and 11,000 of his soldiers shared his fate. The Danes still kept possession of the city. In 1038, Christ-Church was founded by Sitric the king, and by Donat, the first Danish bishop of Dublin; Aulaffe, Sitric's son, who succeeded him, fitted out a large fleet in order to reinstate Conan, the prince of North Wales, who had fled to Ireland to escape from the cruelties of Grufydd ab Llewelyn, an usurper, and had afterwards married Sitric's daughter. The expedition, though at first so successful as to have gained possession of Grufydd's person by stratagem, ultimately failed; for the Welsh, on hearing of his capture, assembled in great numbers, rescued Grufydd, and drove Conan and his Danish auxiliaries to their ships with great slaughter. A second expedition fitted out the ensuing year was equally unfortunate : the greater part of Conan's fleet was destroyed by a tempest and himself driven back on the Irish shore. He made no further attempt to regain his throne, but spent the remainder of his life with his father-in-law in Dublin.
The city was soon after exposed to the assaults of a new enemy. In 1066, Godred Crovan, King of Man, obtained possession of it and overran a large portion of Leinster, over which he assumed the title of king, which he retained till his death, together with that of Man and of the Hebrides. On his demise the sovereign power again devolved on the Danes, who elected Godfrey Meranagh to succeed him. The Danes, though constantly exposed to the hostilities of the natives, against whom they had great difficulty in maintaining their position in the country, increased their difficulties by their internal dissensions. In 1088, those of Dublin besieged the city of Waterford, which was also inhabited by a colony of the same nation, entered it by storm and burnt it to the ground; and in the following year, the united Danish forces of Dublin, Wicklow, and Waterford proceeded to Cork with a similar intention, but were routed on their march thither and forced to return with considerable loss. For some time after the district appears to have been subject to the kings of Ireland, as no mention is made of any Danish ruler there. At the same time it appears that the kings of England endeavoured to obtain some influence in the affairs of Ireland, for it is stated that Rodolphus, Archbishop of Canterbury, by the orders of Henry I., consecrated one Gregory Archbishop of Dublin, in 1121, and that this act was done with the concurrence of Turlogh O'Brien, then King of Ireland. Afterwards, however, Dermod Mac Murchad, or Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, exercised paramount authority in the city. He founded the nunnery of St. Mary de Hogges, and the priory of Allhallows, both in its immediate vicinity, and, after overrunning all the surrounding country, forced the Danish residents there to acknowledge his supremacy, which he retained until the commencement of the reign of Roderic O'Conor, King of Ireland, who, on his attainment of the supreme monarchy, was recognised as King of Dublin by the inhabitants, and they in return received from him a present of four thousand oxen.
After the reduction of Wexford by the English forces, who landed at Bannow bay, in 1169, under the command of Robert Fitz-Stephen, to assist Dermod Mac Murrough in the recovery of Leinster, the combined force marched upon Dublin. The garrison, intimidated by the reports of the numbers and ferocity of the assailants, sued for peace, which was granted on the payment of tribute secured by hostages. Asculph Mac Torcall, the Danish king, was suffered to retain the government, and Dermod retired with his English auxiliaries to the southern part of Leinster, where he was joined by Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, who had landed with a reinforcement of fifteen or sixteen hundred men, and taken Waterford by storm from the Danes. The combined army thus enforced resolved upon another attack on Dublin, either in consequence of a second revolt, or, as the Irish writers assert, to gratify the vindictive feelings of Dermod, who hoped thus to revenge the injury and insult of his former expulsion. Roderic, King of Ireland, hearing of the intended movement, levied an army of 30,000 men, which he posted at Clondalkin to oppose the invaders; but on their nearer approach he disbanded his troops, and retired across the Shannon. The citizens perceiving themselves thus abandoned, again had recourse to treaty; but while they were preparing to select the hostages required of them, Milo de Cogan, one of the English leaders, forced his way into the place. Asculph and most of the Danes took shelter on board their fleet, and the city was, after much slaughter, taken possession of by the English.
Roderic now made a second attempt to expel the strangers, for which purpose he invested Dublin with an army of double the number he had formerly collected, and reduced the place to such straits, that Strongbow deputed Laurence O'Toole, the archbishop, to treat with him for a surrender. The terms offered by the Irish king were not only the surrender of all the towns held by the English, but their total evacuation of the country. When these humiliating conditions were reported, Milo de Cogan protested against thus relinquishing the earnings of so many hard-fought battles, and proposed a general sally upon the enemy. His advice was adopted. The English forces, leaving behind them in the city their Irish auxiliaries, on whose fidelity they had less reliance, and led on by Milo, proceeded to Roderic's head-quarters at Finglass, which they assaulted so suddenly that he was obliged to escape half dressed from a bath, and his whole army was dispersed.
Strongbow being soon after called to England, Asculph Mac Torcall, during his absence, arrived in the harbour of Dublin with a fleet of 60 ships and an army of 10,000 men levied in the isle of Man, the Orkneys, and Norway, and proceeded at once to storm the city. His main body was led on by John de Dene, a Norwegian of great military repute, who was repulsed by Milo de Cogan, with the loss of 500 men; and the Danes being unexpectedly attacked in the rear by another body of the garrison, which had made a sally from a different quarter, they were utterly routed, and their king Asculph made prisoner and put to death. . The relics of the Danish army which escaped the sword were cut in pieces by the peasantry through the country, in revenge for their former cruelties, so that scarcely 2000 gained their ships, most of whom were destroyed by a tempest during their voyage home. This defeat put an end to the Danish power in these parts. An attempt made, soon after, to seize on the city by Tiernan O'Rourke, the chieftain of Breffny, who thought that the garrison, exhausted by its late struggle, though successful, would be incapable of making a vigorous resistance to the large force he was bringing against it, also failed.
The arrival of Henry II., who landed at Waterford with a large fleet and a numerous train in 1172 caused a great change in the state of the city. He had compelled Strongbow to surrender to him all his conquests in Ireland : the lands were restored, to be held by feudal tenure, but the fortified places were retained in the king's hands. Henry, after having received the homage of most of the petty chieftains of the south, arrived in Dublin, in the beginning of winter, and celebrated the feast of Christmas there in great splendour; on which occasion a pavilion of hurdles, after the Irish fashion, was erected in the eastern suburb, where the court was held, and where several of the native princes did homage to him. Hugh de Lacy and William Fitz Aldelm were commissioned to receive the homage of Roderic, King of Ireland, who declined crossing the Shannon. Being unexpectedly hurried away to oppose a revolt of his own sons in Normandy, Henry quitted the city, for Wexford, whence he embarked for England on Easter-Monday, leaving Hugh de Lacy in charge of the place as governor, with twenty men at arms, and Robert Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald with the same number, as wardens and constables. Milo de Cogan, to whose intrepidity the English had been indebted for their conquest, accompanied Henry on his departure. Previously to his leaving the city, the king granted it a charter, entitling it to the same privileges as Bristol then enjoyed : the original is still preserved in the archives of the corporation. By a subsequent charter of the same king, the citizens are freed from payment of toll, passage, and pontage, throughout England, Normandy, Wales, and Ireland. Three years after Henry's departure, Strong-bow made an incursion into Munster, in which he was accompanied by the Ostmen of Dublin, but was surprised on his march by Donald, Prince of Ossory, and defeated, with the loss of 400 of the citizens. Elated with this success, Roderic O'Conor ravaged the country even to the walls of Dublin. Shortly after, Strongbow died of a mortification in his foot, and was buried in Christ Church, where his monument is still preserved. Previously to his death he had founded the extensive and wealthy preceptory of Knights-Templars, on the site on which the Royal Hospital now stands. In the same year, Vivian, the pope's legate, held a synod in the city, at which he caused the title of Henry II. to the lordship of Ireland to be proclaimed; and denounced an excommunication against all who should refuse allegiance to him. In 1185, John, Earl of Morton, the favourite son of Henry II., having been invested by his father with the lordship of Ireland, arrived in Dublin, attended by a train of young noblemen; but a series of insurrections taking place, he was recalled.
