* IRELAND. 345 



the centre, as it were, of the four faces of the island con- 

 stitute the capitals. Dublin especially may justly be 

 considered as one of the finest cities of Europe ; its mag- 

 nificence astonishes a stranger ; but the rest of the country 

 contains few large towns, and the fields exhibit a heart- 

 rending poverty, which extends to the suburbs of the large 

 cities. Those harbours, lakes, and rivers, which might 

 carry life into every part of the country, are almost desti- 

 tute of trade. The gross agricultural production, at least 

 previously to 1847, amounted scarcely to one-half that 

 of England upon an equal surface, and the state of the 

 rural population was even worse than could be charged 

 to this difference in. production. Let us pause, in the 

 first place, at this period of her history, which is more 

 important here than for the rest of the United Kingdom. 

 Let us ascertain what was the condition at that time 

 both of her agriculture and her rural population, and 

 what were the causes producing it ; after that, I shall 

 proceed to notice what has occurred since. 



Of the four large provinces which once formed separate 

 kingdoms, Leinster is the richest in point of agriculture, and 

 in this division Dublin is situated next comes about one- 

 half of Ulster, in which is Belfast ; then Munster, where 

 we find Cork and Limerick ; and lastly Connaught, with 

 part of Ulster, one of the poorest and most barren tracts 

 of country in the world. In 1847, the relative produc- 

 tiveness of county Meath in Leinster, and county Mayo 

 in Connaught, was as ten to one ; in the former, rents 

 were 30s. per acre, which is equal to the best of the 

 English counties; and in the latter the rate was 3s. In 

 Ulster, counties Armagh, Down, and Antrim, surround- 

 ing Belfast, and in Munster, counties Limerick and 

 Tipperary, the most fertile in Ireland, rival Leinster in 

 productiveness ; but even in the richest districts the 



