M‘Sweeny, on the Climate of Ireland. 233 
only in the time of Boate, but also in the recollection of our own country people, 
snow, when it fell, was apt to remain a considerable time. ‘The inequalities on such 
ground, protect the snow from the rays of the sun. 
By paring and burning, lands of this description are every year brought into culti- 
vation. 
The history of the weather in Ireland shows its general mild and moist nature, 
what might be expected from the island’s locality, in regard to the Atlantic. The ya- 
pours of this ocean produce frequent rain ; this produces rivers and verdure. 
Well may Ireland be called— 
Land of brooks, and murmuring streams 
Of rivers wide, and verdant plains. 
Sir James Ware, in his Antiquities of Ireland, quotes the following character of 
the island from Alexander Nechamus. 
“ Fluminibus magnis letatur Hibernia.” 
Spencer, in his Fairy Queen, has described our rivers. 
“There was the Liffie rolling down the lea, 
The sandy Slane, the stony Au-brian 
The spacious Shenan spreading like a sea, 
The pleasant Boyne, the fishy fruitful Ban,” 
The general character of humidity and mildness of our climate, cannot be disproved 
by details of portions of cycles. ‘The same causes always produced the same effects. 
Ireland in every age excelled other countries in mildness of climate and in yerdure. 