From the period -of the arrival of the English and their conquest of Dublin, the city was considered to be the most appropriate position to secure their possessions and to facilitate their intercourse with their native country. To promote this object, instructions were given by John, shortly after the commencement of his reign, to Meyler Fitz-Henry, to erect a castle on the eastern brow of the hill on which the city stood, for which purpose 300 marks were assigned; an order was also issued to compel the inhabitants to repair and strengthen the fortifications. The necessity of a precautionary measure of this nature was confirmed by a calamity which befel the city in 1209, in which year the citizens, while amusing themselves according to custom on Easter-Monday in Cullen's wood, near the southern suburbs, were attacked unawares by the Irish of the neighbouring mountains and driven into the town, after the slaughter of more than 500 of their number. The day was for a long time after distinguished by the name of Black Monday, and commemorated by a parade of the citizens on the field of the conflict, were they appeared in arms and challenged their enemies to renew the encounter. The castle, however, was not completed till 1220, during the government of Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord-Justice. King John on his visit to Ireland in 1210, established courts of judicature on the model of those in England, deposited an abstract of the English laws and customs in the Exchequer, and issued a coinage of pence and farthings of the same standard as the English. Henry III. granted several charters, which were confirmed and extended by Edward I., who also fixed a standard for coin in England, according to which that of Ireland was to be regulated: during his reign there were four mints in Dublin, besides others at Waterford and Drogheda. About the close of the 13th and beginning of the 14th century a great part of the city was destroyed by fires, one of which consumed many of the public records, which had been lodged in St. Mary's abbey. An attempt to found an university, made in 1311 by Archbishop Leck, who procured a papal bull for this purpose, failed in consequence of the unsettled state of the country, but was revived with more success in 1320 by Alexander de Bicknor, the next archbishop. In 1312, the mountain septs of the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles made an incursion into Rathcool and Saggard, when the chief force of the city had been despatched into Louth, or Orgial, to quell an insurrection of the Verdons, but on its return the southern invaders were forced to retire into their fastnesses. Three years after, when David O'Toole and some others of his sept made a similar attempt, by placing an ambush in Cullen's wood, the citizens issued out against them with their black banner displayed, and did execution on them for several miles.
The year 1315 is remarkable for the invasion of Edward Bruce, brother of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, who landed at Carrickfergus at the head of 6000 men, to establish his claim to the crown of Ireland by force of arms. The citizens, on hearing that he was advancing southwards and had taken Greencastle, in Carlingford bay, one of the border fortresses of the English pale, sent out a strong party by sea, recovered the place, and brought the governor to Dublin, where he was starved to death in prison. This success, however, did not put a stop to the advance of Bruce, who marched upon Dublin with the intention of besieging it. The citizens, on his approach, set fire to the suburb of Thomas-street, in consequence of which St. John's Church without Newgate, and the Magdalene chapel were burnt. The church of the Dominicans was also pulled down, in order to use the stones for repairing and extending the city walls on the north side towards the river. The gallant determination of the citizens had its effect. Bruce, after destroying St. Mary's abbey and plundering the cathedral of St. Patrick, drew off his army and marched westward into Kildare. In consideration of the sufferings and losses of the citizens, Edward II. remitted half of their fee-farm rent. At the close of the century the city was twice visited by Rich. II.; at first, in 1394, when he marched hither from Waterford, about Michaelmas, at the head of an army of 30,000 foot and 4000 horse, and remained till the beginning of the ensuing summer. His second visit, which took place in 1399, was cut short by the unwelcome news of the insurrection of the Duke of Lancaster, afterwards Henry IV., which hurried him back to England.
During the reign of Henry IV. the citizens adhered firmly to him throughout the civil war excited by the Earl of Northumberland and Owain Glyndwr, and caused a diversion in his favour by fitting out a fleet with which they invaded Scotland, and, after several landings on the coast, proceeded in like manner along that of Wales, whence they carried away the shrine of St. Cubic and on their return placed it in the cathedral of Christ-Church. In consequence of these services they obtained from the king a confirmation of all their former charters, and the present of a gilded sword to be borne before the mayor in public, in the same manner as before the lord mayor of London. The border war between the citizens and the Irish of the neighbouring mountains was carried on with great fury during this and the succeeding reigns. In 1402, John Drake, the provost, led out a strong party against the O'Byrnes, whom he defeated with a slaughter, as some writers say, of 4000 men, but according to others of 400, and compelled them to surrender the castle of Newcastle-MacKynegan. In 1410, the lord-deputy made another incursion into the territory of the O'Byrnes, but was forced to retreat in consequence of the desertion of a large body of his kernes; and in 1413 the O'Byrnes gave the citizens a signal defeat and carried off many prisoners. In 1431, Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, made an incursion into the vicinity of Dublin, defeated the troops sent out to oppose him, and carried off much booty; but the citizens having collected a fresh body of troops, pursued the enemy the same evening, attacked them unawares, and routed them with great loss. The city was much disturbed, about this time, by the contentions between the Kildare and Ormonde families. To decide one of their disputes, in which Thomas Fitzgerald, prior of Kilmainham, had accused the Earl of Ormonde of treason, a trial by combat was appointed at Smith-field, in Oxmantown; but the quarrel being taken up by the king was terminated without bloodshed. The mayor and citizens, having taken part with the Fitz-geralds in these broils, and grossly insulted the Earl of Ormonde, and violated the sanctity of St. Mary's abbey, were compelled to do penance, in 1434, by going barefoot to that monastery and to Christ-Church and St. Patrick's cathedrals, and craving pardon at the doors. In 1479, the fraternity of arms of St. George, consisting of thirteen of the most honourable and loyal inhabitants in the counties of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and Louth, was formed by act of parliament, for the defence of the English pale : the mayor of Dublin was appointed one of the commanders of the force raised in the city; the fraternity was discontinued in 1492. A bull for the foundation of an university in the city was published by Pope Sextus in 1475, but was never carried into effect.
When Lambert Simnel claimed the crown of England, in the beginning of the reign of Henry VII., his title was recognised in Dublin, where he was crowned in Christ-Church, in the presence of the lord-deputy, the lords of the council, the mayor, and all the citizens; after the ceremony was concluded, he was carried in state to the castle, according to the Irish custom, on the shoulders of Darcy of Platten, a man of extraordinary stature. On Simnel's defeat at Stoke, the mayor and citizens made a humble apology to the king for the part they had taken in the affair, pleading the authority and influence of the lord-deputy, the archbishop, and most of the clergy. Their pardon was granted through Sir Richard Edgecumbe, who was specially deputed by Henry to administer the oaths of fealty and allegiance to the Irish after the insurrection : this officer entered Dublin on the 5th of July, 1488, for the fulfilment of his mission, and embarked for England at Dalkey, on the 30th of the same month, after having successfully accomplished the objects for which he had been deputed. In 1504, the mayor and citizens contributed their share to the victory gained by the Earl of Kildare, lord-deputy, over the Irish and degenerate English of Connaught, at Knock tow, near Galway. A few years after, the revival of the controversy between the Earls of Kildare and Ormonde again subjected the citizens to ecclesiastical censures. The two Earls had a meeting in St. Patrick's cathedral, for the ostensible purpose of compromising their feud; the citizens attended the former as his guard, and on some cause of complaint between them and the Earl of Ormonde's soldiers, they let fly a volley of arrows, some of which struck the images in the rood-loft. In atonement for this sacrilegious violation of the building, the mayor was sentenced to walk barefoot before the host on Corpus Christi day yearly, a ceremony which was kept up till the Reformation.
During the early period of the reign of Henry VIII., the people of Dublin gave several instances of loyalty and courage. In 1513 they attended the lord-deputy in a hosting against O'Carrol, which terminated without any remarkable action, in consequence of the death of their leader. In 1516 they routed the O'Tooles of the mountains, slew their chief, and sent his head a present to the mayor : a second expedition, however, was less successful; the O'Tooles drove them back with loss. Afterwards, in 1521, they performed good service under the Earl of Surrey against O'More, in Leix, and O'Conor in Meath. But the most remarkable event connected with the city, during the reign of Henry VIII., arose out of the rebellion of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, commonly called the Silken Knight, from the fantastical fringes with which the helmets of his followers were decorated. This young nobleman had been appointed lord-deputy in the absence of his father, the Earl of Kildare, who was summoned to appear before Henry, to answer some charges brought against him, as chief governor of Ireland; and on a false report that his father had been imprisoned and put to death in London, he proceeded, without making further inquiry into the truth of the allegation, at the head of his armed followers, to St. Mary's abbey, where the council was sitting, threw down the sword of state, and notwithstanding the paternal remonstrances of the primate, Archbishop Cromer, bade defiance to the king and declared himself his open enemy. After ravaging Fingal, where he seized and put to death Alan, then archbishop of Dublin, the enemy of his family, he laid siege to the castle, but after several ineffectual attempts to carry it by storm he surrendered to Lord Leonard Grey, and was ultimately sent to England, where he was executed with five of his uncles, who not only had taken no part in the insurrection, but had been active in dissuading him from engaging in it. In recompense for the citizens' gallant defence, the king granted them the dissolved monastery of All Hallows, without Dames Gate, confirmed a grant of £49. 6. 8. made by Rich. II., and released them from an annual rent of £20.
In 1547, the Byrnes and O'Tooles, presuming on the weakness of the government during the minority of Edward VI., made frequent inroads into the neighbourhood of Dublin, to the great annoyance of the inhabitants. The close vicinity of the mountains and the difficulties of the passes through which they were accessible, rendered the defence of the suburbs difficult, and retaliation hazardous; but at length Sir Anthony St. Leger, lord-deputy, with a body of the standing army, and a considerable number of the city militia, made a successful inroad into their fastnesses, defeated them in a great battle, killed their chief, and brought sixteen of the Fitzgeralds prisoners to Dublin, where they were all executed as traitors. In 1552, the mayor, at the head of the armed citizens, being joined with the townsmen of Drogheda, marched against the O'Reillys of Cavan, whom they put down : but, on their return, the victory was likely to be sullied by a dispute between the two commanders, as to the honour of leading the vanguard; which was at last terminated in favour of the mayor of Dublin, by an order confirming his right of leading the van when going out, and the rear when returning home
In the first year of Queen Mary's reign, the citizens marched out against the Cavanaghs, who with a large army were devastating the southern part of the county of Dublin, and whom they routed, killing many and compelling the remainder to shut themselves up in Powers-court castle, whence, having been at length forced to surrender at discretion, after an obstinate resistance, they were taken to Dublin, and 74 of them executed : the rest were pardoned.
