I R E 
IRA'NEY, a town of France, in the department of the 
Auxerre : eighteen miles north-weft of Avallon, and fix 
eaft of Auxerre. 
IRAPIL'LY, a town of Hindooftan, in the Myfore 
country : twelve miles fouth-eaft of Sankeridurgum. 
I'RASBERG, a townlhip in Orleans county, Vermont; 
fituated on Black-river : feventeen miles north of Hazen 
Block-houfe, and twelve fouth of the Canada line. 
IRASCIBLE, adj, [ irafcibilis, low Lat. irafcible, Fr.] 
Partaking of the nature of anger.—The irafcible. palfions 
follow the temper of the heart, and the concupifcible dif- 
tra&ions on the crafts of the liver. Brown. —I know more 
than one inftance of irafcible palfions fubdued by a vegeta- 
ble diet. Arhuthnot. 
• IRAS'CIBLENESS, J. [from irafcible.] The ftate of 
being angry. Scott. 
IR'BEN, a town of the duchy of Courland, on the 
coalt of the Baltic: eighteen miles eaft-north-eaft of 
Windau. 
IR'BERSDORF. See Ehrenfriedersdorf. 
IR'BIL, a fortrefs of Afiatic Turkey, iir Curdiftan: 
eighty miles fouth-eaft of Betlis. 
IR'BIT, a river of Rulfia, which runs into the Tura 
near the town of Irbitlkaia. 
IRBITSKA'IA, a town of Rulfia, in the government 
of Perm, on the Irbit: ioo miles north-eaft of Ekaterin¬ 
burg. 
IRCH. See Earch. 
IRCUN'DA, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Cicacole : twenty miles fouth-weft of Cicacole. 
I'RE, f. [Fr. ira, Lat.] Anger j rage; paflionate ha¬ 
tred : 
Or Neptune’s ire, or Juno’s, that fo long 
Perplex’d the Greeks and Cytherea’s fon. Milton. 
The fentence, from thy head remov’d, may light 
On me, foie caufe to thee of all this woe; 
Me ! me! only juft objeft of his ire. Milton. 
IRE', or Eyre, a mountain of Africa, between Fez- 
zan and Calhna. 
I'RE HOLMES, two iflands among the Orkneys, a lit¬ 
tle to the weft of the illand of Sanda. 
I'REBY, or Market Ireby, a town of England, in 
the county of Cumberland, on the river Elne, with a 
weekly market on Thurfday. In 1801, the number of in¬ 
habitants was only 262 : twelve miles north of Kefwick, 
296 north of London. Lat. 54. 39. N. Ion. 3. 5. W. 
I'REDELL, a county of the American States, in Sa- 
lilbury diftrift, North Carolina, furrounded by Surrey, 
Rowan, and Burke. The climate is agreeable and healthy; 
the lands beautifully variegated with hills, and the foil is 
rich. It contains 5435 inhabitants, of whom 858 are 
flaves. It is twenty-five miles from Salifbury, and twenty- 
five from Charlotte Court-houfe. 
1 'REFUL, adj. Angry; raging; furious: 
By many hands your father was fubdu’d; 
But only flaughter’d by the ireful arm 
Of unrelenting Clifford. Shakefpeare. 
In midft of all the dome Misfortune fat. 
And gloomy Difcontent, and fell Debate, 
And Madnefs laughing in his ireful mood. Dry den, 
I'REFULLY, adv. With ire ; in an 2ngry manner. 
I'REFULNESS, f Anger; a difpofition to anger. 
Scott. 
IRE'G A, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of Adoni: 
fifty miles weft-north-weft of Adoni. 
IREGU'A, a river of Spain, which rifes in Old Caftile, 
and runs into the Ebro near Logrogno. 
I'REJ, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of Gohud : 
feventy miles eaft of Narwa, 120 fouth-fouth-eaft of Agra. 
Lat. 25. 37. N. Ion. 79. 40. E. 
IRELABQO', a town on the north coaft of the ifiand 
of Sumatra. Lat. 5. 9. N, Ion. 96.15. E. 
