CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



General Assembly 's Theological College, Belfast. 

 The majority of Irish Presbyterian ministers 

 are educated in this institution. Previous to the 

 passing of the Irish Church Act in 1869, six pro- 

 fessors were maintained by a parliamentary grant 

 of ^1750 a year, leaving .250 for expenses of 

 management. On the passing of the act, govern- 

 ment granted .43,976 as compensation for with- 

 drawal of the annuity ; and the interest of this 

 sum, with the interest of 5000 raised by subscrip- 

 tion, with the fees of the students, constitute the 

 annual income of the college. The Magee College, 

 Londonderry, was opened on October 10, 1865. 

 It was endowed in 1846 with .20,000, by Mrs 

 Magee, widow of the late Rev. William Magee, 

 Presbyterian minister of Lurgan. The Irish 

 Society have granted an annual endowment of 

 .250 to the chair of Natural Philosophy and 

 Mathematics, and .250 for five years towards 

 the general expenses of the college. The Rev. 

 Richard Dill, who died in 1858, bequeathed 5000 

 to establish two Professorships, and 1000 for two 

 Bursaries ; also his books and the rest of his 

 property, worth about ,5000 more. No religious 

 test is prescribed to students either on entering or 

 on graduating ; but the professors are required by 

 the General Assembly to sign the Westminster 

 Confession of Faith. The College of St Columba, 

 near Dublin, was founded for the purpose of 

 establishing, under the management of a col- 

 legiate body, a system of instruction preparatory 

 for the university. 



National Schools. In 1831, grants of public 

 money were made for the education of the poor, 

 and intrusted, under the Lord-lieutenant, to ' the 

 Commissioners of National Education.' In 1845, 

 the Commissioners were incorporated, under the 

 title of ' The Commissioners of National Education 

 in Ireland,' and adequate powers conferred on 

 them. The principles on which they act are : that 

 the schools shall be open to Christians of all sects ; \ 

 that no pupil shall be required to attend any 

 religious exercise, or to receive any religious 

 instruction, which his parents or guardians do not 

 approve of; and that sufficient opportunity shall 

 be given to the pupils of each religious persuasion 

 to receive separately, at appointed times, such 

 religious instruction as their parents or guardians 

 think proper. The following table exhibits the 

 growth of the system since 1833 : 



Number of pupils of each religious denomina- ; 

 tion on the rolls of the National Schools on 3ist ' 

 December 1881 : Protestant Episcopal Church of | 

 Ireland, 101,401 (9-5 per cent.) ; Roman Catholic 

 841,184 (78-9 per cent.); Presbyterian, 113,242 

 (10-6 per cent) ; other persuasions, 10,432 (i per 

 cent.). 



ANTIQUITIES, ETC. 



Tumuli or cairns, dolmens and cromlechs, are 

 common to Ireland, with the neighbouring island 

 and other parts of the world (see the No. on 

 ARCHAEOLOGY). One of the most remarkable 



366 



' chambered' cairns known is that at New Grange, 

 on the banks of the Boyne, near Drogheda, in 

 Ireland. It is 400 paces in circumference, and 

 about 80 feet high, and is supposed to contain. 

 180,000 tons of stones. In 1699, it was described 

 by Edward Llhwyd, the Welsh antiquary, as ' a 

 mount or barrow, of very considerable height,, 

 encompassed with vast stones, pitched on end,, 

 round the bottom of it, and having another, lesser,, 

 standing on the top.' This last pillar has disap- 

 peared ; of the outer ring of pillars, ten still 

 remain, placed at about ten yards one from 

 another. ' The cairn,' says Mr Wakeman in his 

 Archaologia Hibernica (Dublin, 1848), 'in its 

 present ruinous condition, presents the appear- 

 ance of a grassy hill partially wooded ; but, upon 

 examination, the coating of earth is found to be 

 altogether superficial, and in several places the 

 stones, of which the hill is entirely composed, are 

 laid bare. The opening [which is nearly square, 

 and lined by large flags] was accidentally dis- 

 covered about the year 1699. The gallery, of 

 which it is the external entrance, communicates 

 with a [dome-roofed] chamber or cave nearly in 

 the centre of the mound. This gallery, which 

 measures in length about 50 feet, is, at its 

 entrance, 4 feet high ; in breadth about 3 feet. 

 Towards the interior, its size gradually increases ; 

 and its height, where it forms the chamber, is 18 

 feet The chamber is cruciform, the head and 

 arms of the cross being formed by three recesses 

 each containing a basin of granite. The sides 

 of these recesses are composed of immense blocks 

 of stone, several of which bear a great variety of 

 carving, supposed by some to be symbolical. The 

 majority of these carvings must have been exe- 

 cuted before the stones had been placed in their 

 present positions. The length of the passage and 

 chamber from north to south is 75 feet, and the 

 breadth of the chamber from east to west 20 feet. 

 Of the urns or basins in the recesses, that to- 

 the east is the most remarkable. It is formed 

 of a block of granite, and appears to have been, 

 set upon, or rather, within, another of some- 

 what larger dimensions.' The Irish antiquaries 

 believe that the chambered cairn of New Grange 

 ' the Cave of Achadh Aldai,' as it was called,, 

 from Aldai, the ancestor of the Tuatha De Danaam 

 kings was opened and rifled by the Norsemen 

 in 862. About a mile from it, on either side, are 

 other two cairns of nearly equal size, named. 

 Knowth and Dowth. The latter was opened in 

 1847, and found to contain a gallery, a cruciform 

 chamber, a basin or sarcophagus, and carved 

 stones, all of the same type as those of New 

 Grange. 



Amongst the earliest and peculiar antiquities- 

 of Ireland, are the low Stone-roofed Buildings + 

 with high wedge-shaped roofs : of these, a few still- 

 exist at Kells, Kildare, Ardmore, and Killaloe. 

 The most remarkable relics of the olden times of 

 Ireland are the lofty Roimd Towers, of which,, 

 perfect and imperfect, iiShave been enumerated 

 in various parts of the kingdom. They are built 

 with a wonderful uniformity of plan. They are all 

 circular, of small diameter, and great altitude. Of 

 the excellence of the masonry, a proof was given 

 by the Tower of Mahera, which, in consequence 

 of having been undermined, was blown down,, 

 and lay, at length and entire upon the ground, 

 like a huge gun, without breaking to pieces, so- 