Queen Elizabeth, in the beginning of her reign, caused the castle to be fitted up as a residence for the lord-lieutenant, who, previously to this arrangement, had resided at Thomas Court. In 1579, the public records were arranged in Birmingham tower, Dublin Castle; and three years afterwards the courts of law were transferred from the castle to St. Mary's abbey, which occupied nearly the site of the buildings in which they are now held on the north side of the river. In 1586, the king's exchequer, then held without the eastern gate on the ground now called Exchequer-street, was plundered by a party of Irish from the mountains. The year 1591 is memorable for the foundation of Trinity College. In 1599, the Earl of Essex arrived in Dublin at the head of a large army, and after his removal Sir Charles Blount, afterwards Lord Mountjoy, who had been appointed to succeed him in the command of the army raised against the Earl of Tyrone, landed there with 6000 men : but his operations gave rise to no circumstances peculiarly affecting the city.
In 1607, the Government was thrown into the greatest alarm by a letter found on the floor of the council-chamber in the castle, containing intimations of a conspiracy entered into by the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnell, and other northern chieftains, to seize the city and excite a general insurrection against the English government. Instant measures were employed to arrest the imputed leaders, several of whom were taken and executed, but the two Earls had sufficient notice of the designs against them to save themselves by flight; their immense estates were confiscated. In 1613, a parliament was held in Dublin, after a lapse of 27 years: it was the first in which representatives were sent from all the counties, and is still more remarkable for a dispute respecting the election of a speaker between the Protestant and Roman Catholic parties, which terminated in the triumph of the former, and the secession of the latter from the House of Commons. In 1614, a convocation was held here, which established the thirty-nine articles of religion; and a subsequent convocation, in 1634, adopted a body of canons for the regulation of the Established Church.
After a period of 40 years of uninterrupted tranquillity, both to the city and the nation, the prospect of its further continuance was destroyed by the discovery of a plot to seize the castle, on the 23rd of October, 1641, as the first movement of a general insurrection against the English Government. The plan was disclosed by an accomplice, on the evening before the day it was to have been put into execution, and thus frustrated as far as the city was concerned. So little had the occurrence of such an event been apprehended that, in the year before, a large portion of the city walls was allowed to fall to ruin. To aid in their repairs, and to meet the other urgent necessities of the state, the citizens were called upon by proclamation to send in their plate, on promise of repayment, an expedient which produced only £1200 towards the relief of the public exigencies. Next year the mayor was invited to the council, to confer on a project for raising £10,000, half in money and the remainder in provisions, to enable the king's army to take the field; but such was the poverty of the place, that the project was relinquished as impracticable. On an alarm of an intended attack on Dublin, by the Irish forces of Owen Roe O'Nial and General Preston, in 1646, the Marquess of Ormonde, then lord-lieutenant, determined to strengthen the city by a line of outworks thrown up on its eastern side, between the castle and the college. On this occasion the women set a remarkable example of public spirit, the Marchioness of Ormonde and other ladies placing themselves at their head, and the whole assisting in carrying baskets of earth to the lines. Famine, however, proved the city's best safeguard. The Marquess had caused the country to be laid waste, and the mills and bridges to be destroyed for several miles round, so that the besieging army, amounting to 10,000 foot and 1000 horse, was forced to retire without any attempt of importance. So confident was Ormonde now of his own strength, that he refused admission to commissioners sent by the English parliament with 1400 men, but the very next year he was compelled, by extreme necessity, to surrender the place to them, rather than suffer it to fall into the hands of the Irish; after which, Owen Roe O'Nial, being baffled in another attempt upon the city, revenged himself by ravaging the surrounding country with such fury that from one of the town steeples 200 fires were seen blazing at once. The Marquess of Ormonde returned in 1649, with a determination to regain possession of the city. He first fixed his head-quarters at Finglas, but afterwards removed to Rathmines, on the south side. An unexpected sally of the garrison, to destroy some works he was throwing up at Bagotsrath, led to a general engagement, in which his troops, struck with an unaccountable panic, gave way. with such precipitation, that he had scarcely time to make his escape. The city remained in the hands of the parliament during the remainder of the war. At the close of the same year, Oliver Cromwell landed here with a well-appointed army of 13,000 men : after remaining a short time to refresh his troops, and to arrange his affairs, he left it for Drogheda, which he took, and treated those by whom he was opposed with a degree of cruelty seldom paralleled in the annals of modern warfare. In 1652, the war having been declared at an end, a high court of justice was erected in Dublin, for the trial of persons charged with murder and other atrocities not tolerated by the rules of war, by which, among many others of less note, Sir Phelim O'Nial, the first and principal leader of the insurrection in Ulster, was condemned and executed. In 1659, a party of general officers, well inclined to the Restoration, surprised the castle, and having secured the parliamentary commissioners of Government, who resided there, declared for a free parliament; they then, upon the petition of the mayor and aldermen, summoned a convention, and though the castle was again surprised by Sir Hardress Waller, for the parliament, he was forced to surrender it, after a siege of five days, and Charles II. was formally proclaimed. Charles, immediately after his restoration, rewarded the services of the citizens by the donation of a cap of maintenance, a golden collar of office, and a foot company to the mayor, and some years after, a pension of £500 was allowed him in lieu of the company. In 1663, several discontented officers, among whom was the notorious Col. Blood, formed a plan to seize the castle, which was discovered by one of the accomplices.
About this period the city began to increase rapidly in extent, and in the number and elegance of its public buildings. The ground to the north of the river, formerly considered as a separate jurisdiction, under the name of Oxmantown, was connected with the city by four new bridges, and has since formed an integral part of it: it had hitherto been but a single parish, but was, some years after, in consequence of the increase of houses and inhabitants, subdivided into three. Numerous improvements were successively carried into effect, and the increase of population kept pace with them. In 1688, King James visited Dublin, where he held a parliament, which passed acts to repeal the act of settlement, to attaint a number of Protestants, and to establish an enlarged system of national education. He also established a mint, in which a quantity of base metal was coined. The year 1690 is marked by the decisive battle of the Boyne, after which James passed one night in Dublin Castle, during his precipitate retreat from the kingdom; in 1701, an equestrian statue of William. III. was erected on College Green, to commemorate that victory. On King William's arrival, his first act was to repair in state to St. Patrick's cathedral, to return public thanks for the success which had crowned his arms. Previously to the battle of the Boyne, Sir Cloudesly Shovel, who commanded at sea for the latter monarch, took a frigate out of Dublin harbour, in which much of the plate and valuables of the Roman Catholic nobility and gentry had been embarked, under an apprehension of the event which so soon after decided the fate of their cause in Ireland.
During the period between the revolution and the legislative union, the city increased in an unprecedented manner in extent, wealth, and splendour. The effects are attributable partly to the long period of peace from the former of these eras to the commencement of the American war, but more so to the parliamentary grants which were expended on objects of utility. Afterwards, the regulation which made the lord-lieutenant a fixed resident in Dublin, instead of being a periodical visitor for a few months every second year, when he came over from England to hold a parliament; the shortening of the duration of these assemblies, the removal of the restrictions by which the national industry and the spirit of commercial speculation had been shackled, combined with the general extension of literature and science throughout the western kingdoms of Europe, tended to promote this effect. In 1798, the Leinster provisional committee of the United Irishmen were seized, with all their papers, and Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the chief leader of the insurgents, was arrested, after a desperate conflict with his captors, and lodged in prison, where he shortly after died of his wounds. The following statement will show the increase of population from about the middle of the 17th century till the legislative union : in 1682 the number of inhabitants was 64,483; in 1728, 146,075; in 1753, 128,570; in 1777, 138,208; and in 1798, 182,370.
The local events of the period which has elapsed since the Union are too numerous to particularise in a condensed narrative. The principal occurrences are the public meetings and associations for the attainment of political objects, organised insurrections, tumults resulting from those causes and embittered by the acrimony of party spirit, and visitations of famine, during which the working classes suffered great distress. Two events, however, deserve more particular notice. In 1803, a sudden and alarming insurrection broke out in the city : it was planned and carried into effect by Robert Emmet, a young gentleman of respectable family, who, at his own sole expense and with the aid of a few associates of desperate fortune, secretly formed a depot of arms and ammunition in a retired lane off Thomas-street, whence he issued early in the night of the 23rd of July, at the head of a band chiefly brought in from the neighbouring counties of Kildare and Wicklow, and was proceeding to the castle, when the progress of his followers was checked by the coming up of Lord Kilwarden, chief justice of the king's bench, who, on hearing a rumour of insurrection at his country seat, had hurried to town in his carriage with his daughter and nephew. Both the males were killed; the lady, being allowed to pass in safety, gave the alarm at the castle, and detachments being immediately sent out, the undisciplined multitude was at once dispersed with some loss of life, and the leaders, who had escaped to the mountains, were soon after taken and executed. On the accession of George IV., in 1820, his majesty received a deputation from Dublin, consisting of the lord mayor and city officers, on his throne : this was the first address from the city thus honoured. The next year, on the 12th of August, the king's birth-day, he landed in Ireland, and after remaining till Sept. 3rd, partly at the Phoenix Lodge," and partly at Slane Castle in Meath, during which time he visited most of the public institutions of Dublin, and held a chapter of the order of St. Patrick, at which nine knights were installed, he sailed from Dunleary (since called Kingstown) amidst the enthusiastic acclamations of an unprecedented multitude.