IRE 233 
I'RELAND, one of the Britifti iflands, fituated be¬ 
tween 5 0 and io° weft longitude, and 51° and 56° north 
latitude, extending in length about 300 miles and 150 in 
breadth. It lies wettward of Great Britain, from which 
it is feparated by the Irifh Sea, or St. George’s Channel; 
and is wafhed on the north, louth, and weft, by the At¬ 
lantic Ocean. 
The ancient hiftory of Ireland is involved in fo much 
obfcurity, that it has been the objefl of contention up¬ 
wards of a century and a half. The native hiftorians 
pretend to very high antiquity. According to them, the 
ifland was firlt inhabited about 322 years after the flood. 
At that time Partholan the fon of Seara, the fon of Sru, 
the fon of Efru, fon of Framant, fon of Fathochda, fon of 
Magog, fon of Japhet, the fon of Noah, landed in Mun- 
fter with his wife, his three fons, and their w'ives, and a. 
thoufand foldiers. This colony came from Greece, which 
its leader had been obliged to quit, becaufe he had killed 
his father and mother in order to poflels himfelf of the 
fupreme command. The fame hiftorians inform us, that, 
during the reign of Partholan, a great number of lakes 
and rivers broke out in Ireland which had no exiftence 
at the time of his arrival there 5 but the molt furprifing 
circumftance is, that in about three hundred years the 
whole colony was fwept away by a plague, which left not 
a Angle perfon to make known their fate. 
Ireland now remained a perfect wildernefs for thirty 
years, when another colony arrived from the eaft, under 
a chief named Nemedius, a defcendant of Partholan, one 
of whofe fons had been left behind in Greece. Neme¬ 
dius let fail from the Euxine Sea with thirty tranfports, 
each manned with forty heroes, and at laft arrived on the 
coafts of Ireland after a tedious navigation. During his 
reign alfo many lakes which had no exiftence before were 
formed in the country. This monarch was engaged in 
an unfuccefsful war with an African colony, which, ac¬ 
cording to fome writers, had been fettled in the northern 
part of the ifland long before his arrival. Thele Afri¬ 
cans in the end fubdued his people, who found their ty¬ 
ranny fo infupportable, that they refolved to quit the ifland 
altogether. They embarked in a fleet of 1130 lhips, un¬ 
der the command.of Simon Breac, To Chath, and Bria- 
tan Maol, three grandfons of Nemedius. The firft re¬ 
turned to Greece, the fecond failed to the northern Darts 
of Europe, and the third landed in the north of Scotland, 
and from him the ifland of Britain is faid to have derived 
its name, and the Wellh their origin. 
About 216 years after the death of Nemedius, the de- 
fcendants of Simon Breac returned from Greece into Ire¬ 
land. They were conduced by five princes of great re¬ 
putation, who divided the ifland into five kingdoms, 
nearly equal in fize. Thefe kingdoms were called Mun- 
fer, Leinjler, Connaught, Meath , and Ulfler ; and the fu’ejects 
of thefe kings are called by the Irifh hiftorians Firbelgs, 
from whom the Belgae are faid to have derived their name. 
The Firbolgs were in procefs of time expelled or to¬ 
tally fubdued, after the lofs of 100,000 men in one battle, 
by the Tuath de Dannans, a nation of necromancers who 
came from Attica, Bceotia, and Achaia, into Denmark ; 
from Denmark to Scotland ; and from Scotland to Ire¬ 
land. Thefe necromancers w r ere fo completely Ikilled in 
their art, that they could even reftore the dead to life, 
and bring again into the field thofe warriors who had 
been flain tfie day before. They had alio fome curiofi- 
ties which poflefled a wonderful virtue. Thele were a 
fword, a fpear, a cauldron, and a marble chair; on which 
laft were crowned firft the kings of Ireland, and after¬ 
wards thofe of Scotland. But neither the powerful vir¬ 
tues of thefe Danifli curiofities, nor the more powerful 
fpells of the magic art, were able to preferve the Tuath 
de Dannans from being fubdued by the Gadelians when 
they invaded Ireland. 
The Gadelians were defcended from one Gathelus, 
from whom they derived their name. He was a man of 
great confequence io Egypt, and intimately acquainted 
with 
