IRELAND 311 



pies of Christianity, and being inured and encouraged to industry and 

 labour, would have added considerable strength to government. 



The descendants of the English and Scots, since the conquest of 

 Ireland by Henry IU though not the most numerous, form the weal- 

 thiest part of the nation.. Of these are most of the nobility, gentry, 

 and principal traders, who inhabit the eastern and northern coasts, 

 where most of the trade of Ireland is carried on ; especially Belfast, 

 Londonderry, and other pains of the province of Ulster, which, 

 thocigh the poorest soil, is, nest to Dublin and its neighbourhood, by 

 far the best cultivated and most flourishing part of the kingdom. 

 Hert a colony of Scots in the reign of James I, and other presbyte- 

 liaiis who fled from persecution in that country in the succeeding 

 reigns, planted themselves, and established that great staple of Irish 

 1th, the linen manufacture, which they have since carried on and 

 brought to the utmost perfection. From this short review it ap- 

 pears, that the present inhabitants are composed of three distinct 

 classes of people • the old Irish, poor, ignorant, and depressed, who 

 inhabit, or rather exist upon, the interior and western parts ; the de- 

 scendants of the English, who inhabit Dublin, Waterford, and Cork, 

 and who gave a new appearance *to the whole coast facing England, 

 by the introduction of arts, commerce, science, and more liberal 

 ideas of religion ; and, thirdly, emigrants from Scotland in the north- 

 ern provinces, who, like the others, are so zealously attached to their 

 own religion and manner of living, that it will require some ages 

 before the inhabitants of Ireland are so thoroughly consolidated and 

 blended as to become one people. The gentry, and better sort of the 

 Irish nation in general, differ little in language, dress, manners, and 

 customs, from those of the same rank in Great Britain, whom they 

 imitate. Their hospitality is well known ; but in this they are some- 

 times suspected of more ostentation than real friendship. 



Cities, chief towns, and edifices. ...Dublin, the capital of Ire- 

 land, is, in magnitude and number of inhabitants, the second city in 

 the British dominions. It is about ten miles in circumference, being 

 nearly two miles and a half in length, and as much in breadth ; and is 

 supposed to contain about 156,000 inhabitants. It stands about seven 

 miles from the sea, at the bottom of a large and spacious bay, to which 

 ii gives name, upon the river Liffey, which divides it almost into two 

 equal parts, and is banked in, through the whole length of the city, 

 on both sides, which form spacious and noble quays, where ves- 

 uelow die first bridge load and unload before the merchants' 

 doors and warehouses. To protect the harbour from the winds, a 

 mole or huge wall has been constructed nearly four miles in length, 

 v ith a lighthouse on its extremity, and another corresponding to it 

 on the opposite promontory, called the hill of Howth. A stranger, on 

 entering the bay of Dublin, which is about seven miles broad, and in 

 stormy weather extremely dangerous, is agreeably surprised with 

 the beautiful prospect on each side, and the distant view of Wicklow 

 mountains ; but the city itself, from its low situation, makes no great 

 appearance. The increase of Dublin within these last thirty years 

 ;^ incredible. The number of houses in the year 1777, w r as 17,151, 

 and they are now estimated at not less than 22,000. This city, in 

 its appearance, bears a near resemblance to Londom The houses 

 are of brick; the old streets are narrow and mean, but the new 

 streets are as elegant as those of the metropolis of Great Britain. 

 Sackville-street, which is sometimes called the Mall, is particularly 