EXTENT AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY.
The city, which was originally confined to the summit of the hill, on the eastern brow of which the castle now stands, and whose circuit within the walls was little more than a mile round, and its suburbs confined to the few adjacent streets, now occupies a space covering 1264 acres, and is about nine miles in circumference. It is situated, at the western extremity of Dublin bay, and at the mouth of the Liffey, which passes nearly through the middle of it. The hill, which now forms the central part of the city, stands in the lowest part of the basin of the Liffey, which rises gradually on the southern side into the beautiful line of the Wicklow mountains, that skirt the boundary of the county, and still more gradually on the north and west till it loses itself in the extended plains of Fingal and Kildare. It is somewhat more than three miles long in a direct line from east to west, and of nearly equal breadth from north to south, and contains upwards of 800 streets and 22,000 houses : the foot-paths are well flagged, and the carriage ways partly paved and partly Macadamised. The paving, lighting, and cleansing of the public avenues is regulated by an act passed in the 47th, and amended by one of the 54th, of George III., authorising the lord-lieutenant to appoint three commissioners, who are a corporation under the title of the " Commissioners for Paving, Cleansing, and Lighting the City of Dublin :" the total annual expenditure averages about £30,000. Several local acts have been passed for the supply of gas-light, and there are four companies,--the Dublin Gas Company, the Hibernian Gas-light Company, the Oil Gas Company, and the Alliance Company. An ample supply of water is obtained by pipes laid down from reservoirs on both sides of the river to the houses and the public fountains, under a committee appointed in pursuance of acts passed in the 42nd and 49th of George III., the expense of which is defrayed by a rate called the pipe-water tax, producing about £14,000 annually. Three basins have been formed; one at the extremity of Basin-lane, in James-street, half a mile in circumference and surrounded by a broad gravel walk, formerly a favourite promenade; another at the upper end of Blessington-street, encompassed by a terrace, for the supply of the northern side of the city; and the third on the bank of the canal, near Portobello harbour, for the sup-ply of the south-eastern part. Considerable improvements have been made by the Commissioners "for opening wide and convenient streets," appointed under an act of the 31st of George II., whose powers were subsequently extended by various successive acts till the 51st of George III. Their funds, till recently, were derived from a tonnage upon coal and a local rate, called " the wide street tax," the former of which ceased in 1832, and the funds arising from the latter amount to about £5500 per ann. Among the chief improvements are the opening of a passage from the Castle to Essex bridge, an enlargement of the avenue from the same place to the Parliament House (now the Bank of Ireland), the opening of Westmoreland-street and Sackville-street, the clearing away the buildings that interfered with the free thoroughfare along the quays on both sides of the river, the entrance into the city by Great Brunswick-street, besides various improvements in the vicinity of the cathedrals of Christ-Church and St. Patrick. In short, the city may be said to have been new-moulded since the year 1760, through the instrumentality of this Board, as there is no portion of it which does not exhibit in a greater or smaller degree the results of its labours in improvements tending to augment its beauty or to add to its salubrity. A circular road nearly nine miles in circuit, carried round the city, affords great facilities of communication throughout all the outlets, and also walks and drives of much beauty. Some portions of this road, however, particularly on the southern side, are already absorbed into the city by the continued extension of the streets; and most of the other parts, particularly on the eastern side, are likely, from the same cause, shortly to lose their distinguishing characteristic of an encircling avenue. On the north side of this road is the Royal Canal, and on the south, the Grand Canal; both terminating in docks near the mouth of the Liffey: and beyond these are, on the north, a small river called the Tolka, formerly called Tulkan and Tolekan, which empties itself into the sea at Ballybough bridge; and on the south, the river Dodder, which, curving northward, terminates with the Liffey at the harbour, forming two striking natural boundaries towards which the city is gradually extending itself. The city is now closely connected with the harbour of Kingstown by a railway formed under an act of parliament of the 1st and 2nd of William IV., which was opened in Dec. 1834. The number of passengers conveyed upon it during the months of May, June, July, and August, 1836, was 523,080 : the greatest number conveyed in one day was 13,000.
In addition to the splendid line of communication afforded by the quays on both sides of the river, there are several noble avenues of fine streets, among which, that from the northern road is peculiarly striking, especially on entering Sackville-street, which is conspicuous for its great width, the magnificence and beauty of the public buildings which embellish it, and the lofty monument to Admiral Viscount Nelson, which stands in its centre. It consists of a fluted Doric column on a massive pedestal, inscribed on each side with the name and date of his lordship's principal victories, and over that which terminated his career is a sarcophagus : the whole is surmounted with a colossal statue of the Admiral, surrounded by a balustrade, to which there is an ascent by a spiral staircase in the interior. The structure was completed at an expense of nearly £7000. On the southern side of the city, the avenue from Kingstown is equally imposing. Both meet in College-green, a spacious area surrounded with noble buildings, and having in its centre an equestrian statue of William. III., of cast metal, upon a pedestal of marble. Of the public squares, St. Stephens-green, situated in the south-eastern quarter, is the most spacious, being nearly a mile in circuit: in the centre is an equestrian statue of George II., finely executed in brass by Van Nost; Merrion-square, to the east of the former, is about three-quarters of a mile in circuit; on the west the lawn of the Royal Dublin Society. Fitzwilliam-square has been recently built and is much smaller than either of the others; the houses are built with much uniformity in a neat but unornamented style; some of them have basements of granite and the upper stories of brick. Mountjoy-square, in an elevated and healthy situation in the north-eastern part of the city, is more than half a mile in circuit; the houses are uniformly built and present an appearance very similar to those in Fitzwilliam-square. Rutland-square is on the north side of the river, at the upper end of Sackville-street: three sides of it are formed by Gran-by-row, Palace-row, and Cavendish-row, the fourth by the Lying-in Hospital and the Rotundo. The areas of the several squares are neatly laid out in gravel walks and planted with flowering shrubs and evergreens. A line drawn from the King's Inns, in the north of Dublin, through Capel-street, the Castle and Aungier-street, thus intersecting the Liffey at right angles, would, together with the line of that river, divide the city into four districts, strongly opposed to each other in character and appearance. The south-eastern district, including St. Stephen's-green, Merrion-square, and Fitzwilliam-square, is chiefly inhabited by the nobility, the gentry, and the members of the liberal professions. The north-eastern district, including Mount-joy and Rutland-squares, is principally inhabited by the mercantile and official classes. The south-western district, including the liberties of St. Sepulchre and Thomas-court, and formerly the seat of the woollen and silk manufactures, is in a state of lamentable dilapidation, bordering on ruin : and the north-western district; in which are the Royal barracks and Smithfield (the great market for hay and cattle), presents striking indications of poverty.
BRIDGES.
The Liffey is embanked on both sides by a range of masonry of granite, forming a continuation of spacious quays through the whole of the city, and its opposite sides are connected with nine bridges, eight of which are of elegant design and highly ornamental. Carlisle bridge, the nearest to the sea, and connecting Westmoreland-street on the south with Sackville-street on the north, is a very elegant structure of three arches : it is 210 feet in length and 48 feet in breadth, and was completed in 1794. Wellington bridge, at the end of Liffey-street, 140 feet long, consists of a single elliptic arch of cast iron, and was erected in 1816, for the
accommodation of foot passengers only, at an expense of £3000, which is defrayed by a halfpenny toll. Essex bridge, connecting Capel-street with Parliament-street, and fronting the Royal Exchange, was built in 1755, on the site of a former structure of the same name, at an expense of £20,661; it is a handsome stone structure of five arches, 250 feet in length and 51 in width, after the model of Westminster bridge, London. Richmond bridge, built on the site of Ormond bridge, which had been swept away by a flood, was commenced in 1813; it connects Winetavern-street with Montrath-street, and was completed at an expense of £25,800, raised by presentments on the city and county, and opened to the public on St. Patrick's day, 1816; it is built of Portland stone, with a balustrade of cast iron, and is 220 feet long and 52 feet wide, consisting of three fine arches, the keystones of which are ornamented with colossal heads, on the one side representing Peace, Hibernia," and Commerce; and on the other, Plenty, the river Liffey, and Industry. Whitworth bridge supplies the place of the old bridge built by the Dominican friars, which had been for a long time the only communication between the city and its northern suburbs : the first stone was laid in 1816, by the Earl of Whitworth, then lord-lieutenant; it is an elegant structure of three arches, connecting Bridge-street with Church-street. Queen's bridge, a smaller structure of three arches of hewn stone, connecting Bridgefoot-street with Queen-street, is only 140 feet in length : it was built in 1768, on the site of Arran bridge, which was destroyed by a flood in 1763. Barrack bridge, formerly Bloody bridge, connecting Watling-street with the quay leading to the royal barracks, was originally constructed of wood, in 1671, and subsequently rebuilt, of stone. King's bridge, of which the first stone was laid by the Marquess Wellesley in 1827, connects the military road with the south-eastern entrance to the Phoenix Park, affording to the lord-lieutenant a retired and pleasant avenue from the Castle to his country residence; it consists of a single arch of cast iron, 100 feet in span, resting on abutments of granite richly ornamented, and was completed at an expense of £13,000, raised for the purpose of erecting a national testimonial in commemoration of the visit of George IV. to Ireland, in 1821. Sarah bridge, formerly Island bridge, but when rebuilt in its present form named after the Countess of Westmoreland, who laid the foundation stone in 1791, is a noble structure of a single arch, 104 feet in span, the keystone of which is 30 feet above low water mark : this bridge connects the suburban village of Island-Bridge with the north-western road and with one of the entrances to the Phoenix Park; from the peculiar elegance of its proportions, it has been distinguished by the name of the " Irish Rialto."
MANUFACTURE, TRADE, AND COMMERCE.
The woollen manufacture was carried on in Ireland at a very early period, and attained considerable celebrity both in the English and continental markets; but its first establishment in connection with Dublin did not take place till after the Revolution, when a number of English manufacturers, attracted by the excellent quality of the Irish wool, the cheapness of provisions, and the low price of labour, established regular and extensive factories in the liberties of the city. Soon afterwards the Coombe, Pimlico, Spitalfields, Weavers'-square, and the neighbouring streets, chiefly in the Liberties of the city, were built; and this portion of the metropolis was then inhabited by persons of opulence and respectability: but the English legislature, considering the rapid growth of the woollen manufacture of Ireland prejudicial to that of England, prevailed on King William to discourage it, in consequence of which the Liberties, by the removal of the more opulent manufacturers, soon fell into decay. The trade, however, continued to linger in that neighbourhood and even to revive in some degree by being taken, in 1773, under the protection of the Dublin Society; insomuch that, in 1792, there were 60 master clothiers, 400 broad cloth looms, and 100 narrow looms in the Liberties, giving employment to upwards of 5000 persons; but the effect was transitory : ever since, the trade has progressively declined, being at present confined to the manufacture of a few articles for home consumption. The working weavers suffered still further from the loss of time and suspension of their labours, caused by the necessity of tentering their cloths in the open air, which could only be performed during fine weather. To remedy this inconvenience, Mr. Pleasants, a philanthropic gentleman of large fortune, erected at his own cost a tenter-house near the Weavers'-square, in which that process might be performed in all states of the weather : the expense of its erection was nearly £13,000; a charge of 2s. 6d. is made on every piece of cloth, and 5d. on every chain of warp, brought in. The linen manufacture was carried on at a very early period for domestic consumption, long before it became the great staple of the country; in the latter point of view it owes its extension chiefly to the Earl of Strafford, who during his lieutenancy embarked £30,000 of his private property in its establishment. After the depression of the woollen trade, great encouragement was given by parliament to the linen manufacture as a substitute; and in the 8th of Queen Anne an act was passed appointing trustees, selected from among the most influential noblemen and gentlemen of large landed property in each of the four provinces, for the management and disposal of the duties granted by that statute for its promotion; and in 1728 a spacious linen hall was erected by a grant of public money under the direction of the Government, from whom the offices and warehouses are rented by the occupants : the sales commence every morning at 9 o'clock and close at 4 in the afternoon, but though the linen manufacture is still extensively carried on in some parts of Ireland, very little is made in the immediate vicinity of the city, and the sales at the hall are consequently much diminished. The cotton manufacture was first introduced about the year 1760, and was greatly promoted by Mr. R. Brook, who in 1779 embarked a large capital in the enterprise; it was further encouraged by grants from parliament and carried on with varying success in the neighbourhood of the city. Since the withdrawing of the protecting duties the trade has progressively declined in Dublin, and may now be considered as nearly extinct there.
The silk manufacture was introduced by the French refugees who settled here after the revocation of the Edict of Nantz; and an act of parliament was soon after passed by which the infant manufacture was placed under the direction of the Dublin Society. This body established an Irish silk-warehouse in Parliament-street, the management of which was vested in a board of 12 noblemen (who were directors), and a committee of 12 persons annually chosen by the guild of Weavers, to examine the quality of the goods sent in by the manufacturers, and to whom the Dublin Society allowed a premium of 5 per cent. on all goods sold in the warehouse. While the trade was thus managed, the sales on an average amounted to £70,000 per annum, and the manufacture attained a high degree of perfection; but by a subsequent act of parliament, passed in the 26th of George III., the society was prohibited from disposing of any portion of its funds for the support of an establishment in which Irish silks were sold, and from that period the silk-warehouse department was discontinued and the manufacture rapidly declined. However, the tabinets and poplins, for which Dublin had been so peculiarly celebrated, are still in request, not only in Great Britain, but in the American and other foreign markets; but the demand is limited, and the number engaged in the manufacture proportionably small. The tanning and currying of leather is carried on to a considerable extent; the number of master manufacturers in both branches exceeding 100. There are 16 iron foundries, in some of which are manufactured steam-engines and agricultural implements on an extensive scale : the number of brass foundries is 25. Cabinet-making is also carried on to a considerable extent. The same may be said of the coach-making trade; the demand for jaunting cars, a vehicle peculiar to the country, is very great. There are not less than 20 porter and ale breweries, several of which are on a very large scale, particularly the former, upwards of 120,000 barrels being brewed annually, a considerable portion of which is exported. There are 14 distilleries and rectifying establishments; some of these are likewise very extensive. There are also numerous establishments in the city and its vicinity for the manufacture and production of a variety of articles both for home consumption and exportation, amongst which may be noticed, flint glass, sail-cloth, canvas, turpentine, vitriol, vinegar, soap, starch, size, glue, paper, parchment, vellum, hats, also silk and calico-printing, and in Dublin is made the celebrated Lundyfoot snuff by Messrs. Lundy Foot & Co.
Several acts of parliament have at different periods been passed for improving the port of Dublin, the last of which, 26th of George III., constituted the present corporation for " preserving and improving the port of Dublin," commonly known by the name of the Ballast Board, in which was vested the care, management, and superintendence of the whole of the river and the walls bounding it. Its jurisdiction was subsequently extended by several successive acts; and the management of the port and harbour of Kingstown was also vested in this corporation; but in 1836, an act was passed by which the port was placed under the control of the Board of Works. The receipts on account of the port average about £30,000 per annum. The Ballast Board has the charge of all the lighthouses in Ireland, of which there are six connected with the port of Dublin.
The commerce of the port consists of various branches, of which the most important is the cross-channel trade, which has increased considerably, owing to the facilities afforded by steam navigation; the agricultural produce of the midland counties being brought hither for exportation, in return for which, groceries, and other commodities for domestic consumption are sent back. The first steam-boat that crossed the channel to this port was from Holyhead in 1816, but it was not till 1824 that steam-boats were employed in the transmission of merchandise : the passage by steam to Liverpool is performed on the average in 14, to London in SO, to Bristol in 24, to Cork in 20, to Belfast in 14, and to Glasgow in 24 hours. The City of Dublin Steam-packet Company, in 1824, was the first that introduced a line of packets between this port and Liverpool, also in 1825 between this port and Belfast, for the conveyance of passengers and merchandise : the capital of this company amounts to £450,000, subscribed in £50 and £100 shares, of which £350,000 is held by Dublin shareholders. It employs 18 vessels between this port and Liverpool and Belfast; nine on the river Shannon, and in the summer a vessel to Bordeaux; also 52 trade boats on the Grand and Royal Canals. Besides the above company, there are the Dublin and London Steam Marine Company, which has six vessels plying between this port and Falmouth, Plymouth, London, and Belfast; the St. George's Company, which has a vessel each to Cork, Bristol, and Greenock; also in the summer one to Whitehaven, calling at Douglas (Isle of Man); the British and Irish Steam-packet Company, which has two vessels plying between this port and Plymouth, London, and Belfast; and the Dublin and Glasgow Steam-packet Company, which has two vessels plying between this port and Glasgow and Cork: thus making 33 steam-packets trading from and to this port, from 250 to 800 tons' burden, and from 100 to 280-horse power each. The number of vessels that entered inwards at the port in the year ending Jan. 5th, 1792; was 2807, of the aggregate burden of 288,592 tons; in 1800, 2779, of 280,539 tons; in 1815, 3046, of 304,813 tons; and in 1823, 3412, of 363,685 tons. In the year ending Jan. 5th, 1836, the number of vessels that entered inwards was 34 foreign and 209 British, and that cleared outwards, 25 foreign and 107 British, exclusively of those that cleared out in ballast : during the same period, 3978 coasting vessels entered inwards and 1937 cleared outwards, exclusively of those which go out in ballast, chiefly to and from various parts of Great Britain; and 2087 colliers entered inwards, nearly the whole of which leave in ballast. The number of vessels belonging to the port in 1836 was 327. After the year 1824, no correct statement can be furnished of the imports and exports of Ireland, as the trade between that country and Great Britain was then placed on the footing of a coasting trade, and no entry was made at any custom-house except of goods on which duty was to be paid. Any statement of the quantities of corn, cattle, &c., now exported is, therefore, merely one of probable quantities. The principal articles of Irish produce and manufacture exported from Dublin for Great Britain, for the year ending Jan. 5th, 1831, were bacon, 7461 bales; barley, 10,093 barrels; wheat, 40,000 barrels; beef, 18,084 tierces; bere, 10,651 barrels; butter, 41,105 firkins; candles, 1701 boxes; eggs, 3300 crates; feathers, 1570 packs; flour, 10,356 sacks; hams, 88 casks; herrings, 259 casks; hides, 6781 bundles"; lard, 365 casks; leather, 693 bales; linen, 3648 boxes; malt 103 barrels; oats, 153,191 barrels; oatmeal, 16,482 bags; porter, 29,800 hogsheads; printed cottons, 2100 packages; whiskey, 800 puncheons; wool, 3500 packs; oxen, 69,500; pigs, 58,000; and sheep, 80,000. For some years previous to 1830, the quantity of tobacco imported had been diminished by the increased cultivation of that plant in Ireland, but the legislature prohibited the cultivation in 1833, and the importation of foreign tobacco has since greatly increased. The large quantity of soap imported in 1835 is attributable to a drawback allowed on exportation from Great Britain, which was found to exceed the excise duty previously paid. The duty has since been altered, and the importation of soap has been thereby diminished. In 1830, the quantity imported into all Ireland was 6,559,461 lb. of hard and 120,992 lb. of soft soap, the drawback allowed being £82,875. 9. 11. The quantities of the principal articles imported in the year ending Jan. 5th, 1836, were-coal, 340,000 tons, chiefly from Whitehaven and Scotland; soap, 3,350,000 lb.; coffee, 2200 packages; sugar, 15,000 hogsheads; tea, 52,500 chests; pepper, 2000 packages; spirits, 700 casks,--spirits (in bottle), 1200 cases; wine, 7100 casks,--wine (in bottle), 1500 cases; tobacco, 1150 hogsheads; deals, 2000 great hundreds; staves, 3500 great hundreds; and timber, 11,600 logs. There is no sugar-refinery in Dublin, although at one period the number was very considerable; all the refined sugar now used is imported from Great Britain. It will be perceived by the above statement that the direct foreign import trade is not so great as might be expected from the consumption of a large population; but the articles required can, by steam-vessels, be expeditiously brought from Liverpool, into which port they are imported, in many instances, on much lower terms than they could be imported into Dublin direct.
There is very little foreign export from Dublin. The trade with the Baltic in timber, staves, &c., is greatly diminished by the high rate of duty imposed and the low rate at which Canada timber is admitted. From St. Petersburgh, Riga, Archangel, &c., there is a considerable import of tallow, hemp, and tar, with some linseed, bristles, &c.; from Spain and Portugal the chief import is wine, with some corkwood, raisins, barilla, and bark; from France the imports are wine in wood and bottle, claret, champagne, &c., also corkwood, prunes, dried fruits, and some brandy; from the Netherlands the imports are bark and flax; from Holland, tobacco pipes, bark, cloves, and flax-seed, and small quantities of gin, Burgundy pitch, Rhenish wines, madder, &c. With the West Indies the trade is chiefly in sugar from Jamaica, Demerara, and Trinidad, estates in the last-named island being owned in Dublin. Coffee is imported in small quantities and also rum, but very little foreign spirits are consumed in Ireland, in consequence of the low price and encouragement given to the use of whiskey. Beef and pork in casks, and soap and candles in boxes, were formerly exported to the West Indies in large quantities, but the trade is now nearly lost in consequence of permission being given to the colonists to import these articles from Hamburgh, Bremen, &c., where they can be purchased at lower prices than in Ireland. To the United States of America formerly there was a very large export of linen, principally to New York, and flax-seed, staves, turpentine, cloverseed, &c., were brought back; but the bounty on the export of linen having been withdrawn, the trade between the United States and Dublin has greatly diminished. The export of linen and import of flax-seed is now chiefly confined to Belfast and other northern ports. The American tobacco which is either sold or consumed in Dublin is brought from Liverpool. With British America the trade is very great in timber, as a return cargo of vessels sailing thither from Dublin with emigrants. With Newfoundland there is no direct trade; the cod and seal oil consumed are imported from Liverpool or brought by canal from Waterford, which has a direct trade with Newfoundland; dried codfish and ling being much used in the southern counties, but not in the northern or midland. With China there are three vessels owned in Dublin, besides others engaged in the tea trade; the number of chests directly imported is, therefore, considerable. With South America there is no direct trade, the Dublin tanners being abundantly supplied with native hides, and any foreign hides required being brought from Liverpool, whence also is imported the cotton wool consumed in the Dublin factories. With Turkey the trade is confined to the importation from Smyrna of valonia, figs, raisins, and small quantities of other articles; madder-roots and emery-stone being always transhipped for Liverpool. With Leghorn there is a considerable trade for cork-tree bark, and small quantities of hemp in bales, oil, marble, &c., are also imported, but very little communication is kept up with Trieste or other Italian ports. With Sicily the trade is in shumac and brimstone; the latter article in considerable quantities for the consumption of vitriol and other chymical works.
The markets are under the superintendence of a jury; the sheriffs being required, under the 73rd sec. of the 1.3th and 14th of George III., cap. 22, to summon 48 of the most respectable citizens, of whom 24 are sworn in at the general quarter sessions, and any three are empowered to visit and examine the commodities, and report to the lord mayor, who is authorised to condemn the provisions, and impose a fine to the extent of £10. The principal wholesale market is in Smithfield, a narrow oblong area in the north-eastern part of the city, the site of which is the property of the corporation, as part of their manor of Oxmantown : the market days for the sale of black cattle and sheep are Monday and Thursday, and for hay and straw, Tuesday and Saturday. There is also a considerable market for hay, straw, potatoes, butter, fowls, and eggs, in Kevin-street, over which, though it is within the liberty of St. Sepulchre, and is alleged to be exempt from the corporate jurisdiction, the officers being appointed by the archbishop, the lord mayor claims a right of superintendence, and the weights and measures used there are sanctioned by his authority. The great market for the sale of potatoes is on the north side of the river, in Petticoat-lane; a small portion of the present site is corporate property, and was the ancient potatoe market of the city; it is now rented from the corporation by two persons, who are joint weighmasters and clerks of the market, under the lord mayor; the market is commodious, and the avenues to it convenient. The wholesale fish market is held in an enclosed yard in Boot-lane : there is also a wholesale fruit market in the Little Green, and one for eggs and fowls contiguous thereto in Halton-street. There are ten retail markets for butchers' meat, poultry, vegetables, and fish; namely, Northumberland market on Eden Quay, which is kept with peculiar neatness; Meath market, in the Earl of Meath's liberty; Ormond market, on Ormond quay; Castle market, between South Great-George's-street and William-street; Patrick's market, in Patrick-street; City market, in Blackhall-row; Clarendon market, in William-street; Fleet-market, in Townsend-street; Rotundo, or Norfolk-market, in Great-Britain-street; and Leinster-market, in D'Olier-street. The want of well regulated slaughterhouses, in situations which would prevent offensive exposure, is severely felt.
Fairs.--A fair is annually held at Donnybrook, about two miles from the city, but within the limits of the jurisdiction of the corporation, under several charters : the first, granted in the 16th of John, authorises its continuance for sixteen days, though of late years it has been limited to a week or eight days : it commences on Aug. 26th. The number of cattle sold is inconsiderable, as it is frequented more for purposes of amusement and conviviality than of business. The corporation have little interest in it, excepting the preservation of order; it yields the proprietor of the ground about £400 per annum. A fair is held in James'-street on St. James's day (July 25th), chiefly for pedlery. The fairs of Rathfarnham and Palmerstown, though beyond the limits of the corporate jurisdiction, are within that of the city police.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS CONNECTED WITH COMMERCE.
The Royal Exchange is situated on the ascent of Cork hill, near the principal entrance to the Castle, and also nearly opposite to Parliament-street. The building was completed in 1779, at the expense of £40,000, raised partly by parliamentary grants, partly by subscriptions, and partly by lotteries. It forms a square of 100 feet, presenting three fronts, the fourth side being concealed by the adjoining buildings of the castle. The ground plan of the interior represents a circle within a square. The circle is formed by twelve fluted columns of the composite order, forming a rotundo in the centre of the building; above their entablature is an attic, ten feet high, having a circular window corresponding with each of the subjacent intercolumniations, and above the attic rises a hemispherical dome of very chaste proportions, crowned by a large circular light, which, together with the zone of windows immediately underneath, throws an ample volume of light into the body of the building. At the eastern and western ends of the north front are geometrical staircases leading to the coffee-room and other apartments now employed as courts for the Bankrupt Commission, meeting-rooms for the trustees, and accommodations for inferior officers. In the lower hall is a fine marble statue of the late Henry Grattan, and on the staircase leading to the coffee-room another of Dr. Lucas, who preceded Grattan in the career of patriotism. The increase of commercial business since the erection of this building having required additional accommodation in a situation more convenient for mercantile transactions, the Exchange has been gradually deserted and the meetings held there transferred to the Commercial Buildings in College-green. The Commercial Buildings form a plain but substantial square of three stories, constituting the sides of a small quadrangle and wholly unornamented except in the principal front to College-green, which is of hewn stone and has a central entrance supported by Ionic columns. On the left of the grand entrance-hall and staircase is a news-room, 60 feet long and 28 feet wide, occupied by the members of the Chamber of Commerce (established in 1820 to protect and improve the commerce of the city); and on the right is a handsome coffee-room, connected with that part of the building which is used as an hotel. The north side of the quadrangle is occupied by the Stock Exchange and merchants' offices, and on the east and west are offices for the brokers. It was built by a proprietary of 400 £50 shareholders, and was completed in 1799, under the superintendence of Mr. Parkes. The Corn Exchange was built by merchants who were incorporated in 1815, under the designation of the " Corn Exchange Buildings' Company," with leave to augment their capital to £15,000; the business is managed by a committee of 15 directors. The building, which is two stories high, has a neat front of mountain granite towards Burgh Quay; the interior contains a hall, 130 feet long, separated longitudinally from walks on each side by a range of cast iron pillars supporting a cornice, which is continued round the inner hall and surmounted by an attic perforated with circular windows; the hall is furnished with tables for displaying samples of grain, and in the front of the building is a large room on the upper story for public dinners or meetings of societies, by the rent of which and of the tables the interest of the capital, estimated at £25,000, is paid. The Ouzel Galley Society was established in 1705 for the arbitration of differences respecting trade and commerce. - The arbitrators must be members of the society, who are among the principal merchants in the city : the surplus of expenses incurred in this court are appropriated to the benefit of decayed merchants.
The Bank of Ireland was established in 1783, under an act of parliament, with a capital of £600,000, which, on a renewal of the charter in 1791, was increased to £1,000,000, and by subsequent renewals, the last in 1821, the bank was authorised to enlarge its capital to £3,000,000. The proprietors are incorporated by the name of "The Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland," and the establishment is under the management of a governor, who must be a proprietor of £4000 stock, a deputy-governor, holding £3000, and 15 directors holding £2000 each; all these are elected by the court of proprietors, and five directors must vacate annually, but not in rotation. Agencies have been established in most of the principal cities and towns in Ireland, and connections have been formed with the Bank of England and the Royal Bank of Scotland, for facilitating the transmission of money. The building is nearly of a semicircular form, and stands on an acre and a half of ground, and previously to the Union was occupied as the Parliament House. The principal front consists of a colonnade of the Ionic order extending round three sides of a quadrangular recess, and supporting an entablature and cornice surmounted by an attic, which is broken only in the central range by a projecting portico of four columns of the same order, sustaining a triangular pediment, in the tympanum of which are the royal arms, and on the apex a statue of Hibernia, with one of Fidelity on the right, and of Commerce on the left extremity of the attic. The east front, in College-street, has a noble portico of six Corinthian columns projecting far into the surrounding area, and supporting an enriched cornice surmounted by a triangular pediment, on the apex of which is a statue of Fortitude, with Justice at one end and a figure of Liberty at the other: this portico, which differs from the style of architecture of the rest of the structure, was formerly the entrance to the House of Lords. The west front, which faces Foster-place, has in the centre an Ionic portico of four columns, supporting an entablature and cornice crowned with a triangular pediment, corresponding in style with the principal front. Within the central portico are two entrances leading to the Cash office, communicating at each end with corridors leading to the various offices in the establishment. This part of the building stands on the site of the former House of Commons. The former House of Lords, which remains unaltered, is now appropriated to the use of the court of proprietors; it is of rectangular form, with a semicircular recess at one extremity, in which the throne was placed, and in which has since been set up a statue of white marble of George III. In the rear of the interior is a department for printing the bank notes, the machinery of which is wholly worked by steam, and arranged with such ingenuity as in a great measure to baffle any attempt at forgery, and at the same time to add greatly to the expedition with which the process of printing is carried on, while it likewise affords a check upon the workmen employed, by means of a self-acting register, which indicates the quantity of work done and the actual state of that in progress at any moment required. The Hibernian Joint Stock Banking Company is managed by a governor, deputy-governor, and 7 directors; it transacts business at a house in Castle-street, built for the late private banking establishment of Lord Newcomen. The Provincial Bank of Ireland is managed by a court of directors in London, and has an office in William-street and agencies throughout the country parts. The National Bank of Ireland was formed under the provisions of the same act, with a capital of two millions subscribed in London and Ireland, to be applied to the support of banking establishments connected with it in Ireland, by contributing to each a sum equal to that locally subscribed; it has also branches in the principal towns. The private banking establishments are those of La Touche and Co., Castle-street; Ball and Co , Henry-street;" Boyle and Co., College-green; and the Royal Bank, Foster-place. There are two Savings' Banks, both formed in 1818, one in Meath-street, the other in Cuffe-street, in St. Peter's parish. The former has two branches in Marlborough-street and at the Linen-hall, by which the benefits of the system have been extended to the northern division of the city. The Money Order office, held in the general post-office, furnishes means for the secure transmission of small sums. The Custom-house is a stately structure of the Doric order, situated on the north bank of the Liffey, below Carlisle bridge. It was erected under the superintendence of Mr. Gandon, in 1794, at an expense of £397,232. 4. 11., which the requisite furniture and subsequent enlargements have increased to upwards of half a million sterling. The building is 375 feet in length and 205 feet in depth, and has four fronts, of which the south is entirely of Portland stone, and the others of mountain granite. On the east of the custom-house is a wet dock capable of receiving 40 vessels, and along the quay is a range of spacious warehouses. Beyond these an extensive area, enclosed with lofty walls, contains a second wet dock, consisting of two basins, the outer 300 feet by 250 and the inner 650 by 300; still further eastward, and on the same line with the principal building, are the tobacco and general warehouses, the latter of which were burnt down in 1833, but have been rebuilt. The business of the customs and excise for all Ireland was transacted in the custom-house, until the consolidation of the boards of Customs and Excise into one general board in London, since which period it has been confined to that of the Dublin district, and a great part of the building is applied to the accommodation of the following departments :--the Stamp Office; the Commissariat; the Board of Works; the Record Office for documents connected with the Vice-Treasurer's Office; the Quit-Rent Office; and the Stationery Office. The amount of duties paid in 1836, for goods imported and exported, was £898,630. 5. 1.; and the excise duties of the Dublin district during the same period amounted to £419,935. 14. 4 1/2.
The General Post-Office, situated in Sackville-street, is a very fine building of granite, 223 feet in length, 150 feet in depth, and three stories high. In the centre of the front is a boldly projecting portico of six fluted Ionic columns supporting an entablature and cornice, which are continued round the building and surmounted by a triangular pediment, in the tympanum of which are the Royal arms, and on the apex a figure of Hibernia, with one of Mercury on the right, and of Fidelity on the left; the whole of the building is crowned with a fine balustrade rising above the cornice. This structure was raised under the direction of Mr. Francis Johnston, architect, at an expense of £50,000. Over the mantel-piece in the Board-room is a marble bust of Earl Whitworth, by whom the first stone was laid in 1815. The establishment, which had been under the direction of two postmasters-general, was, in 1831, consolidated with the English post-office, and placed under the control of the postmaster-general of the united kingdom. Letters are delivered throughout the city three times a day by the penny post department, and once a day to 17 stations within 12 miles of it on payment of two pence.
LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.
The Royal Dublin Society originated, in 1731, in the private meetings of a few scientific gentlemen, among whom were Dr. Price and Dr. Madden, and was supported entirely by their own contributions until the year 1749, when they were incorporated by royal charter, under the name of " the Dublin Society for promoting husbandry and other useful arts in Ireland," and received an annual grant of £500, which was gradually augmented to £10,000, until lately, when it has been reduced to £5000. It is under the patronage of the king and the lord-lieutenant (the latter being president), and there are seven vice-presidents, two honorary secretaries, and an assistant secretary. The literary and scientific department consists of a professor of botany and agriculture, a professor of chymistry, a professor of mineralogy and geology, a librarian, teachers of landscape, figure, and ornamental drawing and of sculpture, and a curator of the botanic garden. The society, which in 1821 was honoured with the designation of "Royal," held its meetings in Shaws-court till 1767, when the members removed to a building which they had erected in Grafton-street, whence, in 1796, they removed to Hawkins-street, where they erected an edifice for their repository, laboratory, library, and galleries; and in 1815 they purchased, for £20,000, the spacious and splendid mansion of the Duke of Leinster, in Kildare-street. This building is 140 feet in length and 70 in depth, and is approached from the street by a massive gateway of rusticated masonry : the principal front is of the Corinthian order, richly embellished; before it is a spacious court, and in the rear an extensive lawn fronting Merrion-square. The entrance-hall is enriched with casts taken from figures by the first masters, and there are also several busts executed by artists who had been pupils of the society. The library, in the east wing, is 64 feet long and 24 feet wide, and is surrounded by a light gallery; it contains 12,000 volumes, and is rich in botanical works. The museum occupies six rooms, containing miscellaneous curiosities, specimens of animals, mineralogy, geology, &c.; the specimens of the mineralogical department are classified on the Wernerian system. The lecture-room is capable of accommodating 400 auditors. The apartments for the use of members are all on the ground-floor. The drawing schools occupy a range of detached buildings; they are appropriately fitted up, and are attended by 200 pupils. The botanical studies are under the direction of a professor, who delivers lectures both at the Society house and in the botanic gardens at Glasnevin. These are about a mile from the city, occupying a space of more than 27 acres, watered by the Tolka, and containing every requisite variety of soil for botanical purposes. The garden is formed into subdivisions for agricultural and horticultural specimens : it has the house of the professor and the lecture-rooms near the entrance, and is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays; the admission is free, as also to the lectures, schools, and museum. The Royal Irish Academy was instituted, in 1782, by a number of gentlemen, members of the University, chiefly to promote the study of polite literature, science, and antiquities, and was incorporated in 1786 : it is assisted in its objects by a parliamentary grant of £300 per annum, and honoured with the patronage of the King; and is under the superintendence / of a visiter (who is the lord-lieutenant for the time being), a president, four vice-presidents and a council of 21, a treasurer, librarian, and two secretaries. Its literary management is entrusted to three committees, respectively superintending the departments of science, polite literature, and antiquities. At the annual meetings premiums, accruing from the interest of £1500 bequeathed by Col. Burton Conyngham, are awarded for the best essays on given subjects, for which persons not members of the academy may become competitors; the successful essays are sometimes published in the transactions of the academy, of which 17 volumes in quarto have already appeared. The library contains some very valuable manuscripts relating to Ireland: the large room for meetings of the academy is embellished with portraits of their presidents.
LIBRARIES.
The Library of Trinity College, by much the largest not only in Dublin but in Ireland, is described under the head of the institution of which it forms a portion : the King's Inns library is also noticed in like manner. St. Patrick's or Marsh's library was founded by Dr. Narcissus Marsh, archbishop of Dublin, in the vicinity of St. Patrick's cathedral; it contains the celebrated Dr. Stillingfleet's collection and some manuscripts. The apartment for the books consists of two galleries meeting at a right angle, in which is the librarian's room. The library is open on liberal terms, a certificate or letter of introduction from some respectable and well-known character being all that is required: it is under the government of trustees appointed by act of parliament. The Dublin Library Society originated in the meeting of a few individuals at a bookseller's in Dame-street to read newspapers and periodicals. Having formed a regular society, a library was opened, in 1791, in Eustace-street, which was removed in 1809 to Burgh-quay, and finally, in 1820, to a building in D'Olier-street, erected for the special purpose, by shares. The building is plain but elegant, and contains a spacious apartment for the library, another for newspapers and periodicals, and a few smaller rooms for committees and house officers. The public rooms are ornamented with busts of. John Philpot Curran, Daniel O'Connell, Henry Grattan, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, and Dean Kirwan, and with portraits of the first Earl of Charlemont and of Curran. The medical libraries of the College of Surgeons and Sir Patrick Dun's hospital are well selected and rapidly increasing. Steevens's Hospital, the Royal Hospital, Christ-Church, and Strand-street Meeting-house have each a collection of books, none of any great extent. The private library of the Earl of Charlemont is highly worthy of notice. It is contained in a building attached to the town residence in Palace-row : the entrance to it is by a long gallery, ornamented with antique busts, vases, and altars, which opens into a large vestibule lighted by a lantern, which contains the works on antiquities and numismatics, and has in a recess the statue of Venus and eight busts of ancient and modern characters of celebrity. The principal library contains a fine and well-selected collection of ancient and modern writers on most departments of literature and some of science, very judiciously and happily arranged; also some manuscripts, and an unique collection of Hogarth's engravings, mostly proofs. Over the chimney-piece is a fine bust of Homer. Attached to the library is a small museum, a medal room, and a smaller library of very elegant proportions, containing busts of the Earl of Rockingham and General Wolfe.
SURGICAL AND MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS.
The Royal College of Surgeons was incorporated in 1784, for the purpose of establishing a " liberal and extensive system of surgical education :" a parliamentary grant was afterwards conferred on it for providing the necessary accommodations. Sums amounting in the whole to £35,000 were granted for erecting and furnishing the requisite buildings; besides which, £6000, the accumulated excess of the receipts over the disbursements of the college, were expended in 1825 in the addition of a museum. The front of the building, which is situated on the west side of St. Stephen's-green, has a rusticated basement story, from which rises a range of Doric columns supporting a tier of seven large windows, the four central columns being surmounted by a triangular pediment, on which are statues of Minerva, Esculapius and Hygeia. The interior contains a large board-room, a library, an apartment for general meetings, an examination hall, with several committee-rooms and offices, four theatres for lectures, a spacious dissecting-room with several smaller apartments, and three museums, the largest of which, 84 feet by 30, with a gallery, contains a fine collection of preparations of human and comparative anatomy; the second, with two galleries, contains preparations illustrative of pathology and a collection of models in wax, presented by the Duke of Northumberland when lord-lieutenant; and the third, attached to the anatomical theatre, contains a collection for the illustration of the daily courses of lectures. The College consists of a president, vice-president, six censors, twelve assistants, secretaries, members, and licentiates. Candidates for a diploma must produce certificates of attendance on some school of medicine and surgery for five years, and of attendance at a surgical hospital for three years, and must pass four half-yearly examinations, and a final examination for letters testimonial in the presence of the members and licentiates on two days : rejected candidates have a right of appeal to a court constituted for the purpose, which is frequently resorted to. Attached to the school are two professors of anatomy and physiology, two of surgery, a professor of chymistry, one of the practice of medicine, one of materia medica, one of midwifery, and one of medical jurisprudence, with four anatomical demonstrators; the lectures commence on the last Monday in October, and close on the last day of April.
The College of Physicians was first incorporated in the reign of Chas II., but the charter being found insufficient, was surrendered in 1692, and a more ample charter was granted by William and Mary, under the designation of the King and Queen's College of Physicians in Ireland. This charter, which conferred considerable privileges, was partly confirmed by successive acts - of parliament, which gave the society authority to summon all medical practitioners for examination, to inspect the shops and warehouses of apothecaries, druggists, and chymists, and to destroy all articles for medical use which are of bad quality : it has also a principal share in the superintendence of the School of Physic. No person can be a member of the College who has not graduated in one of the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, or Dublin. The officers of the college consist of a president, vice-president, four censors, a registrar, and a treasurer; the members hold their meetings at Sir Patrick Dun's hospital, of whose bequests for the promotion of medical science they are trustees. The School of Physic is partly under the control of the Board of the University, and partly under that of the College of Physicians; the professorships of anatomy, chymistry, and botany being in the appointment of the University, who elect the professors, thence called University professors; those of the practice of medicine, the institutes of medicine, and of the materia medica, called King's professors, derive their appointment and their salaries from the College of Physicians, being chosen by ballot from among the members of that body. The University professors deliver their lectures in Trinity College, and the King's professors in Sir Patrick Dun's hospital. No candidate is qualified for a degree in medicine until he has attended the six courses, and six months at Sir Patrick Dun's clinical hospital.
The School of Pharmacy. Previously to the company of the Apothecaries' Hall having been incorporated, the shops were supplied by the druggists, without any check on the quality of the medical articles supplied. To remedy this defect an act was passed, in 1791, incorporating a body under the title of the "Governor and Company of the Apothecaries' Hall," by whom a building was erected in Mary-street (a respectable edifice of brick, with a basement of hewn stone) for the preparation and sale of drugs, unadulterated and of the best quality, and for the delivery of courses of lectures on chymistry, the materia medica, pharmacy, botany, and the practice of physic, and for the examination of candidates for a diploma to practise as apothecaries. The establishment consists of a governor, deputy-governor, treasurer, secretary, and thirteen directors. Candidates for apprenticeship must undergo an examination in Greek and Latin, and those for the rank of master apothecary must produce certificates of attendance on a course of each of the following departments of medicine; chymistry, materia medica and pharmacy, medical botany, anatomy, and physiology, and the theory and practice of medicine. The diploma of the society of Apothecaries of London also, by the rules of the Dublin company, qualifies the holder to practise in Ireland. The School of Anatomy, Medicine, and Surgery, in Park-street, Merrion-square, established in 1824 by a society of surgeons and physicians, contains a museum, a chymical laboratory, an office and reading-room, a lecture-room capable of accommodating 200 persons, a dissecting-room, and rooms for preparations. Private medical schools are numerous, and, combined with the public institutions, and